first time diy. no electricity experience

[jakubman1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200660291207
this is what I ordered . How do I solder them in series . I know it can't be too difficult

[jakubman1]

Pnpm. What are you getting at the dump ?

someone can throw a good bran name out there I can find on eBay or Amazon that would.be great

[PNPmacnab]

Certainly not against DIY. I'm controlling much more than a KW of panels with $15 for the basic MPPT controller electronics that is all home built. Love all the old UPS supplies I get at the town dump. Recycle America. I joke with people that my entire off grid solar system for my summer home cost less than my wife's wine bill for just a few summers. When she sends me in, the receipt gives to total spent so far for club points. Money well spent. At least I haven't pissed my money away on solar.

[bcroe]

Hello I'm out here in the sunshine state looking to build my own panel from scratch. I bought 70 watt untabbed 3x6 solar cells for 20$. Where do I buy the glass that the cells lay on ? So far I have the solder wire. The bus wire abd the wire that's suppose to be connecting all the cells to each other. Where should I start ? I want to encapsulate them with qs1 stuff off eBay.2 part stuff. I'll use a wood frAme since I have scrap laying.around. do I go pt wood or regular ?

I have aluminum frames with tempered glass mounted. And termination strips + cell guides. But shipping is difficult, from NW ILL.
There are professional places that will sell tempered glass your specified size; you can't cut it. My last panel was from a screen door.

I measured my cells before using them, rejected a few. 6 X 6 are so likely to crack, I gave up on them. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

So is it best to buy new from Amazon ? What's a good.bran name for the price ? I found 1 panel 100watts 12v with controller and some wires for less than 200$

I thought he homemade solar panels would last longer thAn a couple years

Since the price of manufactured panels have come way down it makes it much harder to justify a DIY project of individual cells.

Along with the fact that unless you can keep all the moisture out of the DIY panel they just do not last anywhere as long as expected.

Maybe if you lived in the desert where the humidity is always very low, just about any other DIY panel degrades quickly due to the weather.

As for purchasing low cost panels on Amazon. It depends but based on the latest info the higher wattage panels are usually much less costly / watt then the panels around 100 watts.

[jakubman1]

So is it best to buy new from Amazon ? What's a good.bran name for the price ? I found 1 panel 100watts 12v with controller and some wires for less than 200$

I thought he homemade solar panels would last longer thAn a couple years

[PNPmacnab]

It will be a wonderful educational experience. Many people buy dead solar panels, I just sold two panels for $30. A deal for glass and frames. You need low iron glass which is about impossible to find. If you manage to actually make it function, it will die from contamination in a year or two. That is the experience I have been told from those that have built these. Certainly worth a try and you haven't spent much. Afterwords, it will certainly make that $100 panel a lot more appealing.

[jakubman1]

Hello I'm out here in the sunshine state looking to build my own panel from scratch. I bought 70 watt untabbed 3x6 solar cells for 20$. Where do I buy the glass that the cells lay on ? So far I have the solder wire. The bus wire abd the wire that's suppose to be connecting all the cells to each other. Where should I start ? I want to encapsulate them with qs1 stuff off eBay.2 part stuff. I'll use a wood frAme since I have scrap laying.around. do I go pt wood or regular ?