Because I think that the price of a solar panel is still pretty high(in Europe), and because the stimulation from our government (in the Netherlands) is not so good (very,very complicated and time consuming) I started the project of building my own solar panel. I would like to invite anyone who has some experience with this or is interested in it ,to give me any advice or remarks about it. The main challenge is to build a panel that can withstand heat, cold, rain and hail for many years.
Buying My First Solar Cells
In October 2008 I bought my first 100 cells via Ebay. But as I later learned, they were still very expensive: 300 Euros for 100 cells, including shipping. I was told they should produce 1,98 Watt each. Below a picture :
The First Solar Cells
After some experimenting and very long brainstorming about how to continue, I found another seller on Ebay who had the same cells (of which he gave the specification that they were 1,75 Wp each……) But these were slightly damaged. Well I decided to buy 500 cells ,a mix of 3 different qualities. The seller had not counted these cells but there were 620 cells, of which after a first selection , just over 500 were reasonably good. Not a bad deal to start with. And a lot cheaper! Also now I had over 100 cells for practice on soldering and handling.
The 620 Cells.
Building the First Small Panel.
Well I got started. Beginning with the soldering-technique, that takes some practice, but after a while you get the hang of it. And now my first small experimental panel is ready! The main focus and moreover challenge is to get the cells 100% sealed: air and water tight. The cheapest solution for me is to make a double-glass construction. And the cells in between the 2 plates of glass. The panel is made of 12 cells, each 0.55 Volts. On the picture below you can see many purple coloured wires. Those wires are each connected in between each cell so afterwards I can still do some measurements to compare each separate cell.
My First Do-it-yourself Solar Panel
The First Measurements in the Sun
I must say that at first I was worried whether I would see the cells really produce the power they should. But after building a variable resistance (making it possible for me to roughly find the maximum power point) the sun at last was shining (not much sunshine here beginning of February) and I got my first real measurement : 15,5 Watt. According to the specifications the panel should give a maximum of 12 x 1,75 W = 21 Wp. Given the fact that the glass takes away about 10% of the power,without the glass it would have been about 17 Watt. I expect that during summer as the sun rises much higher above the horizon, the measurement will give higher readings , thus coming closer to the specifications…. I am using normal 4 mm (0.16 inch) glass because it costs me nothing. If you just look around near places were they renovate old houses you can get the old glass for free…… This compared to the real stuff they use for solarpanels which is quite expensive and probably very difficult to find.
Influence of Heating the Panel in the Sun.
During the first measurements, I found that the heating up of the panel was pretty strong. But this especially was the case for the backside. were the cells are glued upon (using the same kit I used for glueing and sealing the panel). This panel is 12 mm (0.47 inch) thick : 2 plates of glass each 4 mm (0.16 inch) and 4 mm in between. What troubles me is the temperature-difference between the front and backplate of glass. This will result in different expansions creating stress on the sealing,if that is repeated too often it will start leaking. Now I am using the same kit as is being used in solar panel factories. But it still worries me. A solution can be to keep the panels small, so the difference in expansion stays minimal.
Improvements
A solution to the temperature-problem can also be to make the gap between the 2 plates of glass smaller. So the heat will be more evenly dissipated to both the front and backside ( thereby also creating more cooling capacity). My next panel (picture below) is the same size,the difference is the distance between the 2 plates of glass : it is now 1.5 mm (0.059 inch) …..and this also makes the sealing a lot easier and thereby better. I have used pieces of copper winding wire that I happened to have : 1.2 mm (0.047 inch) thick. I took several pieces of about 3 cm and spread them evenly along the side on the glass backplate. Then the kit along them all around the full edge. And finally pressed the front plate on it. The result is a gap between the plates somewhere between 1.2 mm and 1.5 mm. So on the inside, there is some trapped air (with, of course, a certain amount of humidity in it), which can potentially cause condensation. But my hope is that the amount of that is so small (only very small amount of air……) that it will not be a factor…… ( In the first panel I did put some stuff that can “eat” the condensation. I got this out of old double glass that I separated,the stuff is inside the aluminium strips between the double glass edges)
The Improved Panel
The kit will have to dry for a few days, but anyhow the weather forecast does not indicate any sunshine the coming days………
First Results
Bottom line is that if the output of each cell really hits 1,75 Wp then I can come to a price of Euro 1,20 per Wp (or even lower than that….) And with such a price the panel will not have to last for 20 years……..but off course that is my aim ! That will be the main challenge ! But I must say with this second panel my hopes are getting higher.
You can find more (and more up to date) information on my website
Well, who feels like building panels also ? Or give me some advice, or share experience. I do not mind getting negative critics because they might be correct………and they are there to be solved !
Next Phase
Update: 15 februari 2010:
The first systeem of 400Wp is now fully functional and produced it’s first electricity. The cost price is now around $1.68 per Wp and is expected to drop to $1.10. More information about the next phase in the project can be read in the article DIY Built Solarpanel Installation Now Operational.
Lamp Portal
Oil Price
WTI Crude Oil
171 replies on “Building my own Solar Panel”
Great job!
Everybody could go solar, so why hesitate or burn the last gallons of dirty oil?
To be continued… 😉
Awesome, I want to do the same (some day …)
You should build your own line and sell it at an affordable price. That would help the spreading of solar energy.
Great project!
Note though that your international readers won’t understand that by “kit” you mean a certain type of adhesive, as it’s a Dutch word.
Bravo!
Serving the community by good example.
Reaching such a low price is nice, but it’s not really fair to compare it to the price of factory produced solar panels.
– He used damaged cells while factory produced solar panels use good or perfect cells.
– The price of factory produced solar panels takes labour into account, he did not.
– Factory produced solar panels generally have long warranties, he has none. If it breaks after a short while, the extra costs are his.
– Factory produced solar panels are expected to last a long time because of high quality materials and workmanship. The builder of this panel is already worrying about moisture in the panel. When they’re on the roof, the labour costs of replacing them goes up.
Regardless, it’s a nice hobby project, and it’s probably fun to do. But it’s not for everyone: I want my solar panels to last at least 25 years on my roof without any worries about quality. It might even be cheaper in the long run to buy factory produced solar panels because I expect them to last longer, thus saving replacement and labour costs.
Anyway, nice article, and it got olino on slashdot 😉
Well ,Jeroen
My main focus is on stimulating others (who are handy at do-it-yourself) to stop hesitating about going solar ! But go for it !
But we will see how my panels last or not ! Problem with that is that it takes time to show how long they last.And I hope it will take a lot of time ……
If they last for 5 years, then by that time : who knows what the price of factory panels will be…..
And he didn’t count the glass. For mass DIY-production, not everyone will get recycled windows. Also, are there different glass qualities? Do they withstand hail?
And his panel don’t seem to have a frame. But you need one for fixing it somewhere. (As well as additional fixing material, like for fab panels as well.)
Good article. I suspect Dutch and Danish have the word “kit” in common, meaning the elastic, normally linseed oil-based material used for fixating windows. In English, however, it is called “putty”.
If the back is still getting hot why not add a solar thermal to it and get some hot water too. Just put some copper pipes around the back of the panel using the water to cool the panel whilst pre-heating your hot water, it might not be a great dealof heat but it’s free and should/might help with cooling the back of the panel…
How come I cannot digg this article anymore?
It seems that Digg.com is down! I wonder if it is caused by Slashdot…
Here’s mine without any attention paid to weatherproofing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIQQgXWmu0
In the US, a kit is a purchased collection of parts ready to be put together. Thanks for clarifying the use of the word kit in the article.
To Jeroen, you make valid points, but let me make this point. A warranty is only good if the company is still around for 25 years. If they go out of business you are still stuck replacing them yourself.
Nice, I love to see inventive people taking on projects like this.
Great Article! I agree that maybe adding some copper tubing or high heat plastic like they use in hot water flooring, to the back to help cool the cells and get some free whot water in retun is a good idea. Maybe there is a way to use a few low draw computer type fans for cooling, although there wold be the condensation problem. I am building a similar device using solar cells and low draw computer fans to replace my old ineficient AC fan that draws out the heat from my attic in the summer.
Chris,
Great article. Can you also use lots of mirrors ( or cheap made ones ) to point the sun light to the panel and improve the ratio?
Hey, why don’t you get electricity from the temperature difference at the back of the panel? YOu could use thermoelectric cooler panels from eBay (just instead of powering them, you’d be getting power from them).
Regarding the moisture/condensation problem, try flushing the panel with Nitrogen gas before sealing it up. This should reduce the likelyhood of corrosion, etc.
Hi,
I would consider this a nice experiment. It does not make sense to compare the price per wp. First, the durability is what makes modules expensive. Go and have a look at what standards are required if you want to sell a panel. If you want to use a panel in a productive installation, it should not break because of some heavy weather, you do not want to burn your whole installation because of a moisture-related short circuit in one module, and the cost per watt gets rather high if modules have to be replaced every 5 years instead of running more then 20 years without any work. Than, it seems that you measure the non-interconnected cells. The problem is that the worst cell defines the performance of the whole installation, so matching the cells is part of what you pay for. The temperature problems, by the way, are not so much a problem for the glass – but they will seriously affect your power output.
So keep interest in the technology, but do not make wrong assumptions on the price of a commercial industry-grade module. And when you get into production of electricity, you are somehow in an industry-related field. Electricity is not about prototypes today…
Great job, I noticed not many out there use there mind anymore. You can always buy them, but then they really do not understand them. I bet you feel very proud. I know if i would have. I am staying small with solar power for my fence line for the horses. I can only dream of a full panel.
Keep up the good work.
I want to wait a little bit till the new solar cells come out which have a 15% higher output. Then I try to start my own power plant 😉
While I found your project very interesting, I did a quick ROI (Return On Investment) calculation.
My utility company currently pays only about $0.0418 per Kilowatt for customers using a feedback interconnect (that is to say, you are feeding electricity back into the grid). Based on your calculations of watts generated, converting what you paid into Euros with the current Euro/USD exchange, it would take me almost 14 years to break even with my investment.
I am not, of course, figuring in the “good feeling” I might have in impacting the environment, etc. However, from a pure cost basis, this makes almost no sense economically at present.
Here’s hoping that newer technologies and manufacturing techniques come along to bring the ROI below the 5-year mark. This would encourage individual consumers and small businesses to consider alternative power generation sources like photovoltaic cells.
It’s great to see how much interest this article has raised. I also looked at Slashdot, where there are a lot of comments, both positive and negative. I would say that this article is a great success. The website has a lot of other good articles as well. Keep up the good work!
to Greg:
Hi Greg.
When making that calculation, the value of electricity to the end user is the amount the end user pays the power company to get a kilowatt hour(kwh) not how much the power company pays the customer to buy some back.
If the user pays $0.0850 per kwh to the power company but can produce their own for any amount under that cost, then they have a cash savings. To get the cost of producing yourself under the 0.0850, just pick a “panel lifetime” that is long enough… 🙂
The last part is a joke of course because no one really knows how long any of the panels made today will last and how efficient they will stay over the long term (solar panel output drops as they age). So the analyst who works for the marketing department picks a lifetime duration that makes the panels look good. Speaking as just such an analyst, its all crap. Don’t trust any of the numbers you see in marketing material. Especially for high tech products. Every three years the game changes completely on those products so know one cares what claims were made 3 years ago. ;-( Yes, that does indicate a low integrity process/mindset. Its the same one that has inhabited the financial markets for the past 15 years (at least)
“know one” should be “no one” (dang Speech software! )
Someone should do this:
Create a new kind of wall outlet with these features:
1: regular AC
2. a DC plug.
Standardize this and solar will get off the ground!
Re: “10% lost because of the glass”, that’s not strictly true. It’s normally “about 4-5% lost, per surface”.
Now, if your glass is separated from the cells by an air-gap, then you have 3 surfaces (“interfaces”) to get reflections: the front of the glass (air->glass), the back of the glass (glass->air), and the front of the cell (air->glass).
BUT, if you can get the cell in very close contact with the glass (less than about 0.2 microns), you effectively eliminate 2 of the interfaces (see “evanescent waves” for more). Or, you could bond the cells to the glass with a thin layer of transparent adhesive.
Hello Richard,
I only made a very inaccurate measurement regarding the percentage I loose using the normal glass,but I do believe that it is near the 10% ,anyhow it is very acceptable as it costs me nothing…..
That is a very good one about the distance to the glass.But one would really need that transparent adhesive,and the cost of it would have to at least balance the gained output of the panel…..would that be possible ?
Hello Dave,
That idea of cooling is one I also have in mind.Main problem here is that there are only 24 hours in a day…..and ofcourse any fluidcirculation to transport heat is not that very simpel as you need safetydevices like overpressurevalves and such,making it complex..
Hello Greg,
Here in the Netherlands the price of electricity is about 20 eurocents,which is about 25 dollarcents…..but I may be wrong. So Europe is different from the USA.But its easy to see that after 6 years I start making money (not realistic because I need an inverter…)And again how long will they last. Well there is only one way to find out…
But I do need the help of anyone who can give me good but critical remarks to reach my goal of panels that last at least 10 years !
Hello Marcio,
That would help but only if you really cool the panel. Because the temp will rise very much and for every degree(celcius) above 25celcius (about 75Fahrenheit)there is a decrease of solar cells-output of about 0.5 percent,and that is a problem…
Hello Me,
About the hail, well now that is my main concern! Although we very seldom have hail the size that some parts of the USA get now and then.I am thinking about taking thicker glass for the frontplate.
But ,emm, that remark about the frame missing, should I really react to that ?
And to all : When calculating my price per Wp I only look at what realtime output of the panels is ,and I certainly do not use the factory given figures.If I would do that I would probably go down to l,00 Euro per Wp. But that is not realistic given the fact that indeed the weakest cell determines the output of the panel.
Thanks ,everybody for the comments !
Very good attempt at DIY solar. Would perspex be any better than glass in terms of stress due to temperature differences between front an back? It may not last 20 years though due to UV damage.
We are having a 4KWP unit put on our roof this summer. This is being made by a company, your information here has given me some good questions to ask them before they get the contract. Especially about the heating up of the panels.
Here in Austria we get 3000 Euros per KWP from the government for installing photovoltaic panels. So that cuts the costs by about half, which is why we decided to do it. But I also like your solution and may make a panel for my workshop in the garden using your guide.
Best regards
Alan
Hello Carbon Farming,
I have considered perspex . Probably better against hail !
But is it also much more sensitive to sanding on the long run,(I believe they call this “crazing”)so the sunlight will then not pass through as easy.
Finally during my search I found out that a lot of glass is being thrown away ,and constructors like to keep old glass in one peace because that doesnt give such a mess. So the glass is free, and it is very difficult to beat that price. If I could find a source giving very cheap perspex I would certainly give it a try !
Hello Alan,
The heating up of solar panels is well known in the solar world,I dont think you should worry to much about that just make sure there is enough ventilation between the roof and the panel.
I wish we had such stimulus from our government in the Netherlands……But on the other hand :If we would have had a good stimulus here ,then I might not given this DIY a try. So Like Johan Cruyff says : Every bad thing has a good side to it !
Best regards to you too Alan !
couldn’t you learn in a solar factory and then learn where they buy components and so making just a question of man-job?
wouldnt it be more easy to use something with wind that’s just mechanical and there should be some gratis fem structure calculators(where the wind is good)?
Some various questions (knowing nothing about solar panel construction, so may not be best Q’s.).
First, about panels:
1. Only reason for glass on 2 sides was cheap cost, Yes?
2. So some other material for bottom side would be fine?
2a. Like aluminum sheet metal? (ignoring thermal expansion Q’s for now)
3. How does heating of solar cells affect their performance? (if they get hot will they still be as efficient? Or will heat cause resistance increases that might lower current output?)
4. Why *air-tight*? Would keeping them dry be sufficient?
I.e. if you had air flow (w/o water leaking in, wouldn’t that improve cooling (important?)?
– Assuming I could use solar cells ‘sitting’ indoors in a type of ‘greenhouse’ (a building, or enclosure w/clear glass top) that kept them dry?
5. Is glass best? or would a poly-carbonate-clear plastic work? (maybe price prohibitive, or other downsides, don’t know…(?) other reasons? (thinking weight).
– Maybe durability would be greatly reduced w/poly?
—-
II. Design delta Q’s:
—-
1. Have you thought about mounting considerations?
2. Density (#panels. vs. space between each panel)?
3. Any sun-following or aiming tech? or only fixed mount? Two complexity levels.
3a. Vertical (to track sun’s arc-height by season)
– Could even be a manual adjust at lowest ‘tech’. Adjust twice or thrice or 4 times/year.
– would provide 47 degree tilt-range centered according to latitude.
– might allow semi-automation (human setting dial or cranking gear); if human present – could optimize, else set for fixed-latitude or sun-arc
– adjustment period could be increasingly refined w/automation for finer periods (monthly, weekly, daily)
3b. 2nd type – horizontal sun tracking by hour or sun tracking
– must be automated & self-powered. (no human needed to track).
4. Relating to II-2+3 above, any thought to use of reflection technology to help focus sunlight on cells to increase efficiency/cell at expense of layout-space.
– Type of reflection(flatside, 1-axis convex, 2-axis convex) would vary by adjustment automations); Don’t know how much benefit.
Those were Q’s and Issues that came to mind. Sorry for length.
Hello Linda ,
I like your questions, a bit much though…but they are good questions !
About the panels
1 yes
2 yes, but different temp expansion
2a with aluminum you would need electrical isolation from the cells but aluminum gives excellent cooling ofcourse.
3 Bad, about minus 0.5 % per degree celsius above 25 celsius(but this doesnt apply to all solar cells,but generally speaking this is about right)
4 there is always moisture in air creating condensation(early in the morning) followed by corrosion.Also indoor you have the condensation problem ,unless perhaps the temp. is very stable and the humidity not to high. If you have air flowing over it ,that (I think) would be very good because it prevents the condensation.But you never know what pollution in that air can do after years….
5 There is special glass made for solar industry having a very low iron content thus letting about 97% of the sun pass through. My glass costs nothing but has about 90%
I just dont know about poly-stuff
Design :
1 Yes, I have not figured that out yet,I think I just have to start trying using aluminum 90 degrees angled strips (sorry I dont now the word in english..) that you can solder easily with a stuff called “alutite”
2 The space must ,I think, be enough to give cooling-ventilation especially for the backside.
3 They claim that here in the Netherlands (52 degrees latitude) that you can win about 30 % or more on a yearly basis using a fully automated 2 axis system. I am considering a system whereby the panels will be adjusted every hour or so about 15 degrees. Maybe it will be a simpel clock that can send the pulses each hour.It doesnt have to be that accurate.
All your ideas also ran through my mind
4 Problem with concentrating the sunlight will be the extra temp.rise…
Chris
Hi, Good attempt, I also need the contact of where to source for industrial made cells
Send me contacts of where I could purchase industrial made cells My contact hopefishfarm@yahoo.com
The solution is to dicipate the heat correct ?
You could achive heat dicipation by gluing flat piece of aluminum on the back side of the plate and the aluminum should have ridget so it disipates the heat faster imagine a piece of aluminum 24 inches long 5 inches high and every 2 inches make a cut on it been 1/16 to 1/8 of and inch wide
this will allow the panel to cool off so much. this will do the cooling.
On the other hand how about harnessing the heat to heat up water to be use for bathing, can be done by cycling pi[pes of could water runing under the solar panel make sure the pipes touch the panel so it takes the heat from the panel if you make the pipe square more surface for heating the water and more heat dicipation from the panel. By the end of your proyect we could apply for pattents in which convine electricity & water heating accomplischemt super good for a home. Good luck my dear friend ( let me know of your progress and let me know of a good source of panels so I build one Hugo G. Hernandez Miami Florida USA 786 326 5544
I had no clue normal glass would have appreciable iron content. I, simplistically just think of it as Si-O2 unless it is specified as ‘special’ (colored, hardened, etc), shows how much I know about glass.
As for the condensation, speaking from only theory, doesn’t condensation occur when a surface is at a temperature below the “dew-point” for the humidity in the air? If the solar cell is suspended below the glass, wouldn’t the cell’s temp be the same as the air around it (thus no condense on cell). The worst threat from condensation (I’m imagining) would be water forming on inside of glass above the cell, falling onto the cell, which could be caused by cold glass trapping warmer-humid air. If the enclosure were vented at top & bottom (I mean a vertical vents) at the highest and lowest portions (as it’s installed at a tilt). You may already have the best design…just thinking of alternatives (which I don’t know would work, but that would be possible).
I mean if, as an example, I went up to my roof, and pretend my rooftop is angled at sun and just built a 2nd-roof layer maybe 50cm high, w/clear glass top, add waterproof siding all around, mounts for cells ~few cm below glass for airflow, — cells would be dry in structure, but not need to be mounted to glass — would just need electrical hookups and physical support. So rather than making easy-to-install panels, just make a whole 2nd-layer ontop of existing roof (or whatever portion of your roof you would use), and mount raw cells in it. If you designed top level high enough ~1m or so, might give room to replace/access individual cells more easily than if a bunch were enclosed in a panel. But the panel would be more portable…
Guess I’m not doing your “build-a-solar-panel” project anymore — but just thinking about howto get power from solar cells more cheaply than buying panels. But it would also be alot of work to get something useful to reduce my electric bill (live ~37N on CA,USA coast), but get alot of summer fog from ocean — sometimes overcast at coast all day but clear @1-km inland; Days of highest likelyhood sunshine are in fall. Even winter/spring (rainy season) has more likelihood of completely sunny day than in summer (due to maritime fog layer @ coast).
A constant torment for my desires for solar energy — don’t know if it would “pay off” in my lifetime (or reduce carbon footprint, if you include mfg. cost of materials).
Looks great…hope you get to something beyond a project!
🙂
Against the heat u may use an old radiator as backpanel. with that u got an active cooling and warm water for your pool/cool roof in the summer.
This is a very encouraging article to get out and DIY! I understand your cost considerations that led you to use free glass, but this is really where I would put up a little cash for the added efficiency. I haven’t done the research but I’d look for a tempered glass (for the hail issue) and one that has an anti-reflective coating. This allows as much of the light to pass through as possible with little loss. Also, your neighbors would prefer to not have glare coming off your roof! I agree that you don’t need glass on both sides. Our factory purchased panels use a very cheap thin plastic to mount the cells to. I would avoid metal since some of it will be exposed to light between the cells and this only adds to the heating issue (perhaps you should check your wires/soldiers as this could be the heat source and may be at risk for damage). Heating is a major problem since most solar cells work better at colder temperatures (I think the sweet spot is about 45’F but I’m not 100% sure). I would go with a durable plastic mounting surface – no heat expansion. I don’t know if it’s possible, but perhaps the cells could be mounted on 4 corners with foam squares. This would keep a pocket of air behind them to allow for further cooling. To the issue of condensation on the inside: I don’t have any new ideas but I really liked the idea to flush with nitrogen before sealing. I’d suggest a small vacuum pump to first reduce the amount of particulate air in the pane before adding pure nitrogen.
Well, good luck and perhaps I’ll give it a try and see how it goes.
we’re building a free software platform to measure solar insolation, house consumption and weather reports at:
http://www.solarnetwork.net/
Great DIY solar job!!
You probably noticed you got the attention of the utility executive trying to discourage solar progress by falsely claiming 0.04C/Kwh – such price is available No where on earth except Wathington State that generates with hydro.
Keep up the good work!! The publick is hyponized by grid electricity much the same with oil. Read this three years from now and everyone will be diligently searching for alternatives to the extremely high cost of centrally generated, public grid electricity and foreign oil – no matter where on earth you reside.
A true ROI will consider the future cost of energy rather than some hypothetically low cost of years past.
Wow, nice job! I think Europe is way ahead of Americans in terms of their commitment to renewable energy.
However, I think enabling home owners to do what you’re doing is a big step in the right direction for us. The more we can promote distributed energy models, the faster we can make the move towards a sustainable society.
If you’re interested, check out the growing number of homes being powered by renewable energy here: http://www.buildbabybuild.net/blog/maps/#homes
It’s slowly growing, but every little bit helps. Thanks for the insightful blog post. I hope it inspired others to follow suit!
Hi Chris, very nice project, as I already informed you privately.
One important aspect. You suggested 20 eurocents/kWh for “the Netherlands”. Forget it but, those were “the ol’ days”. We are running up in the twenties with a strong pace… NUON “gray” mix is already at 24.6 eurocents/kWh (including the monstrous energy tax of 12.91 cents/kWh…). If you would have a “Natuurstroom” (100% renewables without biomass) contract, you would already pay 26.25 eurocents/kWh. Only “energy pirates” (newcomers with extremely aggressive telephone campaigns) have lower kWh prices, but you would not want to associate yourself with these awful companies, for a number of reasons not relevant here.
Hence: your “payback time” with present day kWh prices (again changing as of July 1) will be much better even than you thought, since these relative high kWh prices are the true “market value” of the solar electricity you produce, and that you don’t need to consume anymore from your provider via the greedy netmanagers…
Just my 2 cents… (eurocents, that is…)
Chris,
I really like the techniques you used to build your panel. How exactly did you seal the panel to keep out moisture? That’s one thing I’d like to know. Also, the overheating issue may be due to the lack of air within the panel. I understand most panels are thick and allow room between the cells and the front glass panel, this can allow for some better cooling.
On a side note, if you get stuck or need any additional equipment check out our site, DIY Solar Power Guides. Take care and keep us updated, I’ll be watching your blog and techniques! 🙂
Have you thought of using a simple light concentrating system. This would allow you to create more electricity with less investment. See the ideas on freeenergynews.com
Hi Gorden,
First thing : you need to clean the glass very good,especially greas needs to be removed.I use ammonia (I dont know if you have that under this name in the USA ,but from school I remember the chemical name was NH3 dissolved in water or “ammonium hydroxyde”. Then I lay all around the first glassplate (with the cells allready on it), about 0.5 inch from the edge , “dow corning pv 804” (I buy it in the USA via ebay. )It is siliconbased. Later when that one is dry (2 days later) I fill the rest of the empty space between the 2 plates with a polymer.I buy this in the Netherlands : I have 2 different ones that I use .The first one is “PremTech seal & glue ,the other is “Zettex MS Polymer” . I have a strong belief that this will do the job of protecting the cells.
About the cooling : front- and backside have about the same temperature (the panel of 1,2 mm gap) So I think I could not get any more cooling. But what you suggest is something to keep in mind !
Thanks for the great tutorial! I followed your instructions and I was able to build my very own solar panel. I can’t wait to see how much money it saved me on my power bills. Thanks for the helpful resource!