What About Film Solar ?

[meerkat]

I just read about film solar rolls on news site .

Said it works well on metal roofs . Anyone here tried this new film ?

[Off Grid Solar]

No. It is my understanding that the ribbon solar cells on are 6% effiency. We are going in a different direction about effiency of solar panels.

[meerkat]

No. It is my understanding that the ribbon solar cells on are 6% effiency. We are going in a different direction about effiency of solar panels.

Ok, thanks, I thought it was too simple to be true .

[Off Grid Solar]

Simple and cheap is what it really is. Now just think about weather and wind. Ribbon solar cells must be attached to the roof some how. I think the best way to attach ribbon solar cells is to glue or screw the solar cells to a roof. Screwing them in can cause the roof to leak! Glue may or may not hold. What do you think is going to happen when the winds come or if your in the north snow covers your roof. Will the solar cells blow away from the wind? The snow will cover the solar cells, then no power. I do not like solar PV on the roof for many reasons. One- it will weaken the roof, two- your roof must be facing the sun. three- it is dangerous to install. Four- a shingled roof must be replaced in time. This is why I was one of those people that developed the Sun Flower Project back in the 70's. The Sun Flower tracks the sun. The end results is you will get 40% more electric power a day. So a 1 KW roof system at best can only produce 6KW a day. The Sun Flower Project produces 8,400 watts. This also means in a perfect world the roof installed system produces in a years time 2,190 KW a year. The Sun Flower Project produces 3,066 KW a year. This reduces the ROI by 40%. This was the main reason for the Sun Flower Project. Also the Sun Flower Project reduces the labor time by 50%. The Sun Flower Project stops the snow from covering the solar panels. There are many ways to increase the power of a solar panel. Cleaning, resurfacing with a transperent light absorbing material, the Sun Flower Project. But no one has talked about the most important feature of solar verses other renewable energy systems. Any one with land or a home can produce electric power! Wind can also but wind generators require a lot of maintainance. A small hydro system requires water and land. Geo thermal is unique because like solar you have two choices. Deep holes and water, not practical or cost effective for most people. Shallow pipes for heating and cooling. Heating a building is the most costly for electric and home heating oil or natural gas. Shallow geo thermal is the least cost solution for heating and cooling of a home. Back to Solar PV. Solar allows anyone to be independent or partly depending on what you want to be of the grid. This says a lot for solar PV. It is installed and that is it. I have been watching people on this web area talk about doing solar themselves. I will never suggest this for anyone. There are pros that do this all the time. They are experts at what they do. If you and I am just saying this because you can get hurt. The solar selling and installing companies have been trainned on installing solar panels. Sure it will cost you more but you will never fall off a roof or worst yet get shocked. It is like building a car. Try that once and you will see that it is much better to buy a car. Well the same thing holds true for solar PV. Never install a broken solar panel. We are talking about electric power. Years ago they called electric power the invisible killer. It is not the volts that hurt it is the AMPS that can kill you. Just think about it! Also the Sun Flower Project can increase the electric power of any already installed solar PV system that is installed on a roof. Just remove the roof solar panel and its stands and install the stand on the Sun Flower Project. Simple and more power per day. You are increasing your solar PV system by 40%. Think about that!

[Mike90250]

RIBBON CELLS are NOT the same as RUBBER roll out cells.

PLEASE STOP giving out mis-information

Evergreen has a new plant that makes RIBBON panels that are highly efficient.
http://www.evergreensolar.com/app/en/products/item/739 They run about 12%

You cannot say they are 6%. Flexible rubber cells are not efficient, but are used where nothing else can fit.

<rant mode on>
I'm sorry Mr. Off Grid Solar, this is the 2nd time in 2 days you are giving
plain WRONG information. Are you pushing your "secret" "Sun Flower" by
bashing everything else? Got a link to your website with any concrete data, if not, keep it to yourself, no one wants to hear about the mystery "Sun Flower" unless they can see/buy it. (next month).

Do you have an [enter] key on your keyboard, or do you just like to annoy folks with huge blocks of text.

Sorry, rant off.

[AlexisSalazar]

I'm unsure of the film diy but I've had an Orion solar filter and it worked awesome. Sun looked like a giant beach ball with some sun spots. This was on a xt8.

[KrystleGrafton]

I use the film in a home-made holder on a 60mm refractor. The views have been very good, so as an economical approach, I'd recommend it. Of course, as Enrico has discovered, this stuff is in high demand at the moment. OPT has some in stock, apparently.

[SpaceJunk]

RIBBON CELLS are NOT the same as RUBBER roll out cells.

PLEASE STOP giving out mis-information

Evergreen has a new plant that makes RIBBON panels that are highly efficient.
http://www.evergreensolar.com/app/en/products/item/739 They run about 12%

You cannot say they are 6%. Flexible rubber cells are not efficient, but are used where nothing else can fit.

<rant mode on>
I'm sorry Mr. Off Grid Solar, this is the 2nd time in 2 days you are giving
plain WRONG information. Are you pushing your "secret" "Sun Flower" by
bashing everything else? Got a link to your website with any concrete data, if not, keep it to yourself, no one wants to hear about the mystery "Sun Flower" unless they can see/buy it. (next month).

Do you have an [enter] key on your keyboard, or do you just like to annoy folks with huge blocks of text.

Sorry, rant off.

there exists a company called Nanosolar(.com). They print a slurry of particles onto roles of aluminum and then cut the cells out like normal solar cells. They then encapsulate the cells into panels just like their silicon crystal counterparts.

[russ]

there exists a company called Nanosolar(.com). They print a slurry of particles onto roles of aluminum and then cut the cells out like normal solar cells. They then encapsulate the cells into panels just like their silicon crystal counterparts.

You can go out in the cow pasture and find the nano stuff as well.

Today these are generally something the homeowner wants to stay away from.

[peakbagger]

there exists a company called Nanosolar(.com). They print a slurry of particles onto roles of aluminum and then cut the cells out like normal solar cells. They then encapsulate the cells into panels just like their silicon crystal counterparts.

Nanosolar is on life support currently. They would have gone belly up as they were running out of money. They did get additional financing by forcing all the prior investors to take a major write down on their investment. They have been in business for severals years and to date finding documented installations of their product is really tough. They are great at making promises but not very good on delivering on them.

Konarka was a similiar firm, they sucked up all sort of investment money and never really figured out how to sell a product that the market wanted. They are RIP.

[Sunking]

there exists a company called Nanosolar(.com).

Hogwash, Nanosolar only made 3 known panels to exist. It is a vaporware company.

[peakbagger]

Sunking and I have the same view of Nanosolar, he is just a tad more direct in his assessment.