Solar power, any tinkerers out there?

[Haku]

I ordered them from an eBay seller who's selling them at $4 per cell: Solar A Cells Photovoltaic Build Your Own Panel on eBay, also Alternative Solar Energy, Electrical Solar, Tools Home Improvement, Home Garden (end time 07-Sep-08 05:13:00 BST)

They're listed as grade A which may have small chips, hopefully the batch I get are all perfect. However I wouldn't want to try and make a panel using the grade B, C, D or 'rubble' pieces


Thanks for the link, I'd seen before but forgotten it was out there and didn't turn up in the usual searches for DIY panels.

 

[Haku]

I've more or less figured out how I'm going to build the frame, on searching for info on materials to home-build panels someone on a forum mentioned using acrylic instead of glass, so a quick search of eBay and found someone selling 3mm * 1000mm * 1000mm clear panels for £13+P&P as well as 2mm *1000mm * 1000mm opaque panels for £7.50+P&P, both plus P&P is about £30.

I worked out all 72 cells will fit in that 1 meter square area with 5mm gaps, and I'm much more happy working with large sheets of acrylic than glass.

As for the edges, Screwfix sell a pack of 5 aluminium angle (long L shaped pieces) 1200mm * 19mm * 19mm for about £21, which would be ideal and the 5th piece would be stuck across the middle of the back for extra stability.

Then just need some small nuts/bolts & some offcuts to hold the corners of the frame together, glue in the clear acrylic to it (either epoxy or silicone for waterproofing), solder & stick the cells to the opaque acrylic, add blocking diode for paralleling the two sets of 36 cells, and cable to a terminal block.

I'll order those parts when I've got a bit more money spare, and I've got my fingers+toes crossed that [expletives deleted] customs don't whack me with import duty on the cells.


Should I document this little project with a camera?

 

[Blew it]

Polycarbonate sealer/adhesive

Haku,

On the subject of sealants. Over the years I have used a great many types of sealant. It was only recently I found a type that is especially good. What I was looking for was a type best suited to sealing cable entry/exit holes in controller housings etc. The one I found most suitable was Wicks Polycarbonate sealer/adhesive.

It is extremely tenacious and remains very flexible when dry. When fully cured it takes on a translucent appearance. It is solvent based but easily removed with white spirit ( turps substitute) when wet. Once cured, nothing will shift it. Normally used for sealing polycarbonate sheet as an alternative to glass it has good UV resistance.

Hope the project goes well, but given the current weather, I suspect a miniature hydro electric generator might be better.

Regards

Bob

 

[Footie]

Should I document this little project with a camera?

Sounds like your getting organised.

Unfortunately, some people dismiss solar energy out of hand, probably because it won't power their 1000w music centre. I think there’s more to life than comparing the size of your woofer to the next man

I don't know about anyone else but I would be interested to know how your project goes
.

 

[Haku]

Someone I know who lives fairly close has a river running through their land, if I had such easy access to a river I'd have looked into hydro electric power long ago. The stream at the bottom of our immediate neighbours garden (of which by some old law we have access rights to) doesn't count

Acrylic sheets ordered, next to order the aluminium angle, sealant, nuts+bolts and just wait for all the pieces to arrive in the next week.


One of the major problems the image of solar power has is the sheer cost of panels and how much you don't get out of them (compared with say Arizona) because of the abysmal weather here in the UK.
Those small portable panels with batteries in them don't help the image much either, very expensive for what they are and they don't really collect enough energy from the sun to be a must-have gadget accessory.

In comparison, the 130 watt panel I'm building will (hopefully) cost less than £300 with running totals now around £250 (cells, wire, acrylic, aluminium), but google for a 130 watt panel and you'll find prices averaging £600.

 

[Haku]

Cells arrived today, after forking out £36 on bloody customs charges which pushes the overall cost up to £300 , and holy crap they're delicate! 0.33mm thick and as brittle as glass, one in the middle of the pack had a chunk broken off but thankfully they sent me 80 instead of 72 which means I have 7 'error margin' cells left.

Unfortunately they're 0.2" wider so only 66 not the full 72 can fit in the 1 meter square area, which annoying drops the overall voltage, unless I can split some cells into 1.6" by 6" - anyone have any ideas how to neatly split something that'll shatter if you look at it wrong?

 

[mikepepler]

I've already got solar panels, charge controller and lead-acid battery, but no inverter (I only run DC stuff off them at present). I'm guessing I might need a "pure sine wave" inverter to avoid damage to the battery charger (Kalkhoff/Panasonic in my case), but has anyone tried using a "modified sine wave" inverter with a battery charger?

Mike

 

[Tim]

What's the state of the art with charging e-bike batteries with solar power these days. It's two years and two days since the last post to this thread, which I found fascinating at the time.

Has anybody succeeded in charging a Lithium-based battery directly from solar, or is it only practically possible by going through a Lead acid storage battery and inverter?

 

[jbond]

What's the state of the art with charging e-bike batteries with solar power these days. It's two years and two days since the last post to this thread, which I found fascinating at the time.

Has anybody succeeded in charging a Lithium-based battery directly from solar, or is it only practically possible by going through a Lead acid storage battery and inverter?

Things to make you go Hmmmm? I was browsing round the Golden Motor site today. hub motor, brushless motor, BLDC motor, bike conversion kit, brushless controller,electric bike,wheelchair controller,electric wheelchair,dual drive ebike, electric motorcycle,EV battery,electric boat ,golf trolley,brushless joystick controller, rege Under EV Batteries they've got pics of a folding solar panel. 36V 80w being plugged straight into one of their 36V batteries.
See here. http://goldenmotor.com/GMSolarCharger3.jpg

5 hours to charge a 10Ah battery? $345 plus shipping.