One of the solar garden lights was in desperate need of some spring cleaning.
The top rubber button cover had rotted over time and began to leak when it rains.
Almost all of the internals were in dire straits.
Before taking everything apart, I tried tinning the batery contacts with fresh solder to see if that was the only issue, it was not.
Even the solar charge/led driver IC (qx5252) had two of its leads corrode away.
I made a brief attempt to solder to what was left of the lead frame with limited success. Eventually with some cleaning and scraping I was able to make a connection.
I also tossed something together with an ME2108 module.
When the solar panel stops sourcing charge current Q1 turns on lightly. As the output of the me2108 module rises M1 starts to conduct and provide a “low” resistance to ground. Q2 pulls the gate of m1 low, thus disabling the boost module, should the solar panel starts sourcing current before the battery dies.
Surprisingly the solar panel was still functional. I have had a few lights where panel connections corrode away. Many of these cheap lights don't put much effort into waterproofing the solar connections.
