Few weeks ago, my mother got a couple of new yard lamps. LED, super bright, and they run just about all night. It might have been this guy:

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/5103551?ref=gbase

If not, pretty much identical. Walmart and HOme Depot both have them for $20.

My thought is... the solar panel and battery charger are on the pallet above the lamp. It looks easy enough to pull that off and use it stand alone, maybe epoxy a MALICE clip to the back to attach it to packs. Then leave terminals where the wires are, so I can clip leads to the lamp if I chose to use it at night. It runs on four ni-cad AAs. I'm thinking should be easy enough to isolate the day/night sensor, and maybe add a switch if I really want one. Or turn the whole thing into a strobe with the addition of something the size of a AA (cap, maybe a couple of resistors) that you can choose to add. Or just a multi position switch....

But the lamp itself isn't very big. Another clip would let you mount it over the shoulder (ala Aliens) or to a bike or to almost any surface. And I'm pretty sure if you had to, the lamp and charger would survive being powered with some alkalines. It is already water proof, and it is LIGHT for what it is, less than a pound. Of course, with this on clip leads, the charger can be a stand alone item.

Never seen a circuit diagram for one of these things. Does anyone have a clue what kind of sensor they are using? Any surprises I should be wondering about?

Am I crazy, or just crazy enough for this to work?