Possible encapsulation material?

[longwolf]

This is all kind of new to me be the only way to find out is through study and ask.
What is a good material to use for the front cover for your solar panel? I do not want to use something cheap that will not hold very long or crack easily?
Thank you,Bill

Personally, I'd use regular 1/4 inch tempered glass.
I used low iron tempered on this panel, but came to the conclusion that it's not worth the added expense.
I have a thread about it here:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?t=2230

[longwolf]

We had more rain and then it dried up again. So I checked the back of the panel. It looked good except for one of the solder pads that is showing a bit of black corrosion. Looking closer I could see that a bubble had popped above the pad leaving a hole.

So I took some alcohol (it's pretty much what you use to remove water from a gas tank), poured it over the hole and let it evaporate. Then I covered the hole with a piece of electrical tape.

The CS on the back of the panel is thin so I also covered any solder 'bumps', that might work their way through, with pieces of tape.
Next I took some extra wide, heavy duty Reynolds wrap and used some spray on adhesive to cover the back of the panel. It took two pieces of foil to cover all the cells so the center section has about 10 inches of overlap.

Now this reminds me of when I was a kid and wrapped a battery in aluminum foil, so next I tested for continuity between the foil and the positive/negative leads. Lucky for me, looks like I got away with it.
I couldn't get the foil on without quite a few small wrinkles, so I took the last couple of ounces of clear seal and ran a thin bead over the edges of the foil.

Hopefully, this panel will work for a good long time now, but the thinned CS at the center of the cells may never dry

[tlgoose]

Panel Failure(cs failure)

Here`s my update.
I put my panel in the Florida sun yesterday morning.It got quite hot.I had 2 very small bubbles in the cs.By mid afternoon the little bubbles(not even the size of a 16 penny nailhead)became 3/4 of the panel.Unable to work them out.Dollar for dollar it would have been cheaper for me to use slyguard then clear seal.unlucky for me, panel unusable.Lucky for me i found a flexible panel on Craigslist for $20.00.
tlgoose

[longwolf]

Here`s my update.
I put my panel in the Florida sun yesterday morning.It got quite hot.I had 2 very small bubbles in the cs.By mid afternoon the little bubbles(not even the size of a 16 penny nailhead)became 3/4 of the panel.Unable to work them out.Dollar for dollar it would have been cheaper for me to use slyguard then clear seal.unlucky for me, panel unusable.Lucky for me i found a flexible panel on Craigslist for $20.00.
tlgoose

I hate to hear about your bad luck.
But if you don't seal or dam the panel well first I don't think the slyguard will work any better for you.

[tlgoose]

It did finally seal on the front.I`ve had it laying face down for quite some time.Center was alittle plyable but when turned over (for several days)it held tight.I sealed the back with caulking (3 tubes)and plywood then caulking again.Everything seamed fine and it had been sitting outside for awhile(under screened room),I moved it out to diect sun.It got real hot.I think maybe the lexan expanded or something to that effect.Well it was worth a shot and a good experiment,just a poor outcome.I still have some single cells and i`ll try something different next time,just in a smaller size.
tlgoose

[charlie_ruizpr]

Is it possible to use Polyurethane Construction Adhesive in between the two glasses?

[longwolf]

Is it possible to use Polyurethane Construction Adhesive in between the two glasses?

I don't know anything about that material.
But I'm only using one piece of glass, the CS and then aluminum foil over the back.

[charlie_ruizpr]

I don't know anything about that material.
But I'm only using one piece of glass, the CS and then aluminum foil over the back.

This is the site that may explain what the product is http://www.liquidnails.com/products/...p?productId=54

I have used it to seal automobile glass and have seen auto glass shops use this stuff all the time.

[Layout1]

Well how did the liquid nails work out for you?

Thanks
Dave T

[longwolf]

Well how did the liquid nails work out for you?

Thanks
Dave T

The Clear Seal I used is a liquid nails product.
All things considered, it turned out well for my first shot at making a panel.

I don't know about the one that Charlies talking about.
Two things I'd want to know about it are, how clear is it and what's the temp range?

[charlie_ruizpr]

The Clear Seal I used is a liquid nails product.
All things considered, it turned out well for my first shot at making a panel.

I don't know about the one that Charlies talking about.
Two things I'd want to know about it are, how clear is it and what's the temp range?

It is black and is for automobile use, I have seen it applied on cars at auto glass shops and on mine particulary and I kno it seals well, don't kno the temp range, but I do kno that it does not crack automobiles glass. It is even used on engine mounts to stiffen them up.

[longwolf]

Well, you couldn't use it for encapsulating the cells then.
Encapsulation not only protects the front and backs of the cells, it also can increase the amount of light that gets to the cells.
I explained that in an experiment I described earlier in this thread (I believe).

It is black ....

[Layout1]

The Clear Seal I used is a liquid nails product.
All things considered, it turned out well for my first shot at making a panel.

I don't know about the one that Charlies talking about.
Two things I'd want to know about it are, how clear is it and what's the temp range?

Well does that mean it leaked a little bit for your first one or what? Like to know what all those things considered might be. Like did it do the job? What tests if any have you conducted on the panel, etc.

Thanks
Dave T

[longwolf]

Well does that mean it leaked a little bit for your first one or what? Like to know what all those things considered might be. Like did it do the job? What tests if any have you conducted on the panel, etc.

Thanks
Dave T

Here are a couple of posts were I describe some mistakes I made and what I did about them.

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showpost.php?p=12687&postcount=52

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showpost.php?p=12904&postcount=77

And here's a post that shows how the panel is doing.

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showpost.php?p=12081&postcount=28

[Need4Speed]

[QUOTE=smoothbrad;11737]A 2-part platinum-based (Addition cure) room temperature vulcanizing (rtv) silicone rubber is most suited because during the cure cycle this material will not exude any by-products such as acetic acid and alcohol, both of which are associated with tin-based silicones.

Platinum based systems do not need to be thinned out with any solvents either, and are considered to be archival in the sense that they will not modify or change over time. Solaris