Solar Powered Welding Helment

Hello all, I have a solar powered auto-darkening welding helment that's not working. (for anyone unfamiliar with this, it's has a couple of light sensors in the front so when an ARC is struck for welding, the glass goes dark so you don't go blind). There's a note in the user guide not to leave it in the dark for a very long time (mine was in the dark for a year!). The said there's no battery in it??? So I assume it charges a small CAP. But I'm not sure. I want to fix it but don't know what leaving it in the dark could have done. Perhaps someone out there knows of this setup and can tell me? Does the solar panel die somehow from leaving it in the dark? Or could the cap somehow die? Or IS there actually a small battery in there, which died? It's not easy to open it up...sealed plastic unit p/n S27978-5 from Lincoln Electric. I will open it up to fix it depending on your replies.

Thanks!

Try leaving it in bright sunlight for a couple of days and see what happens.

JimB

Those usually had supercaps or a small rechargeable battery in them and once they go flat dead it takes a long time in direct sunlight to get them to charge up and work again.

Its a common problem and one or two days in a window with direct sunlight usually fixes things.