Repairing a Harbor Freight Solar Shed Light

Several years ago I bought a solar shed light from Harbor Freight. I set it up in my woodshed. This style has a wire that runs from the solar panel to the light. Eventually the pull string broke. But I figured it would be repairable, even though the sticker said it is not.

Replacing the cord seemed easy enough. There was a little lever with a hole through it. I melted off a strand of inner paracord, strung it through and tied two overhand knots as a stopper. But when I put the light back together, the new string pulled out! Eventually I tied the string through a small nut and used that as a stopper. That works so far.

The battery is a single 3.6 volt LiFePo4 cell. I took it out and charged it  in my flashlight cell charger that can do NiMh, Lithium Ion and LiFePo4. I will check if the solar panel is generating anything soon. When the string broke the light was stuck on. So the battery might have discharged beyond the panel's ability to recharge it. But there is corrosion in the plug. Maybe I will need to replace the plug? That's a problem for another day. For now, it is nice having a light in the woodshed again.