Solar Panel Discussion: Interesting Things About DIY Solar

[jmsheldon]

Some of the things I noticed today about building your own solar panel are:

-Don't solder on plexiglass. (I did this because in someone's video, they soldered on glass. Plexiglass is different.)

-Encapsulation meant for 36 cells is not enough for 36 cells. You need about double the amount of encapsulation to make the panel last.

-When mixing encapsulation, mix it with a stick or piece of cardboard SLOWLY. Mixing fast or pouring fast will result in many bubbles.

-It is REALLY hard to turn over or even just move 36 connected solar cells. I suggest making sure that you never have to do this and solder all of your bus wire connections on small pieces of cardboard on top of the glass or plexiglass. (This is so that you don't have to move the cells and putting cardboard down between the plexiglass and the wires makes sure that you don't ruin the plexiglass.)

-It is easy to go through cardboard. I will have to line my table with new pieces for every panel I make.


If you have any objections to anything I mentioned above, please tell me. I am open to discussion and would love to be called out on false statements.

[green]

Welcome to the wonderful world of DIY. Just learn from your mistakes, come up with easier ways of doing things and don't get frustrated.

Green

[jmsheldon]

Welcome to the wonderful world of DIY. Just learn from your mistakes, come up with easier ways of doing things and don't get frustrated.

Green

Thanks for the reply. I just finished putting on another container of encapsulation because the two I put on at first didn't do the job. this first panel is starting to become very expensive. Got any ideas on how to save money doing this?

My goal is to make panels that cost $1 per watt to make. Buying in bulk will definitely help. It is just the encapsulation. I am using cell-syl which is the cheap version of Sylgard. I got 4 for $65 on ebay. They are called Solar Tite 384. I can buy in bulk to get them for $15 each but even if I can figure out how to only use 2 per 36 cells, I don't know how else to keep the price down. I would have to spend just $42 on the frame, the cells, the plexiglass, PV wire (which I can buy 100 feet at a time), flux, tabbing wire (I already have 200 feet of it ), bus wire, and a junction box with a diode. I would also have to buy a grid tie inverter (very expensive) or regular inverter, for every few panels.

Here is my master plan on how to make panels for $1 a watt:

I buy frames, silicone, and junction boxes (these all come in one package for $50 + shipping) for a bulk rate from everbrightsolar2003 on ebay. I expect to get 10 for a bulk rate of about $500 including shipping costs. Note: these frames are for 108 3x6 cells or 54 6x6 cells

I buy 10 pieces of PV glass from E&T Plastics which is near me. I have no idea how much that would cost.

I buy all brand new cells on ebay from everbrightsolar2003. This would probably cost me about $600 for the 600 6x6 mono crystalline cells (I only need 540 but I would prefer extra in case of some being broken in shipping or when handling.

I would need at least 6 cell-syl containers for every panel. To really make the panels last long, I would need 9 per panel. 6 would cost $90 and 9 would cost $135 per panel. If I went with 6 per panel, it would cost me $900 for all the encapsulation.

Solar panel wires would cost me about $75 for 200 feet. That is more than enough.

The flux would cost me about $30 for 12 high quality flux pens. That should be enough.

Enough tabbing and bus wire would cost around $20.

All other misc stuff I have. I could do with a better soldering iron and some rosin core solder.

And a 3000 watt inverter would be $240. Although a grid tie inverter would be much better, the grid tie systems are much more expensive and would cost me at least $1700.



So without the glass, it would cost me $2,365. That is already $1 and ten cents per panel. With the glass it would probably bring it up to $1 and twenty cents at most. That is a good start.

Now that I am done jabbering about my plan, does anyone have any ideas on how to lower the price?

[inetdog]

Thanks for the reply. I just finished putting on another container of encapsulation because the two I put on at first didn't do the job. this first panel is starting to become very expensive. Got any ideas on how to save money doing this?

My goal is to make panels that cost $1 per watt to make.
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Now that I am done jabbering about my plan, does anyone have any ideas on how to lower the price?

The easiest way to both lower the price and improve the return on investment by getting a much more reliable system with a longer useful lifetime (and even a warranty) would be to buy commercial panels for even less than $1 per watt for second tier producers or discontinued panel types or close to $1 per watt for top rated parts. The solar panel market is very depressed right now and is selling the completed panels for less than your material costs, not even counting the value of your labor.

Making a couple of panels for the experience and the pleasure of dull repetitive work makes sense. Trying to do that in bulk to save actual money does not.

[jmsheldon]

Ok. I see your point. Do you know a place where I can get cheap solar panels for less than $1 per watt?

Your point about buying panels rather than building makes a lot of sense. I will probably make at least one 215 watt panel myself just for the fun of it.

[green]

Definetly buy factory built panels for any serious systems. But for small systems and charging needs DIY panels can actually be a fun project, and can teach you quite a bit.

To keep costs down I used old windows for glass that I found for free. The downside, I didn't get the exact size I wanted. But it was free.

I haven't used sylgaurd encapsulant, but I am sure it is the best for longevity. But it is also expensive. I used EVA laminant and a heat gun. Sealed it right up. At least it's not as expensive or messy to work with.

Just be creative and safe. For anything large or grid tied you want to stick with factory built UL Listed components.

Green