My Solar Power Set Up - Part 6 - Building a Panel - Conclusion

Ok, the weather finally cooled off and allowed me to finish the panel. I coated the whole thing in 4 coats of KILZ white sealer. I did not use pegboard for the cell mounting substrate because I didn't like the holes. I instead used 1/8" door skin which worked out excellent. I also did not glue the cells down with blobs of silicone. I decided to use 1" Scotch heavy duty mounting squares which are adhesive on both sides. You just peel the tape off of the outside and stick them down. I am not sure how these will work VS. silicone in the long run, but I experimented with a cell by sticking it onto a scrap piece of door skin and the bond was permanent. I had to destroy the cell to get it off of the scrap piece. So, hopefully they will work. All that is left to do now is get a piece of glass cut, silicone that down and put some aluminum channel on the outside. This entire thing is going to cost around $140 to build. The panel puts out 63 watts, 19.25 volts and 3.63 amps. Not bad.

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Science & Technology

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[theno1katzman]

how come you didn't use slygard 184? are the panels still working?

[skippy3840]

@theno1katzman Because I didnt know what I was doing! For obvious reasons the panel is no longer working, so I am working on a larger panel that will be 76x34, will approximate 3 of the panels above, have an aluminum frame, and be encapsulated from the rear.

[1971mgb]

Was thinking about building a panel but copped out when I found 200w units for a bit over 5bills . Did you ever figure out the total cost?

Great work!

[skippy3840]

@1971mgb Yeah, the cost was right at about $150. The only problem is that brand new factory 60w poly panels are selling on ebay for like $160. The prices have really come down. It is a good project to experiment with, but not too economical anymore.

[subscribeforcandy]

@skippy3840 i used adhesive silicon caulk to glue the cells down. It worked great! they are nice and flat, and definately not comming off. btw u should consider using a resin to coat the cells. IE dumping a urethane type of thing (or sylgard 184, made specifically for solar panels) over the cells. Itll keep them completely waterproof. Im curious, did you get any water damage the way that you did it?

[viol999]

Thanks for the vid. I noticed that factory made panels encapsulate the solar cells in some kind of a clear silicone, and they are essentially glued to the glass panel. I was wondering if you've had any problems with your system as far as fogging of the glass or expansion of the backer board causing the photo cells to crack?

[windoes98se]

is it bad to use silicone for the cells? i think i used silicone to secure my cell, isnt silicone a semiconducnter?

[shartne]

@skippy3840 I used tempered safety glass so I wouldn't lose everything the first hail storm that comes along.

[skippy3840]

@SwindleFlu Thats kind of what I figured after I wrote that. I think that the next one I make will be glass front and back also. This one is warping a little right now, but still working at 100% capacity. Right now, the three panels and 8 batteries I have generate more power than all of my lights and TV use every night, so the next panels will start to move me off grid in the daytime also. Keep it up...

[SwindleFlu]

I was just using chicken wire as an example of double-pane windows with stuff inbetween. Im going to go ahead with a glass front and back. Im to worried about wood warping even a slight bit after a year or 2 in full Sun. Im going to try and get a camera to show my Sun tracker stand I already made out of junk I found laying around the garage. Its alot more simple and cheap then other videos Ive seen.