Looking for a bluk source of broken cells as a ham radio project

[chuckinnc]

Being a ham radio/electronic diy type person I would like to purchase a quantity of broken, chiped or blemished cells. I am trying to build solar panels for use when out club tries it's " off the grid " outings. Would consider whole blemished panels if they could be found reasonable as this would only be use intermittently. I have checked Ebay, however there prices for broken cells aren't much less than good ones, so I am looking for
other sources.

[PNjunction]

I can understand the fun of getting trash to do something useful, but at the price of panels today, why not do it right?

This project is kind of like finding 1000 feet of twisted old RG-58 in a dumpster, and using it to feed a monster log-periodic. That may leave an unfavorable impression of what that antenna is all about.

[bcroe]

Being a ham radio/electronic diy type person I would like to purchase
a quantity of broken, chiped or blemished cells. I am trying to build solar panels for use when
out club tries it's " off the grid " outings. Would consider whole blemished panels if they could be
found reasonable as this would only be use intermittently. I have checked Ebay, however there
prices for broken cells aren't much less than good ones, so I am looking for
other sources.

You can get plenty of reject cells on Eb*y. I found its practically impossible to put together
a perfect panel with 6" x 6" cells (which are so fragile), but 3 x 6 cells are manageable. I
would never waste time on broken cells; there may be cracks which will ruin your panel
output.

DIY panels that actually work, will be larger, heavier, more expensive, and far more labor
intensive than just buying commercial panels. I currently have a DIY to demo this, after
quite a few that just couldn't deliver, or even survive.

However, it will take a lot of cells/panels to do anything useful, batteries will be required,
and batteries will need a generator. You might as well just use a generator and be done
with it. The sun often won't shine when you need it, and never at night. Bruce Roe K9MQG

[SunEagle]

I agree with Bruce. Building your own solar panel from reject cells could be fun and a learning tool, but more than likely result in poor or no electrical production.

Since you want to use it during a field exercise when radio transmission is required why take the risk? Better to spend your money on a good quite inverter style generator.

Besides even a DIY panel and battery system will cost you a lot more than the generator.

[chuckinnc]

Thanks for the advise

I will be buying some cheap ebay panels for home use and a pto generator for long outages or possible shtf. However I already have some cells and as a ham, just messing around to satisfy my curiosity. I thought I would
make up a few more panels when I got started putting the cells together, sense I will have extra tabbing wire and supplies.

[inetdog]

I will be buying some cheap ebay panels for home use and a pto generator for long outages or possible shtf. However I already have some cells and as a ham, just messing around to satisfy my curiosity. I thought I would
make up a few more panels when I got started putting the cells together, sense I will have extra tabbing wire and supplies.

The cells you get on eBay listed as A grade 100% good cells are usually bad enough (almost certainly not A grade since the manufacturer would not have let them go on the small lot market if they were) that trying to buy actually broken and cosmetically blemished cells is a really bad investment.

[Colt45]

Local Boy Scouts got some form the USCG that removes "damaged" (broken glass, but works fine) off weather and navigation equipment. (the price was perfect!)

[inetdog]

Local Boy Scouts got some form the USCG that removes "damaged" (broken glass, but works fine) off weather and navigation equipment. (the price was perfect!)

Glad to hear that the price was right. But without the glass intact just normal atmospheric moisture will destroy the cells in a year or two.

[Sunking]

Chuck I am KF5LJW and can add some both ham radio wisdon and 35 year electrical engineer wisdom and experience you might respect.

I have a rig that has a 250 watt solar panel, with an overkill of a 80 amp MPPT controller (only 20 is required), and a 12 volt 250 AH battery. Never use it much the way I have it configured because my Astron 75 floats the system. However it does get used in the field with two modifications, 1. Only take a 100 watt panel with me because it is lighter, smaller . 2. No charge controller.

My secret is I never turn it on. I just wire it up to look like it works, but is just cosmetic and the other hams think it is cool. Those 12 volt 250 AH batteries are more than enough to run for 2 days with plenty to spare.

So here is the deal for a ham; How Much Bang For The Buck? Is that true? If you agree read on.

First if you insist on using a panel, just buy a discounted 100 to 200 watt panel. Should be less than $100. You cannot buy enough cells to mess with to make a panel that will work better for less money. Then the crappy amoun tof time involved and countless times taking it apart fixing mistakes. Panels in the end of the day will cost you less money per watt. We do not even have to mention the time and frustration lost on DIY.

But here is the bottom line. The battery is the STAR OF THE SHOW. The panels are just the pretty curtains behind the show and do not really serve much a purpose. The big bucks are in the batteries. Regardless of solar panel or not, the battery capacity will be about the same with or without panels. With a good pair of golf cart batteries range in 200 to 250 AH. With a 100 watt Xrcv you can operate for 2 days. Put a 100 watt panel on it and operate 3 days. Or just charge the battery at home on your 12 volt bench supply and leave it there floating like I do. Battery stays fully charged in the event it is needed and does not go to waste. See where this is going?

But here is formula. For every 100 watts of panel you will need 10 amps of charge controller, and 100 AH of battery @ 12 volts. Minimum required 100 watts, 10 amps, 100 AH @ 12 volts.

Another peice of food for thought. I assume you will use a SSB modulation on a 100 watt rig right? With a 100 AH battery you can dead key the mike and send two-tone modulation for 7 hours before draining the battery. However that is not the real way life works for a ham as all you do is basically rag chew during contest. You get a contact, confirm, toss them aside as they are of no more use, and move on to next contact for a peg count. Get the most contacts and you win a warm fuzzy. What I am driving at after doing a few contest myself, duty cycle is less than 10% so to be conservative and use 10% duty cycle for voice SSB you can operate a 100 watt rig 64 hours on a 100 AH 12 volt True Deep Cycle battery.

See where this is going? Just get a decent battery of around 100 to 150 watt AH is more than adequate. Then if you want to throw more money at it to put lipstick on a pig, by all means stck a 100 watt panel and 10 amp controller on it. It's only money, who cares if it does anything or not.

73's & Out