April 2016

FYI
Bunker Hill 36 LED Solar Security Light - item #69644 is not sealed. Like member SolarPower mentions, remove resistor bridging R8 on the backside and it now works as a motion only light. No more lower power light that drains battery.

Battery still the same:
LiFePO4
14500 600mAh 3.2V

Thanks all!

 

The Harbor freight 36 LED security light that I bought 10/1/14 now uses a different control board. I was annoyed by the always on function, it cycles the battery way more than necessary and shortens its life. I'm putting the light up at a seldom used summer cabin, and I don't want a constant glow attracting curious people to it while I'm not there.

The new board uses a power transistor to ground the LED's, which are connected to Batt+ all the time. 3 circuits are attached to the driver (base) side of the transistor. The first is the output of the motion detector IC through a diode and a resistor, which controls the full bright current. The second is a resistor bridging straight from B+, this sets the constant low light current. And the third is a smaller transistor that shorts the control circuit to ground, this is powered by the input voltage from the solar panel and is what turns the LED's off when the sun is out.

So the circuit to go after is the resistor bridging straight from B+ to the LED power transistors base terminal. It's labeled R8 on the backside of the new style board. Nip it out of the circuit and it now works as a motion only light.

My unit was produced in early 2015. The board was still accessable via screws in the back. This modification worked for me.
Being careless I had lifted the R7 resistor in my first attempt. The dawn/dusk feature was still enabled, when there was not voltage from the solar panel! I am not sure what feature was removed by lifting the R7, the battery was too low to produce more than a glow. I replaced the R7 back into the circuit and lifted the R8 and the dawn/dusk glow is disabled, even with no voltage supplied from the solar panel. The full output still comes on when motion is detected with no voltage from the solar panel. The light now lasts more than an hour or two at night in the Northeastern winter. Thanks, SolarPower!

 

The Harbor freight 36 LED security light that I bought 10/1/14 now uses a different control board. I was annoyed by the always on function, it cycles the battery way more than necessary and shortens its life. I'm putting the light up at a seldom used summer cabin, and I don't want a constant glow attracting curious people to it while I'm not there.

The new board uses a power transistor to ground the LED's, which are connected to Batt+ all the time. 3 circuits are attached to the driver (base) side of the transistor. The first is the output of the motion detector IC through a diode and a resistor, which controls the full bright current. The second is a resistor bridging straight from B+, this sets the constant low light current. And the third is a smaller transistor that shorts the control circuit to ground, this is powered by the input voltage from the solar panel and is what turns the LED's off when the sun is out.

So the circuit to go after is the resistor bridging straight from B+ to the LED power transistors base terminal. It's labeled R8 on the backside of the new style board. Nip it out of the circuit and it now works as a motion only light.

 

April 2016

FYI
Bunker Hill 36 LED Solar Security Light - item #69644 is not sealed. Like member SolarPower mentions, remove resistor bridging R8 on the backside and it now works as a motion only light. No more lower power light that drains battery.

Battery still the same:
LiFePO4
14500 600mAh 3.2V

Thanks all!

My unit was produced in early 2015. The board was still accessable via screws in the back. This modification worked for me.
Being careless I had lifted the R7 resistor in my first attempt. The dawn/dusk feature was still enabled, when there was not voltage from the solar panel! I am not sure what feature was removed by lifting the R7, the battery was too low to produce more than a glow. I replaced the R7 back into the circuit and lifted the R8 and the dawn/dusk glow is disabled, even with no voltage supplied from the solar panel. The full output still comes on when motion is detected with no voltage from the solar panel. The light now lasts more than an hour or two at night in the Northeastern winter. Thanks, SolarPower!

Hi to everyone regarding their input re the bunker hill solar 36 led light/motion detector. Ive been reading all the related posts and discovered that I had the new board as mentioned above. I removed R8 Resistor by cutting the ends. See attached pic of backside of circuit board - R8. and light works perfectly now as a motion detector light only with no dim light remaining on constantly. The light been constantly on was attracting flying insects so it remained on bright all the time. This will definitely preserve the battery life etc. Thank you everyone for your support, it has been enlightening

 

Went to HFT today to get another 36 LED bunker hill security light #69644 which is now sealed with no screws for access. #60498 still has the screws but the circuit board is different. This one has a chip. Has anyone been able to mod this board to turn off the low light?

 

Went to HFT today to get another 36 LED bunker hill security light #69644 which is now sealed with no screws for access. #60498 still has the screws but the circuit board is different. This one has a chip. Has anyone been able to mod this board to turn off the low light?
View attachment 130368

I bought 36 led 69644 around Feb of 2017 and it was sealed. I put a switch in between R19 so I could turn the feature on and off. You could just remove R19 and it will disable the dim function. My board looks different than yours. R19 is on the on/off switch side of the board (top).

 

My circuit board has a different layout. Does anyone know how I might do this same modification?
Item 69644
sealed casing
purchased it from Harbor Freight yesterday

 

My circuit board has a different layout. Does anyone know how I might do this same modification?
Item 69644
sealed casing
purchased it from Harbor Freight yesterday

yours is the same as the one I have... remove R19

 

My board is just like the one Trueno has (see post #5 of this thread). Removing resistor R22 took care of the "always on dim" problem.
I wanted to change the time it stayed on after detecting motion so I researched the BISS0001 chip and found the resistor that connects to pin 3 and the capacitor that connects to pin 4 on the chip controls that feature. The formula for the time according to the datasheet of the BISS0001 is; 24576 * R * C = TX. In this case the Capcitor is a 10 nano farad (.0000001) and the original resistor is a 13K (13000), so if we plug in the values; 24576 * 13000 * .0000001 = 31.94 seconds which is about the time it was staying on. I wanted it on for around 5 minutes (300 seconds) so I put a small 300k potentiometer in place of (R17 on my board) and dialed it to around 130 K which gives me around 5 minutes of on time once triggered. Since it seems the boards in these LED lights can change but they are using the same BISS0001 chip, just look for the resistor connected to pin 3 of the chip.
Also, and again referring to my board, I could have removed R23 to fix the always on problem. R23 turns on transistor Q3 and current flows through the LEDs and R22 to ground. R22 sets the brightness of the always on feature.

 

I have the newer sealed kind and it filled with water in the rain. I only got about 3 months out of it.

The power connector from the panel to the light unit rusted so bad even after this short time that it wouldn't disconnect without pliers and significant force. Unfortunately it won't charge back up and I'm not sure what is wrong with it. Soooo, does anyone have any ideas of what to do with it? The panel still works when I put it on the meter and the lights will power up with a 9 volt battery but something is wrong in between. The battery is a 3.7 volt which may or may not need replacing. Seems like it should last for more than 3 months of use. Anyway, just looking for some hacking ideas at this point. It's got to be good for something I just don't have any good ideas for it.

(of course I had to take it apart instead of returning it so I don't think Harbor Freight will replace it lol)

 

I know, old thread but same problem: "always on dim"
Trying to remove some resistors shows no success. Guess its the BISS0001. And their is another circuit on that board. Also not marked.
Anyone here to help solving that "misfunction" ;-) Thanks a lot

 

It turns out the light bar runs nicely on 3.7 volt drone batteries. (the battery that came out of mine was a 3.2 volt) Makes a good emergency light which is better than throwing it away. Now I guess I just need to find a charging circuit to charge my drone battery with the bunkerhill solar panel. Hmmm.

 

I am replying to the July 4, 2017 post by FerociousAAC:

I also picked up a 36 LED Solar Security Light from HF item 60498 and opened it up, I am a EE and can't resist figuring out how things work. I did a little investigating on the circuit, buzzed out the layout, drew out the schematic and found the 36 LEDS are connected at the V+ side of the battery and the other side of the LEDs are connected in series with a MOS FET (A2SHB) connected to the LED controller (YX 8182) LX pin 1. The source and drain on the MOS FET is in parallel with R2 a 20 ohm resistor (labeled 200 i.e. 20 and no zeros following). This resistor R2 sets the light always on mode. If you want the light to be dimmer then increase the resistance. If you want the light to be off then remove the resistor. The best way to remove R2 is to unsolder it, so that you don't damage the board, or you can cut it out with a sharp pair of wire cutters.
I can't tell if this is the same circuit design that FerociousAAC had previously where they were removing

R8 (I can't verify the color codes on the resistor, the picture is not clear enough to verify, it looks like Orange, Blue, Black so this is a 36 ohm resistor).
​

So the bottom line is: For the circuit of the HF item 60498 just like the picture of the circuit that FerociousAAC has in their July 4, 2017 post, remove R2 to disable the light always on dim mode, the light will still function in the bright light with the motion sensor.

Good luck trying it out!
Dave

 

Went to HFT today to get another 36 LED bunker hill security light #69644 which is now sealed with no screws for access. #60498 still has the screws but the circuit board is different. This one has a chip. Has anyone been able to mod this board to turn off the low light?
View attachment 130368

I figured it out and you need to remove R2 in the new circuit. See my post, Dave AKA: Flying Eagle

 

I figured it out and you need to remove R2 in the new circuit. See my post, Dave AKA: Flying Eagle

Remove

 

Remove R3

 

I have a 60498. I had to remove R5. It has the number 200 marked on it. Works good now. It's sitting near the black wire.

 

I figured it out for the #69644 you need to remove R19 in the new circuit labeled 20R0. See my post, Dave AKA: Flying Eagle

 

I figured it out for the #69644 you need to remove R19 in the new circuit labeled 20R0. See my post, Dave AKA: Flying Eagle

 

Remove

I figured it out for the #69644 you need to remove R19 in the new circuit labeled 20R0. See my post, Dave AKA: Flying Eagle

[/QUOTE]

 

April 2016

FYI
Bunker Hill 36 LED Solar Security Light - item #69644 is not sealed. Like member SolarPower mentions, remove resistor bridging R8 on the backside and it now works as a motion only light. No more lower power light that drains battery.

Battery still the same:
LiFePO4
14500 600mAh 3.2V

Thanks all!

Thanks but 2019 has changed circuit.