testing a welding helmet

[JointTech]

I swear my helmet isnt as good as it used to be.
I have a solar powered autodarkening helmet. I dont use it very often.
I no that in the past I had no second thought of looking at the arc while welding.
yesterday I welded something and it seemed way brighter than normal. Almost enough to hurt my eyes. Now it wasnt completely off because I have on many occasions forgotten to switch from grinding setting to darkening and I get the green dot in the eye for the next 15 minutes. Its not that bad now... Just doesnt seem as good as it was.
My sensitivity is almost all the way up. I always use the darkest setting on the side of the helmet and on the insdie control knob. sensitivity is set just enough to not go off when i look towards a lamp.
cig lighter does make it darken but it seems to undarken faster than it used to when ive tested it with a lighter in the past.
again all this is subjective. I dont weld often and just started so dont have much experiance.
anything I can do or test?

[franken]

Wipe the sensor?

[ERASER5]

^ Yes, do that. And set the hood out is the bright sun for a few hours. The battery can drain a bit during nonuse. Regular use recharges the battery with the arc light. No arc, dark garage (relatively) equals battery drain. And if none of that helps, then you just proved you need a new hood. "Gee Honey, I gotta buy one. You don't want me to go blind do ya? Why, yes I do need the $500 SpeedPro hood....."

[_Ogre]

lay it out in bright sun for a couple hours like eraser said
if you can find any sun this time of year

i've had to do this with my helmet if i've not used it in a while

[truckster]

I have two Neiko auto-darkening solar helmets. I've found that I need to keep a fresh supply of batteries on hand. The solar charging, whether I leave them out in the sun or just use them welding, doesn't seem to keep up the charge.

[_Ogre]

yeah, the cheap helmets don't have replaceable batteries