Low iron vs normal

[Block]

Ok so i am looking for a simple anwser not one i wont understand is there that big of a difference between using low iron glass vs just normal 1/8th thick glass? if there is please explain

[Mike90250]

Low iron glass is about 5% more transmissive than regular glass. Tempered glass is several times stronger than regular glass.
Go to a glass shop, and price a hunk of plain glass, and then the same glass, but tempered and low iron. Big difference. Anti-reflection coatings on the glass and cells also help, the mfg's are all trying to out do each other, 16% efficient, 18% efficient, it all adds up.

[Block]

Anti reflection helps your cells/panels? does it make it produce more? also i read on the forum here somewere that a panel produces less once it is heated up and hot if you use slygard to seal the cell to the glass could you box in the back and use a 12V low consumption fan to keep it cooler would it help enough to pay for the elect the fan uses? and would it extend the life of cells?

[Mike90250]

The more sunlight the cell absorbs, the more power it produces. Anti-reflection helps.

The cooler the cells are, the higher the voltage they output. That's the big problem for multi panel arrays, on a cold winter morning, an array can be 50V higher, than on a hot summer afternoon, and it drives grid tie designers bats, trying to balance enough voltage for the MPPT to work (400V) summer afternoons and not fry the input in the winter.

But, no, you don't get enough savings to justify running a fan or coolant pump.

[Block]

Any suggestions for a anti reflection to coat them in also does using slygard to seal them in extend the life enough to justify sealing them with it?

[Block]

Also how about laminateing the cells once they are all soldered togather and ready to go instead of slygarding them to the glass could one just laminate them would it keep water vapor and the elements out of them and extend life?

[Mike90250]

I don't know much about anti-reflection coatings, except they are applied in clean room labs. Not a DIY kind of thing.

Most plastics and epoxies allow airborne humidity (water vapor) to infiltrate. Eventually (months - years) enough moisture gets in, to begin to degrade the cells, and the panel slowly dies. I don't know the specs for your slygard.

[Block]

i dont know the exact specs of the sylgard just everyone keeps saying they use it but then people say that over time sooner or later water can get in and slygard is expensive as hell anyways i know what ever you seal them with has to be semi flexable could one seal around cells with silcon then encase with a hard epoxy or like fiber glass resin?

[Mike90250]

silicone, epoxy and fiber glass resin all leak water vapor like a sieve.

[Block]

ok know of anything my local lowes may sell or something i can buy online that dont leak water vapor also what part of the cell are you tring to protect to extend life the front i am sure of but does the back take damage to?

[Mike90250]

ok know of anything my local lowes may sell or something i can buy online that dont leak water vapor also what part of the cell are you tring to protect to extend life the front i am sure of but does the back take damage to?

Both the front & back have metal, and can be harmed by moisture.