Lost the battle of yard lights.
Now we have a plethora of dollar store rejects hiding amongst the weeds.
Neighbor was very appreciative of the copper 120vac lights. Beautiful fixtures after stripping, polishing and spraying a lacquer. Looks fantastic, so isn't my handiwork.
Next project needs to be / remain battery powered, naturally selected Headway 38120 LFP cells. 3.2v 8ah (yes, *8aH*) with max rated discharge of 15C (120A). Since I have about 50 of the darn things, gonna use a few of them.
Except can't find a single cell lfp bms / battery disconnect. 2S hard to find as well, unless direct from China Mainland.
Load anticipated around 10w (max, pwm), basically a string of low voltage lighting. Solar panel is 6v-ish, feeds a epoxy-encased charge circuit that in turn charges an INR lithium 3.7v cell 3000mwh capacity, or about 900mAh. I can knock down pv voltage (currently) by shading cells, eventually rewire each half in parallel. PV cell output is (educated guesstimate) 6-ish vdc @ 2w. I do have a dozen or so of the PV panels.
Still leaves me with discharge issue. If cells go under 2.5v, damage occurs. LED string becomes dark around 1.9v and current falls to a few mA. If I put a usual and typical silicon diode in series with cell output to led string, I expect a .7-ish V across diode. Add that to 1.9v string conductance threshold, and have a 2.6V drop, which should halt any appreciable current flow at under 2.5v..
Does this course of reasoning have merit, or shall I remain in the Dark Side?
~SD
