Possible encapsulation material?

[Bigbirdd]

Thankyou Mike still bonfused

None needed



Panels in parallel need to be fused so backfeed can be limited
Panels in series, shade will limit the total current to the shaded portion.

Shade is bad.

Bypass diodes (mfg internal to the panels) can help, but the diodes can be burned out and fail.

I build my own solar panels 18volt 63 w 3.5a all my panels run into a combiner block I made. I was using diodes but was loosing a volt or two I was reading another thread where some talk about capacitors is this something I could wire in before the combiner.

[Mike90250]

I would like to know if blocking diodes are needed with a charge controller .

None needed

and would the panel feed back to each other if one wasn't punting out the sane voltage, like a shadow over part of the array.

Panels in parallel need to be fused so backfeed can be limited
Panels in series, shade will limit the total current to the shaded portion.

Shade is bad.

Bypass diodes (mfg internal to the panels) can help, but the diodes can be burned out and fail.

[Bigbirdd]

blocking fiode

I would like to know if blocking diodes are needed with a charge controller . and would the panel feed back to each other if one wasn't punting out the sane voltage, like a shadow over part of the array.

[Bigbirdd]

uburr in responce to

I use 10 6volt golf cart battery giving me 5,12 vol tiers at 105 amp hour and if I'm doing the math right I have 525 amp hrs total. I use a Macnum ms2812 inverter/charger and a Tristar60amp charge controller. Its winter so my production is down I have plans to build 6 more 36 cell panels 18v 63w 3.5 A. My oldert panels are the two long ones I built three years ago out of chipped cells.

[uhurr]

that is different !

Well , Your way is different , end inexpensive, I liked,, do you have pictures step by step?., that will help a lot, what kind battery you used?,how old is your oldest panel ? still it working good? god bless you and tank you .

[Bigbirdd]

The cost of my panels

I use dual pane windows I buy them from habitat for humanity i use 100% silicone the last tube were white Vin the summer after tabbing me sells together I can make one day I lay 6by6 seal around cells seal the edge of glass i use white paneling lay white side down let it dry for a couple hours paint the back side with indoor/outdoor MINWAX HELMSMAN spar urethane.



these are solar panels in my array the top two long ones I were my first two panels I built with cheeped sells from evergreen yhe one left bottom are single pain window one to right under long panels I built last summer duel pain glass
the rest are single pain which I will replace as I build more as they go bad. I run a regulsr refrigerator and light during summer I can run satellite guring I also have a generator I charge the battery at night as you know we get 4 hrs

The duel pain window cost $5 4by8 paneling about $8 Thw urethane $25 I can get 3pannels out of it silicone on sale at ace for $3.39 most expensive the solar cells I get them on Ebay

[Bigbirdd]

Longwolf

I use dual pane windows I buy them from habitat for humanity i use 100% silicone the last tube were white Vin the summer after tabbing me sells together I can make one day I lay 6by6 seal around cells seal the edge of glass i use white paneling lay white side down let it dry for a couple hours paint the back side with indoor/outdoor MINWAX HELMSMAN spar urethane.



these are solar panels in my array the top two long ones I were my first two panels I built with cheeped sells from evergreen yhe one left bottom are single pain window one to right under long panels I built last summer duel pain glass
the rest are single pain which I will replace as I build more as they go bad. I run a regular refrigerator and lights Iam trying to run 12volt only. During summer I can run satellite during the day I also have a generator I charge the battery at night as you know we get 4 hrs of usable sun light

[dlmcbm]

Well I tied the "through the roof" product. I will have to say that this is my first attempt at making solar panels. It seems to work well just fighting a few problems. The stuff is very thick.
I made the first panel by brushing some on the back then laying them back side down on my backer Plexiglas. then I poured some over top of them and put the front piece on. My problems hear are 1. I did not pour enough in so I had a lot of air pockets. 2nd It made it a sealed box then so no air can get to it to cure it and harden.
I made the second panel like you normally would with the cells face down. I thinned the roof patch with mineral spirits(paint thinner) This did work a lot better but it was still to thick to flow totally under the cells so I had all the edges sealed but not the whole face of them. This was going well I only had a few small cracks in 2 cells till I dropped it. (Whoops) I was not happy now because it almost shattered about 4 or 5 cells.
The biggest problems I had are this stuff takes A VERY LONG TIME to dry. Its even worse when its only 25 degrees outside. It puts off bad fumes to so you dont want it in your house. They do say 1 week to fully cure and I did jump the gun there. The panel that I thinned with paint thinner I think that damages the cells. Most of them that are not covered the blue has become dull like the chemicals have done something to them. the one without the paint thinner looks fine. I was thinking of trying to thin it with alcohol. does anyone know what will or will not hurt the cells???

[RifRaf]

hi LeeP , Aqua and The Pu, how are the tests going? still have a few panels to make and eager to see some of the results

[russ]

Hi LeeP - Welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

The link to the pdf file about laminating PV cells is very interesting.

Well done!
Russ

[LeeP]

Economical encapsulation technic

The discussion about encapsulation materials reminded me of an economical technic. It is a paper on fool proof method that makes a lot of sense to me. I'll be using it myself shortly. Find it here.

[Aqua]

Ok am looking forward to hopefully favourable results

[the pu man]

Hi Aqua we have already begun the test and trial process and would be concerned to have to many variables in terms of guinea pigs! Give me a couple of weeks, if you are in the UK then snow is on the way and not much chance for making that solar energy anyway!! I will see how things progress and then I will update here if we need more testers. The testers we have are purely those involved in builds previously but they dont get to keep the panels. All panels are going to be tested to oblivion through our UV weathering chambers and actually be pulled apart by our tensiometers to test adhesive strengths before and after. IE panels will be sacrificed for the cause.

[Aqua]

pu man
Am in the UK and have two 200w panels to make is there any way I can help test the products you are trying.

[the pu man]

Hi Rif Raf we are making up some panels over the next two weeks. We have two products being tried out. We also have a UV weathering chamber so we are going to put panels in at highest UV setting with water program every hour. It gets real hot as well at 65 deg c. Will post when we have some results. We will be shooting vids etc for the build.