Epoxy for encapsulating cells (great DIY thread with photos!)

[conntaxman]

encapsulating

For encapsulating the cells why couldn't you just brush or roll on the sky gurd.You only have to coat the Blue side of the cell, the back/gray dosent have to be coated.So you could put down what ever you were going to use for the backing, will say a piece of glass then lay the cells down,blue facing up, then brush on the encapsulating let dry then put a bead of calk on all four sides then cover with another piece of glass.Clamp together till calk dries.To make it even better take a paper towel cut it in half put that on the first piece of glass before the cells, sprinkel about 4 tea spoons of Silica on it then place the other half of paper towel on the top.Tape all 4 sides so the Silica cant come out. That would remove any moisture the could be inside.NO moisture.
Where dose everyone buy the tempered glass at? I found a place but its only 14x56" good for 36 cells.and pretty cheap.$10.00 bucks a side.

http://wholesale-store-fixtures.com/Glass/tempered_glass_shelving.htm

John

[ASDCO]

actually it WOULD work if you ran a small expansion tube from each cell to a remote bladder.

[Sunking]

Just not feasible. Wireless broadcast operators use nitrogen for their hardlines and waveguides, but that is different.

[russ]

Nitrogen will expand similar to air.

You would have to maintain a 24/7 purge on for the life of the panel - lots of N2

[Stingervf]

deltafox

I know the reason for encapsulating the cells but has anyone tried pressurizing the cell with nitrogen say 5lbs ,By flowing nitrogen through the cell it would remove all the air along with any water vapor also the nitrogen doesn't expand with heat like air does and it's inert it won't burn

just a thought
chris

[DeltaFox 25]

I had not seen any air bubbles on mine,but I'm sure there must be some but it's alot less then the other way. I had taken them down for awhile so I'll have to go out and really look at them.

[electricsuperduty]

Ok, so as you slide them into the sealant do you just finger press them down into the gard, trying to remove the air bubbles. I'm guessing the cells want to float on top with air trapped under them.

[DeltaFox 25]

It depens upon how big the cells are. I have in one case put twn slygard down .one on the bottom and one on top. It's allways nice to have someone help you. Lay your cells out on a different board just like you want them to be on the glass. Make sure there all done . slide them off very slowly to make sure everthing lines up.

[electricsuperduty]

I've heard of this method, cant see how to get the cells down on the sealant. Do you put much sealant down first, then cells and then the rest of what's left of the sylgard.
How do you do your buss strips?

[DeltaFox 25]

I have just used one slgard per panel . My panels are 36 cells each but I have 5x5's 6x6's and even a 4x4 cell panel . I had no trouble in having my cells lay flat on the glass . I'm doing it different now. Glass ,slygard , cells, slygard . in that order,

[electricsuperduty]

DFox- what is the size of your panels and how much sylgard did you apply?
How do you keep the cells flat to the glass, my experience was cells not flat and alot of sealant needed.

[DeltaFox 25]

I have nran my panels without a backing and it seems to be alright. Q-Solar has done this for years before
eva came along. There are others that do put a backing on some backings are soft and others are hard.

[Stingervf]

Slygard184

does the Slygard184 cure to the point that it would protect the cells from foreign objects as well as weather
or do you still need a final barrier to cover the cells

thanks
chris

[DeltaFox 25]

Hmm I wonder if thats the problem I had with my last panel. I had it drying for a month and it was begining to look like it was ready, but after siting overnight in the garage on its side some of the glue from the front came out. Since I just got some Slygard I repoured it again. Didnt know about the heating. My first panel dried just fine a month earlier. I live in Southern California and its not very cold but it is still cold at night. Could that be the problem?

There is a problem with a Slygard substitute that needs to be shared. solar tite sems to be a knock off or a diluted form of Slygard. I ordered some from Ebay and the first can was less then half full so I had a hell of a time to cover the first panel and when it dried it had open sections. I bought some "real" Slygard and the can was about 3/4th full and the same size. I used it to fill in the spaces.

The second panel was a disaster in more ways than one. Not really sure of why the glue didnt properly cure. The second solar tite can was 1/2 full but I managed to cover most of the cells OK until I tried to stand it on edge over night after a month of drying.

Obviously one major problem with the product was that it seems diluted and wouldn't dry and they are simply giving you less than needed to seal the panel. I complained to them without much results. Electrically both of my panels work and put out 17V at 7Amps, but mechanically this glue problem does not make me feel good. All panels have some small air pockets and I dont know what that is going to do to them. With the prices coming down this seems to be a waste of time, but a good science project.

I was wandering if you mixed the slygard up for 5 complet minutes. thats very inportent, You can't just mix untill you get tired then put it on. It will run on you. I'm sorry you are heving such troubles. The panels I have were out in the cold , snow ,rain and they did survive. I have a different way now to assemble them . Glass,slygard , cells, slygard . Q-Solar had made solar panels like this to sell to the public for years.

[electricsuperduty]

the sylgard just keeps the weather of the cells. the glass protects the cells and the frames adds strength to the glass and provides a structure to mount your panel with. i didn't quite get what you said about the bottom and top idea???