battery replacement for SOLA 1200

[davehicks]

Buy a replacement battery pack and DIY. If you are ok with a soldering iron you can install this replacement for about $40 including shipping. I did this myself for an old Sola 1200 that had dwindled to <1hr of run time on Low. This is an exact replacement pack to what was in my sola.

BTC-DPM100XL battery (2600 mAh)

BTC-DPM100XL battery (2600 mAh) - $ 32.56 - Worldwide free shipping - BatteryUpgrade.com - Upgrade your battery!

 

[fmerkel]

That looks like it would do the job. What do you have to solder, the connector?
Were you able to do any quantifiable capacity tests on it? At least a known burn test? It would be nice to know what's under the shrink wrap. The distributor can say whatever they want about the "great quality" but my experience is a lot of that does not stand up under scrutiny.

FWIW I have some 3400mA cells on the way and will use those. For now I'm just seeing what the current system will do and what it's peculiarities are.

 

[fmerkel]

Sanyo 3400mA cells arrived. Transferring over the PCB to the new cells was not a terribly hard job if you are OK with soldering lithium batteries....which is not for everyone.
But......There was a problem.
The 'brain board' is kind of fussy. Just because you plug it in doesn't necessarily mean it immediately works. I found it kind of needed to be woke up by passing a magnet over 2 small sensors (Hall's sensors I think they are called) to get the green light to come on and show it was functional. Once that happened then by moving the magnet back and forth I could operate the light the same as the small switch on the light itself. I could even touch the prongs of the charger to the back charging contacts on the back (be sure you have the polarity right) and the charging lights would start flashing.
The problem was the magnet got away, (one of those strong little jobs) touched the board, sparks flew, and now nothing will work but the charging function anymore.
Damn. It appears I need a new brain board, which will either be hard to find I suspect, or expensive.

 

[fmerkel]

Did some searching on ScubaBoard and ebay. You can get used Solas, but no one sells parts. An email to L&M customer service got me the 'standard offer' to mail it in for a complete overhaul for $150 + shipping. They did say the brain board was designed for THAT battery, and I would not have gotten the results I hoped for from a higher capacity battery. Well....I kind of doubt that but don't have any way to test the hypothesis right now.
Rats!

 

[Storker]

They did say the brain board was designed for THAT battery, and I would not have gotten the results I hoped for from a higher capacity battery.

You don't say.

I kind of doubt that but don't have any way to test the hypothesis right now.

You and me alike.

 

[fmerkel]

Finding no other alternative I sent the Sola in. They sent it back, $150 charge including shipping. It lights up, no other good way to tell what they did without opening it up, which at this point I'm not inclined to do.

 

[wesner]

As a Canadian, the $150 USD + shipping is prohibitively expensive.

Today I'm going to buy a couple LG HBR2 18650s locally and attempt to install them.

I'll post what happens.

 

[fmerkel]

Read post #23 & 24 carefully. Not hard, but you can screw it up. Good luck.
If you are successful I'd really like to know if the larger capacity batteries work. I have a pack I made just sitting.

 

[Nick Missenden]

My Sola 1200 just clapped out as well.
I found this, would it be a straight swap out with no soldering?

This is my battery..

 

[Mr Paul]

My Sola 1200 just clapped out as well.
I found this, would it be a straight swap out with no soldering?


View attachment 418131
This is my battery..
View attachment 418133

Thats the same battery as mine I could only find on a Chinese sight nothing in English what sight was this on please .the date cobe is the same as mine CB does that mean it's 4or5 years old or a full copy??