Solar Panel cable repair!

[RegularJoe]

  I've got a camera mounted in a tree keeping an eye on a vacant house nearby, for security purposes.
  The camera is half-assed camouflaged where it's mounted on the tree trunk, but there was no way or place to mount the solar charging panel that would A) let it see sunlight, or B) not be noticed by passerby.
  So, I just layed it up against the tree trunk kind of outta sight of passerby. 
So far, so good.
Well, the other day I noticed the charging icon had disappeared and the battery power was down to 25%.
  Went and looked... the neighbors' lawn service people had weed-eated around the tree trunk and had snagged the black cable and tore it apart.
    I was surprised to find 3 wires inside, not the 2 I expected.
There was black/red/white.
  The white wire was half the thickness of the other two. 
To repair them, I stripped back the black silicone exterior insulation of the cable, then the red/black/white of the 3 conductors.
  All I can say is I know how it must feel to be a neurosurgeon operating on nerves in humans. The red/black copper wires were normal thickness/diameter wire, but that white wire... jeezus... there were about 6 strands of human hair thin copper inside the insulation. It took some effort to not tear those copper strands while taking the insulation off to expose it for soldering.
  I finally got everything repaired and it's back over there charging the battery. 

[jguerdat]

Whew! My hands shake too much these days so I'm not sure I could have done that. Good job!

I can only guess as to what the white wire is for - I suspect it's for detection of unqualified product (3rd party) or detection of proper device connection, something that just needs connectivity, not current capability.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@jguerdat wrote:

I can only guess as to what the white wire is for 

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Normal USB wiring is red/black for power and white/green for data.  The data connections can be used by chargers to negotiate charging parameters.

I guess they could be using it for data (along with black, which is ground), but that is certainly not standard.

[RegularJoe]

They ARE 3rd party solar panels.....