Here is few years old SilverCrest USB power pack with solar charger that stopper charging a smart phone. Because changing the charging cable did not help and the charging connector felt a little loose, it seems that the power pack is to blame here. Ithad served several years well as portable power pack that had good capacity and pretty useless low power solar panel.
Because this device had passed the three year warranty that Lidl gave to it, it’s time for a tear-down and hopefully a successful repair with little effort.
To open it I had to find six screws (three per side) under plastic sticker.
Here is the power pack completely open. I need to be now careful because there the lithium battery and it’s electrical connections are now exposed – it can potentially explode if you mechanically damage it or cause short circuit on the circuit board. Do do not touch anything unless you know really what you are doing and how to do it safely.
Here is a close look to the electronics. As you can see the problem is that the soldering on the USB power output has failed. This is a quite common failure mode in this kind of products.
Repairing it just needed putting the connector back to the correct position and re-soldering the connections. I decided to add some mode solder to make to have better connections and more reliable securing of the connector shell. I also decided to re-solder the mounting holes of the microUSB connector as well just to be secure as there seemed to be quite little amount of solder in it originally. After soldering everything worked well.
Now everything is ready to put back the case.
For some more information on the electronics on this device, view this Lidl Silvercrest Solar USB Power Bank video.
12 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silvercrest solar power bank RaT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEqKlK3TGk
A quick look at the solar power bank from Lidl. A nice unit with good capacity, but not without drawbacks. Slow solar charging ( kind of expected) and output voltage quite low – possibly some devices would refuse to charge from it. Oh well…
Solar powered phone chargers – do they work? A teardown and test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhIjSrBxfsU
I have two solar powered phone chargers, a SolarMonkey one and a Lidl SilverCrest brand one.
They have never really worked for me. Their internal batteries just don’t get charged by the sun – yet the marketing gumph says otherwise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.homemade-circuits.com/make-this-power-bank-circuit-using-37v/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PowerEver Keeps Your Generic Power Bank Running Non-Stop
This tiny board that will keep your commercial power bank running while minimizing self-drained current.
https://www.hackster.io/news/powerever-keeps-your-generic-power-bank-running-non-stop-4d90a057f57d
PowerEver is a small electronic board that’s adjustable and compatible with nearly all commercial power banks. It’s designed to consume a self-drained current as low as possible and is small enough to fit into your wallet. It’s fully open sourced with its schematics and source code available on GitHub for any changes you need to make.
https://www.crowdsupply.com/pichanon-suwannathada/powerever
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside a Znter lithium 9V battery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR_RusM99no
It’s a rechargeable PP3 style 9V battery that has a built in micro USB charging connector and a generous lithium battery that gives the unit a capacity of around 400mAh at 9V.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PowerEver Keeps Your Generic Power Bank Running Non-Stop
https://www.hackster.io/news/powerever-keeps-your-generic-power-bank-running-non-stop-4d90a057f57d
This tiny board that will keep your commercial power bank running while minimizing self-drained current.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This DIY Power Bank Uses Renewable Energy to Charge Your Phone
Could this open the door for more eco-friendly charging solutions?
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-diy-power-bank-uses-renewable-energy-to-charge-your-phone-6c1e4b09fbbe
Power banks are a great option for keeping your phone charged on the go, but they aren’t exactly energy efficient. What if there was a way to charge your device using renewable energy? One hobbyist might have the solution with their new DIY Green Power Bank.
Made using a DIY solar power bank kit, the Green Power Bank features an electronic board equipped with a 6-volt solar panel, micro USB input, a USB output, battery suitable for polymer rechargeable lithium batteries, and a CPU security system that protects the device from overcharging, overload, overheating, and short-circuiting.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Green-Power-Bank-to-Help-Save-the-Planet-/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PowerEver Keeps Your Generic Power Bank Running Non-Stop
This tiny board that will keep your commercial power bank running while minimizing self-drained current.
https://www.hackster.io/news/powerever-keeps-your-generic-power-bank-running-non-stop-4d90a057f57d
https://github.com/klui-freiberg/PowerEver
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://circuitdigest.com/electronic-circuits/solar-phone-charger-circuit-diagram
KR says:
Does anyone know what is the type of 16DIL IC inside on the pcb?
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Make the Ultimate 18650 Power Bank with Infinitely Expandable Capacity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jRsltIW8qM
In this video I will show you the ultimate solution to power on the go. This DIY power bank features a removable battery pack, which can be easily replaced, giving this power bank unlimited capacity as long as you have enough cells. The cost of the row components of this power bank is around 60 dollars, which is two times cheaper than anything commercially equivalent.
WARNING: Do everything at your own risk, lithium batteries can catch fire or explode if mishandled. This power bank requires a more than a basic understanding of electronic to complete.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12qpkp2NuJ-EspMs0VmSUoi6NCD4o3lEM
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build your own portable POWER STATION (1200w, USB-C and MORE!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adY-S8AH_Jc
In this video we’ll be building a SUPER POWERFUL battery station!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Investigating A Defective USB Power Bank Module
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/05/investigating-a-defective-usb-power-bank-module/