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  • Help for a newbie!

    Hey everyone! As I stated in my "hello" post, I am planning on building a 60 watt 36 cell solar panel for a Christmas present. Could I please get some ideas from you all on what materials I could use for a quality frame? I would ideally like to keep it around $30 or less but don't know if that is realistic (the frame, not the whole solar panel, of course). I am also stuck on the type of soldering I should use, and if I should I buy some high temperature silicone.

    Anyone make a panel using the Sylgard/Qsil, or should I stick to a wood frame/pegboard panel?

    Thanks in advance for any help!

  • #2
    Hello jmag and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

    I am sure other members that have built a DIY panel will provide you some information on the type solder as well as any other material to use.

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    • #3
      You will have a hard time keeping your material cost that low if you will be using a good encapsulant and glass.
      And to have a reasonably long life of the resulting panel you should figure out a way to pull a vacuum on it while encapsulating to remove as much moisture as possible.
      Using silicone as a sealant is OK but do not use the air curing (vinegar smelling) standard household silicone variety as that will eat you wiring and cell plating.
      SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by inetdog View Post
        You will have a hard time keeping your material cost that low if you will be using a good encapsulant and glass.
        And to have a reasonably long life of the resulting panel you should figure out a way to pull a vacuum on it while encapsulating to remove as much moisture as possible.
        Using silicone as a sealant is OK but do not use the air curing (vinegar smelling) standard household silicone variety as that will eat you wiring and cell plating.
        Thank you for the response! I AM running into the budget problem, like you stated. I want to keep total cost less than $200, but of course, being under that would be great. Any ideas/areas where I could bring the cost down? How would I go about vacuuming out the moisture while encapsulating?

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        • #5
          Originally posted by jmag View Post
          Thank you for the response! I AM running into the budget problem, like you stated. I want to keep total cost less than $200, but of course, being under that would be great. Any ideas/areas where I could bring the cost down? How would I go about vacuuming out the moisture while encapsulating?
          To vacuum out the moisture will require a very expensive machine. You are now beginning to see that building a quality solar panel may be fun and educational but it is far from being cheap.

          You probably could have gotten a 100 watt manufactured panel for less then that $200. Just sayin.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by SunEagle View Post
            To vacuum out the moisture will require a very expensive machine. You are now beginning to see that building a quality solar panel may be fun and educational but it is far from being cheap.

            You probably could have gotten a 100 watt manufactured panel for less then that $200. Just sayin.
            I know! I know! I try to not look a prices because they make me discouraged, but I am excited to do this project. Vaccuming is out, haha. How about EVA instead of Q-Sil? I'm guessing it would be a much larger pain to work with but is much much cheaper.

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