REALLY, REALLY CHEAP solar panel frames

[cyberfast]

mmmm.... cardboard, voltage, moisture..... You do realize that the plastic and the silicone seal is not water vapor proof, and will eventually, in a season or two, start fogging up with condensation .

this is my test panel i never thought about vapor. thank you for the tip. was that your roof of panels? my panels are not going on my roof they are out in a field on a trailer made of steal. also i raised the panels a inch above the main platform to help cool them. please give me some ideas on building these panel frames i have over 3kw of them.thank you

[Mike90250]

Photo was of someone else's roof in Southern Calif, but plastic panels, see all the melty goo that ran down the shingles.

You should allow at least 4" of airspace under the panels, 1 inch will not cool them much at all, and they will run very hot, and thusly, lower power.

[cyberfast]

Photo was of someone else's roof in Southern Calif, but plastic panels, see all the melty goo that ran down the shingles.

You should allow at least 4" of airspace under the panels, 1 inch will not cool them much at all, and they will run very hot, and thusly, lower power.

what is a good temp for the panels to run at. my test panel is running @ 142 degrees F on a full sunny day temp outside is 83 degrees F. i tested this yesterday. once again thanks for the good info.

[russ]

You can figure on a loss of something in the range of 0.5% per degree C over 25

[falfal3]

Suitcase generator

I have been thinking about that since I've heard that oxygen shortens the life of the cells. However, the application here is:

a) small shack in the boondocks
b) cheap homemade solar panel w/cheap charge controller
c) a few 6V deep cycle batteries
d) a little inverter

Benefit: no longer have to run little Honda "suitcase" generator at night to power 3 or 4 little twisty light bulbs for a few hours. If this works, then 5 years or so I'd upgrade to real panels, real inverter, and 6 or 8 batteries.

Hey rstephan, what about using the generator to charge the batteries also. Just a thought, Steve.

[Bratan]

I just finished my first homemade solar panel. After purchasing the cells, and charge controller off eBay for less than 100 bucks, I realized that the cost of building the frame could exceed the cost of the cells and I was just basically building a window box.
I found a dual pane vinyl window for $5 at the Restore (that's the Habitat for Humanity's resale of donated and used building materials). I took it apart, removed the dual pane unit and cut the foam tape out from the bottom. I had mounted the cells on a piece acrylic sign plastic. The plastic sheet was then slid into the dual pane unit and resealed at the bottom. The unit was then reinstalled into the vinyl window frame.
Attached is a photo.

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That's freaking awesome!!! I never heard of ReStore before, looks like there's one close by I'll definitely check it out
Design with Walmart picture frames is great too!!! So glad I found this site