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waterproofing front of cells with epoxy

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  • waterproofing front of cells with epoxy

    Hi all

    I was wondering if anyone has tried not using glass or acrylic and just epoxied the front of the cells glued to a ridged backing. Im looking a building some rather small/manageable panels due to work space constraints and it will not be cost effective to buy a bunch of small glass/acrylic for each panel.

  • #2
    acrylic will turn a nasty yellow on you in a couple years.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Mike90250 View Post
      acrylic will turn a nasty yellow on you in a couple years.
      AFAIK that's just a myth due to people mistakenly using polycarbonate instead of UV protected acrylic

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      • #4
        But your run of the mill epoxy will either absorb too much light or suffer UV degradation. That is one reason that encapsulants are used instead.
        You could also risk cracking cells from differential expansion.

        And an air gap between cover and cell can cost you 8-16% in reflection losses.
        SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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        • #5
          Epoxy is degraded by sunlight and turns yellow unless there is a UV protectant applied to it.

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