Assembled Ebay Cells Panel

[pyrocasto]

Remember this?

After many many delays(time, money, mistakes...) I think I'm happy with the finished project.

I got a small weatherproof junction box from Lowes, as well as some brass bolts and wing nuts.





And I'm using 4 bolts to attach it to a bracket, or a tracker.

I will test it out tomarrow hopefully, and figure out the juice. I also have to see how the resin does. If I get a leak and my panel starts fogging up, I'm gonna have to dump a coat of good wood sealer/epoxy on there on there.

As for cost, I tried to get best looks as possable along with a good sturdy panel. If I wouldn't have gone for the "easy maintanance" path, I could have saved $40 bucks. I believe that's probably what I'll be doing next time.

Free  Wood

Free  Glass

$28!  Aluminum

$80   Cells

$10   Double sided tape

$2    Extra Ribbon (1000ft for $50)

$3    Solder

$5    Silicone Caulking

$5    Junction Box

$4    Bolts, nuts, ect...

$13   Resin

 Total =  $150

More expensive than what most people on here pay, but oh well. I need to scrounge for aluminum next time. 90 almost perfect cells, so hopefully I get a good wattage out of them, but we'll see next sunny day. According to there rating, that should be 122 watts, but maybe we can get 115. Now I just have to mount my tracker and this beast is going up.

[Volvo farmer]

That looks really nice. One thing I wonder, Why did you choose 30 cells per circuit? I was worried about low voltage problems and went with 36 on mine. Considering most all commercial panels have a Voc of about 20V and a working voltage of about 16V, I'm really suprised that so many people here that built panels used 28 or 30 cells.

Did you use tempered glass over the front of that box?

[pyrocasto]

I chose 30 because I got some free glass, and I figured I should use it. I get 16.2 volts at 9.5~ amps. I think I should get 15 volts or so after losses to the battery, so hopefully, when they battery is almost charged, the voltage drop wont be too big, and still let me top them off.

I'm thrilled everything worked though, and hope I dont have problems with moisture. I now have to run up to get some more cells.

[picmacmillan]

I'd have to say those are the nicest looking home built panels i've seen...even nicer than the guy who is selling them on e-bay...he is getting about 200 bucks a panel...i think you will be happy with the power output...i only used 28 cells on mine...i am getting 15.5 volts per panel and 3 amps...if i put two together i get over 30 volts......and the rest are in parallel so i get plenty of output to charge batteries...at this point though this is in theory as i haven't put them all together yet to get an actualvoltage test...pickster

[pyrocasto]

Thanks Pickster. I have another one in progress, and will come along shortly if I have enough cells. That one I believe will go on Ebay because I have no use for it yet. Two of these suckers on my barn would be a waste almost, and I would hate to see them get stolen or something. The only thing I'm worried about is the shipping price/weight, normal glass instead of tempered(thought at 1/4", I know it wont break easy), being made out of wood.

Hell, I would be thrilled to get $3 a watt out of them, though I wouldnt mind even higher.