Buying A grade solar cells

[Zardiw]

Ahhh.....just saw that .....about the shipping.......they come from Indiana

But if you're close to the border, you can open a PO box in the states.....then drive across to get em...

Also on your tests......what's the delta % difference in various cells?.....z

Ya I looked at this before I was impressed with the cost. for 250 for 250 cells. Its good offer. but they charge 90 bucks for international shipping im from canada. So the price of cells goes up a bit
I do want 10 of those cells thou just to check them out.
Im just not fully impressed with the 16.6% efficient solar world mono series solar cells 4.04w
while
wdf061301
cells are 18.5% 4.5 watt
I can also get bus, flux and tabbing for all my cells to boot

And if you plan to purchase cells from him can you tell him that Pirate-Frog mentioned you.

[Zardiw]

Nah I wont buy them. There cheap price becuase they are B-GRADE some cells have small chips on the edge, blemishes,finger prints,scratches,ETC
I dont want any of that my friend. I rather pay full price if thats the case.
I actually getting up to 100 cells of these. And will be performing some tests later on to see just how effective they are.

Yeah, but that doesn't effect their output.......Plus they are a hell of a lot easier to build with.......just saying.........Here's another good deal 1KW for $250:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161949483965...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

PS......Post your results......I think the secret to a good solar panel is for all the cells to be very close to the same power.......z

Nah I wont buy them. There cheap price becuase they are B-GRADE some cells have small chips on the edge, blemishes,finger prints,scratches,ETC
I dont want any of that my friend. I rather pay full price if thats the case.
I actually getting up to 100 cells of these. And will be performing some tests later on to see just how effective they are.

[Zardiw]

I purchase my Mono Cells from wdf061301 on ebay http://www.ebay.com/usr/wdf061301?eu...xe=exe,ext=ext

This is from NEO SOLAR POWER based in China And Taiwan

They have a great video you can check out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qDBgB9rcA

They do have two types of Mono Cells. The black type ones and they have A blue type with different conductor patterns. Very interesting. Both cells perform the same Ive tested.
Im happy with them, although nothing is 100percent perfect with solar cells. some have little noticable scratches here and there but nothing is perfect. I dont think you can really get a 100 percent perfect batch of cells lol.
Im still looking around tho

Kinda expensive at $2.25 per.....But they look nice............

Check these out.....Latest and Greatest. No Tabbing required: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUNPOWER-FLE...EAAOSwVL1WDd0T

$1.79/per

z

I purchase my Mono Cells from wdf061301 on ebay http://www.ebay.com/usr/wdf061301?eu...xe=exe,ext=ext

This is from NEO SOLAR POWER based in China And Taiwan

They have a great video you can check out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qDBgB9rcA

They do have two types of Mono Cells. The black type ones and they have A blue type with different conductor patterns. Very interesting. Both cells perform the same Ive tested.
Im happy with them, although nothing is 100percent perfect with solar cells. some have little noticable scratches here and there but nothing is perfect. I dont think you can really get a 100 percent perfect batch of cells lol.
Im still looking around tho

[Zardiw]

If you look hard enough and put in the right "key" search words, you can find just about anything on the web. You will have to buy in bulk though. Try this website or maybe this one....

I went to google and this was my search = "solar cells for sale direct bulk grade"

Thanks for that info!!!! .....Most of those are pretty expensive though.

On EBay Everbrightsolar2003 has the best deals on broken ones. The box I bought had a lot of whole ones in it at the bottom.

HeartoftheSun is selling the new Maxeon/SolarPower ones too.

Fwiw, I've tabbed some broken cells and will test them tomorrow........will give you an update.

z

[Always A DIY Guy]

If you look hard enough and put in the right "key" search words, you can find just about anything on the web. You will have to buy in bulk though. Try this website or maybe this one....

I went to google and this was my search = "solar cells for sale direct bulk grade"

[PNjunction]

Total joke - as has been mentioned before, there are no solar police to ensure that "grade a" cells, are in fact grade-A before shipment. Actually there are - manufacturers get the true grade-a cells that pass the test - you don't.

I have some loose defective cells from 1978. I think I'll put them online, and call them "Grade AAAA++++".

There are many unseen manufacturing defects, such as micro-cracks, and quite often the ARC-coating that normally goes on cells that pass the test is not applied to those that don't, before they are passed on to unsuspecting DIY'ers.

[FunGas]

I bought 'A' grade cells from that seller, they all tested the same (up to spec). The panel they made is still working well, but I think the Sylgard 184 has a lot to do with that...

[SunEagle]

So let's say a cell cracks in half. Then on both pieces micro cracks will develop along where the cell cracked. Is that what you are saying? What if the cell was encapsulated in a high quality solar epoxy liquid.

z

Once a cell has cracked it is no longer anywhere close to being a grade A. It has now become "scrap".

[Zardiw]

cells go through an annealing process after they are diced to size. Any cells that crack after that process, will develop microcracks throughout, and will cease to function well.

Thank you.

If you are making knickacks and garden art, it's fine, and they will last a few years, but if you want panels to power your house and fridge, buy factory made panels and sleep easy.

So let's say a cell cracks in half. Then on both pieces micro cracks will develop along where the cell cracked. Is that what you are saying? What if the cell was encapsulated in a high quality solar epoxy liquid.

z

[Mike90250]

cells go through an annealing process after they are diced to size. Any cells that crack after that process, will develop microcracks throughout, and will cease to function well.

If you are making knickacks and garden art, it's fine, and they will last a few years, but if you want panels to power your house and fridge, buy factory made panels and sleep easy.

[Zardiw]

Now I have a question on broken cells.

How do solar cells work anyway........my assumption is that as long as there are trace bars on the piece that are spanning the broken piece, then that piece will still generate voltage and current. Is that correct?

And if you had 2 broken pieces that when hooked in parallel would provide the same amperage...or close enough..to an unbroken cell.........well, could you put it in the line and not have any degrading of overall performance of the panel?

I'm thinking of making a panel out of broken cells.......so the question of having room on the board for a 2 piece 'cell' would be irrelevant.

Also......let's say you had a whole cell and you broke it into 2.....or a crack separated it into 2 pieces....as long as the traces were still intact....would that cell still operate as before? .....or would it depend on which direction and position the crack occurred?

z

[Zardiw]

Old Threads

Ban this Chi-Com idiot. Geez digging up a 4 year old thread.

Ya know.......I could never understand this knocking of old threads.

I mean.....has the knowledge revealed by reading the thread become passe' or something.

Does the fact that knowledge was posted a long time ago somehow make that knowledge invalid or wrong?

I for one learned a lot from this thread.

Perhaps it makes a lot more sense to keep threads going instead of starting new threads every few months or so and repeating the same knowledge in multiple threads.

And fwiw, I came here through Google..........and by gosh this thread is good enough for Google......no matter how old it is......and if it's good enough for Google......well then it's good enough for me.

Maybe we should kill all the old people while we're at it........I mean.....they're OLD......and what could they possibly contribute?

And finally........commenting on how old a thread is seems to me to be trollish behaviour at best........and if that was the intent.....well....ya got me......lol

PS. That link is still valid and provides a perfectly good explanation on the grading of cells.
z