Cutting solar cells

[SunEagle]

So for example the 5.0x0.2mm solar bus. How much electrons would it hold. Where do I find the spec.
Im way over my head becuase I bought a bunch of solder and tabbing and have no clue about there specs.
I thought it was all determine by thickness.

I am not sure exactly how much that bus will handle. If you can find the manufacturer they should be a specification on what type of material it is and the amount of current it will transmit but I doubt you will find the amount of electrons it will hold.

[Guest]

You guys dont mind if I keep asking questions do you?
I mean, the only thing I enjoy doing is tabbing these cells together & on the side I like to do little expirements.

Im sure most tabbing and Bus can handle a bit of current right for just smaller panels I dont have to worry as much even if I dont have spec.

I will have to do some investigating but asking chinese companies who make them sometimes give me the run around or they have no clue what im talking about

[jflorey2]

What im trying to do is have the solar cell producing 3.60volt into the mono cell that only makes 0.61 volt. So Im just trying to make the volts increase in mono cell so it will be 4+Volts with 6+amps perhaps larger..

No, then you'd have an array producing either 4 volts at almost no current, or .6 volts at 6 amps. There is no way you can "trick" physics into supplying more power than is generated from the sum of all the cells you have.

What im thinking is I need a Array of these tiny Cells creating 3.60 volts and low amp. And create atleast 1 amp out of array of small cells but high voltage. To push high voltage into my mono cell, so in return in creates high wattage.

Won't work.

[SunEagle]

No, then you'd have an array producing either 4 volts at almost no current, or .6 volts at 6 amps. There is no way you can "trick" physics into supplying more power than is generated from the sum of all the cells you have.

Won't work.

Unless you can find new and untested materials to construct a more efficient pv cell. That IMO can take billions of dollars and some very sophisticated lab work.

[Guest]

So you guys firm on the idea you cant mix 2 different kinds of solar cells together.

[jflorey2]

So you guys firm on the idea you cant mix 2 different kinds of solar cells together.

You certainly can. But you don't get the best of both types of cells - you get the worst. In other words, you could put two poorly matched 5 watt cells together and end up with 1 watt instead of 10. If they are very well matched, you might get 10 watts.

[SunEagle]

You certainly can. But you don't get the best of both types of cells - you get the worst. In other words, you could put two poorly matched 5 watt cells together and end up with 1 watt instead of 10. If they are very well matched, you might get 10 watts.

I agree. The technology is such that you will not improve by "adding different things together" but more than likely regress due to the multiple weak components.

Yes thats what Ive been seeing as well.

[Guest]

Okay I got the tabbing wire or busbar information. the 0.16x1.8mm
So just wondering about how much electrons can go through this. Without degrading the cells and such.

How much current will be allowed to go through this

1, copper: oxygen-free copper content ≥99.97%

2, copper resistivity: OFC ≤0.01724Ωmm2 / m

3, the coating composition: 60% Sn 40% Pb

4, solder melting point: 179-224 ℃

5, coating thickness: 0.01 ~ 0.04mm can be customized, double-sided uniform coating

6, ribbon elongation: soft state ≥25%, ≥15% semi-soft state

7, the width of error: ± 0.05mm thickness error: ± 0.005mm

[jflorey2]

Okay I got the tabbing wire or busbar information. the 0.16x1.8mm
So just wondering about how much electrons can go through this. Without degrading the cells and such.

How much current will be allowed to go through this

1, copper: oxygen-free copper content ≥99.97%

2, copper resistivity: OFC ≤0.01724Ωmm2 / m

3, the coating composition: 60% Sn 40% Pb

4, solder melting point: 179-224 ℃

5, coating thickness: 0.01 ~ 0.04mm can be customized, double-sided uniform coating

6, ribbon elongation: soft state ≥25%, ≥15% semi-soft state

7, the width of error: ± 0.05mm thickness error: ± 0.005mm

Good data.

From the busbar dimensions you can calculate the resistance per meter of busbar. 1 amp will dissipate 1 watt when sent through a 1 ohm resistor, so now you know power dissipated given current.

Now comes the hard part. You have to calculate temperature rise per watt, or degrees C per watt. That's a common spec in electronic devices, but you won't be able to calculate it easily for your application, since things like encapsulant thermal conductivity, soldering method and glass type will influence it. You can test this to see what it actually is.

Once you have that, then determine the hottest temp the cells can tolerate. That will give you maximum amps. 1 amp is 6.241×10¹⁸ electrons per second, so now you know how many electrons can safely go through it.

[Guest]

Okay so I should get the Spec sheet of the Cells now?

To test Temperature. I use a Heat Detector Tester to test how hot the cells get When Finished the panel?

Now comes the hard part yes.. Im not sure I understand what to do, and how to calculate this.

For a Guy like me Im not to great at math.
im just wondering how you calculate this

[Guest]

Should I get specs for the Tabbing Wire also? I see you can tell this is for busbar, I wasnt to sure.

[thediylife]

You would usually cut a solar cell in half if you want to get more voltage out of the same area (number of original cells). If you only wanted or had 18 cells which each produce 0.5V and you wanted to produce an 18V panel to charge a 12V battery then you could cut the cells in half and connect them all in series thereby creating an 18V panel. The wattage would stay the same as the original combined 18 cells but you would now have 36 cells connected in series.

As far as cutting the cells is concerned, a craft knife works, you just have to be careful.

[Rubenz]

I suscribed to this forum about cutting cells because I have a question: What happens if I cut the cell in diagonal just to obtain two triangular cells. Would it work? Could they be joined in series?

[jflorey2]

I suscribed to this forum about cutting cells because I have a question: What happens if I cut the cell in diagonal just to obtain two triangular cells. Would it work?

Depends on the topside current collector topology.

[Mike90250]

Cutting cells at home, works, for a while. The stress and micro-cracks initiated with the cutting, will slowly propagate over the entire cell and eventually ruin it. Factory cut cells are annealed after cutting to prevent this. So you can expect a couple years before they go bad