Electrical Tape vs Soldering

[Sl1ck]

I'm building three solar panels for a project that I am working on in college and testing different types of glass.

My question is when I am making the connection between solar cells, does it matter if I use soldering or electrical tape?

I'm assuming soldering will provide a better connection but I think if we use the electrical tape it will provide the same output for each cell.

My classmate and I were having a terrible time trying to make the connection with a solder. We ended up breaking a few solar cells in the process because the solder just would not connect the tab wire to the cell. And yes we are using a Rosin Flux Pen before attempting to solder.

Can we just electrical tape the tabbing wire to the solar cells and connect them in series?

Solar Cell Information:
2" x 3" 0.5 volts x 1.2 amps each.

[inetdog]

I'm building three solar panels for a project that I am working on in college and testing different types of glass.

My question is when I am making the connection between solar cells, does it matter if I use soldering or electrical tape?

I'm assuming soldering will provide a better connection but I think if we use the electrical tape it will provide the same output for each cell.

My classmate and I were having a terrible time trying to make the connection with a solder. We ended up breaking a few solar cells in the process because the solder just would not connect the tab wire to the cell. And yes we are using a Rosin Flux Pen before attempting to solder.

Can we just electrical tape the tabbing wire to the solar cells and connect them in series?

Solar Cell Information:
2" x 3" 0.5 volts x 1.2 amps each.

In a word, NO.

In more words:
Tape provides a mechanical connection only, and one which will lose contact pressure eventually and resistance will increase. This will either start a fire in your panel or reduce your panel output.
And the lack of a gas tight metal to metal connection will also allow oxidization, corrosion, etc. to interfere with the contact.
Also, for the top tab connection, it will be very hard to place the tape in a way that will not block some of the light to the top of the cell.

If you are having problems soldering, two likely causes are wrong tip shape and wrong tip temperature.
You have to flow the actual solder connection very quickly and precisely to keep from overheating the cells.
You should practice with separate pieces of tab or bus foil before you start to work with actual cells.

[Sl1ck]

In a word, NO.

In more words:
Tape provides a mechanical connection only, and one which will lose contact pressure eventually and resistance will increase. This will either start a fire in your panel or reduce your panel output.
And the lack of a gas tight metal to metal connection will also allow oxidization, corrosion, etc. to interfere with the contact.
Also, for the top tab connection, it will be very hard to place the tape in a way that will not block some of the light to the top of the cell.

If you are having problems soldering, two likely causes are wrong tip shape and wrong tip temperature.
You have to flow the actual solder connection very quickly and precisely to keep from overheating the cells.
You should practice with separate pieces of tab or bus foil before you start to work with actual cells.

Yeah but you are talking about long term exposure with a lose of contact pressure and starting a possible fire, along with oxidiation and corrosion. If we just needed this to work for a short term. Say one hour? I don't think it will be a problem. We solder the top of the solar cells with the tab wire, the bottom tabs are what broke it every time.

The solder temperature was 850 degrees Fahrenheit and the tip of the solder was rounded so I'm not sure what we were doing wrong. The steam would rise when we touched the tab wire but the wire would never stick. We had to go over it at least a dozen times so it would stay and hold up.

[inetdog]

Yeah but you are talking about long term exposure with a lose of contact pressure and starting a possible fire, along with oxidiation and corrosion. If we just needed this to work for a short term. Say one hour? I don't think it will be a problem. We solder the top of the solar cells with the tab wire, the bottom tabs are what broke it every time.

The solder temperature was 850 degrees Fahrenheit and the tip of the solder was rounded so I'm not sure what we were doing wrong. The steam would rise when we touched the tab wire but the wire would never stick. We had to go over it at least a dozen times so it would stay and hold up.

You need to use a low temperature solder alloy for this work.
Silver solder or some plumbing solder alloys take too high a temperature.

You need to have the end of the soldering iron tinned and you need to touch the iron to the tape and the solder wire at the same time.
Solder wire with flux built in (flux core) is not normally used for solar cell work, but some find it easier to work with. One disadvantage is that you have to melt some solder in order to get flux onto the joint.
You also need a mechanical jig or frame of some sort to hold the cells in the right position while you solder and while they cool down.

For only an hour, sure you could tape it. Or glue it. Or just have lots of people hold each connection down.

[organic farmer]

I worked as an Electronic Technician for 20+ years. Soldering was a daily task. But I went through week-long schools on soldering and my soldering was inspected. It looks simple. But it is not as simple as it looks.

If you are going to be soldering, then you need to get trained in how to solder.

For quick and easy, can you use alligator clips?

[inetdog]

For quick and easy, can you use alligator clips?

They do not fit very well in between the cells....
Other mechanical help, even perhaps a paper clip with tape on it, might work.

[axis11]

I am no electronics person but I didn't encounter much difficulty in soldering over a 1000 solder connections on my DIY panels. Maybe it has something to with your soldering iron. I used a 70 watt stanley iron, flattened tip coated in tin. A little dub of flux pen on the cells, lay the tab wire over,(no added soldering wire) and press in the tip of the iron lightly until you feel that the tip of the iron and tab wire goes down a little bit( it usually takes less than a second).
But remember to have a metallic piece like a flat screw driver to press on the tab wire very near the solder point so that the tabwire stays fixed while you remove the soldering iron. Allow 1-2 second before you remove the screw driver to allow the molten tin to harden.

Do some soldering practice on your broken cells first.

Note: Once you fail making the solder on a joint for the first attempt, your chances of making it stick
properly is very limited. Just move on to the new cells and keep the older ones as reserve in case you
run out of cells.