Comments on: 60 Watt solar panel built from cells

By: killera

killera — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:01:15 +0000

If you want to build your own solar panel try this great method it is working really well for me it is simple and you will save a lot of money http://www.squidoo.com/dontbuysolarpanels

By: solar power plans

solar power plans — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:52:39 +0000

This year should bring us a lot of new tech on building you own home made solar power.

By: DIY Solar Power Guy

DIY Solar Power Guy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:25:42 +0000

Just goes to show you DIY Solar power is posible with very little up front cost.

By: Giorgos Solar

Giorgos Solar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:39:19 +0000

The solar panel prices have drop a lot the last year…I am not sure if economically has any value building a solar panel by yourself. However if someone enjoy diy things there is a point doing it.

By: SunnyLight

SunnyLight — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:28:38 +0000

Nice information. Here is a link with information about building your own solar panel (DIY) with information about diodes and how to use them:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~hante/zonnepaneel.html

In short: a blocking diode is only needed when the panel is connected to a battery or when panels are in serie and not protected by bypass diodes. A bypass diode is needed to protect individual cells, but the protection is done over a series of cells, otherwise costs would be to high. A bypass diode is to prevent cell(s) from breaking when they are in the shade while others are not. They break because they will basically burn up, they wont burst into flame, but do break and in that case your panel will be useless.

Sunny

By: Jose

Jose — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:49:10 +0000

Where did you get the Frame from?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:03:13 +0000

I am building panels, you only need blocking diodes in series with your panel to stop the current flow in the dark!
Individual cells will not heat up enough to burst into flame, unless the supporting medium is tinder dry tissue, and even then I doubt that even here in Aussie where the sun is somewhat hotter/longer than the uk :-)
Mike

By: diy solar power

diy solar power — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:55:34 +0000

yea i found some good cells on ebay and put together a simple panel. hasn’t caught on fire yet..knock on wood

By: Mike Hooper

Mike Hooper — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:56:09 +0000

does anyone know of how to make a 130 watt panel
what size cells amps and volts what is the formula
for figureing this out first experience in solar in series or parallel tell me more live in USA GA.

By: Total Solar Energy

Total Solar Energy — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:48:06 +0000

just goes to prove that solar power needn’t cost a fortune

By: Haku

Haku — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:40:55 +0000

The cells I have were bought from http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZlifestylephoto but they’ve not got any listed at the time of posting this, they were $4/cell + postage (and annoyingly + import duty, that’s rip-off Britain for ya). They must still have literally bucket loads because if you look at their completed listings you’ll see they didn’t sell all the cells listed.

By: 4-acre

4-acre — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:57:14 +0000

where did you get the cells from
and how much

By: Haku

Haku — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:43:53 +0000

olly,

Identical cells (or batteries) in series you add up the voltage. The ampage stays the same.
Identical cells (or batteries) in parallel you add up the ampage. The voltage stays the same.

4 of those cells in series gives you 18v @ 90ma. 18 * 0.09 = 1.62 watts.
4 of those cells in parallel gives you 4.5v @ 360ma. 4.5 * 0.36 = 1.62 watts.

The total wattage always stays the same no matter how the cells are joined.

If you wanted to make a panel with those cells you’d do better with getting 52 & putting them in a 13×4 grid array, wire up 13 sets of 4 cells in series, and put those 13 sets in parallel (all the pluses together & all the negatives together).

In that 52-cell configuration you’d end up with 18v @ 1.17A, 13 x 0.09A (90ma), 21.06 watts.

By: nemfo

nemfo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:29:18 +0000

Thanks Olly I was researching that because what haku said
did not make sence to me. By the way that come out to about
137.45 with shipping thats 1.76 a watt. A 80 watt panel runs
about 400-500$ and for a 500$ 80 Watt panel thats about 6.25$
a watt. So its about a 3rd of the price. I need a beer!

By: Olly

Olly — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:08:21 +0000

Um I think the both of you are wrong on your calculations.
If you need lets say about 18 volts for charging a battery,
so if you ran 4 of these cells in series (4×4.5v gives you
18v @ 360ma) now if you ran 12 of those in parallel that gives
you (12 x 360ma) 4.32 AMPs or a panel that produces (18v x 4.32AMP)
77.76 watts with 2 cells to spare. because your not going to run 50 cells in
series, while your calculations are right haku, you dont want
a 220v solar panel.