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  • Probably an easy answer for someone

    hello, I ordered 40 of the 3x6 cells, but my question is this, each cell if it works correctly should put out .5 volts, would I be ok in using all 40 cells for the same panel giving it an output of 20 volts? I'm new to this and mainly experimenting but to charge a 12v lead-acid battery iv heard that all that is needed is 18 volts meaning I'd only put 36 of the cells on one panel, I want to use all 40, if I did would 20 volts be to much and ruin a 12v battery? another nonrelated question is the encapsulation process, in the stuff iv been looking at in the last week nobody really seems to sure about what is the best way to go about encapsulating the cells, has anyone tried using that stuff "flex seal" its much cheaper than the that sylgard stuff and was curious if it worked? any other ideas about doing this? im on a pretty tight budget as well, thank you in advance!!!!

  • #2
    Depeds on charge controller type. If you use PWM, adding 4 more cells is a complete waste of time as it will not add any power. You would just be throwing away the cells. I woul dnot worry much about it thought because you will end up breaking half of them anyway, and some will not test out and cannot be used.
    MSEE, PE

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    • #3
      lol that's actually a very good point, 36 it is! but for future reference, when building panels, is there a certain voltage range that I should try to stay in per panel so that I'm not wasting any cells like you are saying?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by avp12304 View Post
        lol that's actually a very good point, 36 it is! but for future reference, when building panels, is there a certain voltage range that I should try to stay in per panel so that I'm not wasting any cells like you are saying?
        Depends on panel usage, battery or Grid Tied. With MPPT chargers today, battery panels are obsolete.
        MSEE, PE

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        • #5
          another question, I'm here trying to solder the tabbing wire to the cells, I have a little 4 dollar, 30 watt soldering iron, but I just cant seem to get this stuff to stick to the cells, im using a flux pen, does the flux spilling over a little onto the cell hurt the cell any? is 30 watts enough to get the tabbing to melt? more solder?

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          • #6
            Originally posted by avp12304 View Post
            another question, I'm here trying to solder the tabbing wire to the cells, I have a little 4 dollar, 30 watt soldering iron, but I just cant seem to get this stuff to stick to the cells, im using a flux pen, does the flux spilling over a little onto the cell hurt the cell any? is 30 watts enough to get the tabbing to melt? more solder?
            Spilling flux over onto the cell will decrease your output by blocking light unless you clean it completely.
            A 30W iron can do the job just fine if you have a large enough heat reservoir (body of iron) and properly shaped tip (large area in contact with tabbing wire).
            You do not want to be forcing heat into the ribbon of tabbing wire by touching a very hot tip to a small area of the foil.
            You want to get the whole thing to soldering temperature and not too much higher, fairly rapidly, get the soldering done and then let it cool slowly by itself.

            The wattage of the iron will determine how fast you can do multiple connections, reheating the iron after each one, not whether you can do a single connection properly.

            If you go with a large high wattage iron to do quick work, you need to carefully regulate the tip temperature to keep from overheating the soldered area each time.
            SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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            • #7
              gather up all your broken cells, and practice soldering on them. The metal layer on the cells is only a few atoms thick, and dissolves in solder.

              Tab ribbon does not melt, solder melts and bonds suitable metals together. Till you learn to solder, you won't get anywhere.

              OR the cells are rejects and don't have a useable metal layer !!
              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

              solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
              gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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              • #8
                Ok, I'm getting the hang of this, I'm about halfway thru tabbing the cells and haven't broken a single one yet, this 30 watt soldering iron is working just fine I just wasn't pressing down hard enough. but I'm also curious for the back side, is it easiest to drop a dab of solder on the 6 square terminals and just solder those points, or would it be better to just solder the entire tabbing wire to the back across the terminals?

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