Solar products by Allsop Home & Garden Trouble Shooting Tips & General Knowledge

1. 
   Problems with set-up- Ensure that customer has oriented the Solar Panel so that it is facing up and the hanging handle is hanging directly from the molded plastic “ears” on the top of the solar panel. If the lantern has been hung upside down it will fail to collect light and therefore fail to work. If this is the case, the lantern will require TWO full days of direct sunlight to charge back up.
   

2. 
   Orientation of product- Ask the customer about the orientation and positioning of the product within their own yard/outdoor space. If the lantern is not receiving any DIRECT SUNLIGHT during the day it will not light during the evening. This is often times not satisfactory to the customer. If the customer is hanging the lantern in partial or filtered light the lantern will glow accordingly and may not reach optimum glow time. Please ask them to move the lantern into direct light so that the solar panel may receive and collect enough energy for 4-5 hours of direct sunlight.
   

3. 
   On/Off Switch- Ensure that the customer has turned the lantern on during set-up. The lanterns only need to be turned on once, and will remain activated, collect light and glow at night. They are equipped with a photo light sensor so the lanterns will turn themselves on and off.
   

Trouble shooting in depth:

1. 
   “My lantern never lit up even after I set it up correctly and allowed it to get at least one day of direct sunlight.” – Take lantern into a dark room to ensure that it really does not glow at night. If it is switched on and this still doesn’t work, the lantern can likely be fixed by replacing the rechargeable battery. Call 1-866-425-5767
   

2. 
   “My lantern glowed for 1-2 nights and t hen stopped glowing”- Rechargeable battery is dysfunctional and does not hold it’s charge correctly. This also can be remedied by a change in battery. Call Allsop H&G at 1-866-425-5767 for a complimentary replacement battery. Replacement batteries available for all stocking retailers
   

3 “ I replaced the battery and allowed the lantern to receive two full days of sunlight to fully charge up and lantern still does not work” – Lantern has a circuitry problem and needs to be replaced.

4. 
   “Why does my lantern have a battery if it is solar?”- Solar Power is used in conjunction with rechargeable batteries so that there is a location for the solar panel to store the collected energy. Rechargeable batteries act as an ‘energy storage tank’ for solar panels.
   

The rechargeable battery in the Soji Solar Lanterns may discharge while not in use. If the lantern does not immediately light up or light up the first night that it is in use, one to two full days of direct sunlight to the solar panel may be required to recharge the lantern.

Panasonic- AAA rechargeable Ni-MH battery

Sharp – AAA rechargeable Ni-MH battery

GP- AAA rechargeable Ni-MH battery

1-866-425-5767

1. 
   Problems with the lantern not lighting upon first use- It is relatively common for the customer to place the Firefly solar stake in their garden and forget to remove the plastic isolator strip located underneath the solar housing compartment. The isolator strip is a piece of plastic material preventing the battery from being in contact with it’s metallic electrical node and thus preventing it from lighting and draining itself during shipment. Ask the customer to look beneath the solar housing compartment to ensure that isolator strip (grey plastic piece) has been removed.
   

2. 
   Wire has come away from LED- The LED light is hardwired on the Firefly stake from the point of connection beneath the LED light to the solar housing compartment. During assembly, the black wire needs to be gentled pulled through the stainless tubing to assemble the unit. If the customer pulls too hard on the wire during the assembly it is possible that the wire can become removed from the LED and the Firefly stake is no longer functional. This would not be considered a manufacturers defect, so please ask your customer to be careful when assembling or disassembling the Firefly
   

3. 
   Firefly is not lighting for 6-8 hours each night- Batteries may not be holding their charge as they should and need to be replaced. The Firefly is equipped with 2 AA NI-MH rechargeable batteries that must be replaced every two years
   

4. 
   Lower and upper stake do not screw together- This is rare but can happen. The female and male screw inserts were not assembled properly during production. The only way to fix this is call Allsop for a warranty replacement stake 1-866-425-5767