3.9 Watt Solar Power System

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

Well the solar panel good lights good battery box bad.iam11 years old And I read the reveiws and bout it any ways the screw holse are filled up but I yoused a nife and the filling came right out and the srews where exposed and I opened the battery box the battery was littie I pulled of the wires and I yoused a chrichel chareger and I rewired and put battery clips on the light after five minetes on the crickele chareger I hooked up the the and it works great now ever peice works great. Should of came up whith a better desine but ok.

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

The manule dosent say that much. I havent got it to work yet but I dont think the battery is charged enough for the output to work. Atleast if it works the way I think it does... Im pretty sure its just a 12V 2.6Ah battery wired to a volt regulater with 2 12V DC ports and 1 USB

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

Bought the first unit and discovered that the battery will not charge. Took it back and was replaced. The second unit worked as intended. This unit does everything it is intended to do (when it works), charges my cell phone, 12v lights light and are adequate for camping tent or similar small room. The battery can be replaced at battery plus, but, might be a pain because the screws are capped.

You would figure HF will send the lot back and get working units instead. I would give it 5 stars if this battery issue was sporadic or unusual, but, because the problem seems epidemic I cant. I hope HF gets this problem solved because this is a great concept for an emergency cell phone and light provided. I would recommend that you test these before walking out of the store. I will recommend to a friend with the caveat of pre-test only, but, will check the do not recommend below for the manufacturing issues.

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

It looked like a cool little thing to bring along for emergencies or general charging of my phones Etc so I bought it..... I wish I had visited this site and read the reviews before I bought it. Mine is doing the same thing as the others...Not working... Why would they sell something they know does not work ? It seems not to make a whole lot of business sense to sell products that you have to keep returning until you get one that may work... That's another reason not to buy things with out reviewing them first.... Shame on me...

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

I need help to make this work from the manufacturer. The battery may have gone bad in transport

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

On our third one, and may have figured out how to get it to work. Upon plugging in the solar panel for 3+ days, still nothing worked. We opened the unit and found the battery unplugged! So we plugged it back in for 3+ days but still nothing. Took the battery out and put it on a regular, low-output charger. After 3 days, it pepped up to 12+ volts. When we put it back in the unit, it works! I did notice on the voltage side, the circuit must charge and actually check the battery voltage about every 5-10 seconds. If that is the case, if there is not enough juice/voltage in the battery, the charger circuit thinks there is not a battery hooked up and will not charge. That is also why in my earlier review I thought the charge was grounding out the battery--it was checking for voltage. The bad part is, it will keep checking for voltage, further discharging the battery. We were 'lucky' that our battery was unplugged and was not discharging the entire time sitting on the shelf at HF. The other two we tried, the battery would not hold the charge even after charging it out of the unit. If you do not have a low-output (trickle) charger, hook up the solar panel directly to the battery using the included cables. Then check it with your HF multi-meter (you got for free) and see if it holds a charge. So yes it does work, but I'm still giving it a 1 star because you should not have to take a brand new item apart just to get it to work.

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

I tried 2 different times to get one that functioned correctly. It never worked out. The battery unit was DoA in both cases. The panel appeared to work and the LEDs on the battery unit glowed when connected to the panel. In both cases, the battery never held a charge after several days in the sun. Bottom line, this product is rubbish!

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

Do NOT buy this. Returned the first one for a second one. Wish I would have seen the reviews before buying. That said, I took the first one apart (it tells you how in the instructions). Put the battery on a float charger and it would not go above 7.5V. When the charger was removed, battery immediately started losing even that charge. Second one, same thing with the battery. Also, when the charger is hooked up, it grounds out the battery, making matters worse! Bought for my son for Easter, needless to say, he is very disappointed as am I.

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

I bought one before reading the reviews and had to return it the next day. I had to make a 70 mile round trip to get a new one. I get another one that seemed heavier so I thought I had gotten a good battery (nope!) I have to return this one as well and I will voice my opinion to the store manager. The portability is nice but if you want solar light buy the 45 watt solar kit which I did and the lights work great and will charge your batteries as well.

Comments about THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM SOLAR 3.9 Watt Solar Power System:

the solar panel worked but the rest did not, and I didn't want to buy it and then have to fix it. I went throw 3 B4 I just got my money back.