received my e-bay solar cells today

[picmacmillan]

well, i finally received my ebay solar cells from the u.s. to windsor..it took about two weeks to ship....they were wrapped well, but we had some damage....the big issue is the shipping charges...i paid $40 u.s. to have them shipped and another $36 canadian......when all is said and done that works out to about 1.61 cents per cell that i can use.....

 they say you get about 50 cells per pound and i found that to be true....

-out of approximetly 240 cells

-i had 160 good ones...

-25 salvageable (one lead wire was missing)

-30 broken with approximetly 10% damage to them

11 halves

so, it looks like 200 of them are useable to make a solar panel or two....not too sure how much i can get from them...below is their stats per cell..

Peak Power--1.36 Watts

Current (max power)--3.02 amps

Voltage (max power) .45 V

Open Circuit Volts--.55 volts

Short Circuit Current--3.6 amps

well, on the lighter side i was going to go over to internet freds to get a few tips on soldering these up, but after reading his most recent post on the night before christmas; i think i'll wait til the eggnog clears his head just joking fred.....merry christmas

[iFred]

dude, your welcome to come over anytime and will do a couple together. No prob.. Got veno waiting, nice a cold!! LOL

[RatOmeter]

Fred, if by 'veno' you mean 'vino', I might just head up that way myself... in the summer time perhaps.

By the way, I've found your solar cell assembly instructions very informative and thank you very much for sharing documentation of your effects with us.  I plan to buy a few of these cells myself and will use your advice to good effect (I hope).

[RatOmeter]

Grrr.  Proof reading after posting is not proof reading.

"of your effects with us" should be "of your efforts with us"

Thank you for bearing with my "failing English" moment.

[picmacmillan]

there is actually minimal damage i guess to the cells..., so for the most part they are in very good shape....i wonder if ground shipping to a u.s. address would save this shipping dilemma....i just had 3 log tongs weighing 70 lbs. delivered to detroit by ups ground and it was only 20 bucks....way better than 80 for 5 lbs!...i will see you tomorrow fred....thanks man , you the best!

[Reno]

Hello Pic

The majority of the cost when crossing the border is brokerage charges. You have to pay for these and they are in american dollars. If you can get the seller to ship US postal service they deal with Canada Post so there are no brokerage charges. The only thing you have to watch is the size of the package. I figured this out when I ordered a flash card years ago and i got hit with the same 35 bucks US so i looked into it and now only buy if US postal is used to ship. What do you figure your $/watt will work out to be.

[Reno]

Hello again pic

I forgot to add if you are close to the border find the closest UPS depot and have the parcel shipped there. They will call you and you have 7 days to go pick it up. I did this with a Vector inverter last year. Well worth the trip and stopped for some Crispy Creme donuts to try them out (over rated), hope this helps in your futue purchases.

[picmacmillan]

thanks for the shipping advice....as far as how many watts per pound?

...it is estimated we will get 68 watts per pound...

i have a little shy of 5 pounds, say 43/4 pounds.

...i paid $243.00 u.s....so it will be about 75 cents u.s per watt....

.that's not including the glass etc....although the glass is being donated, so is the caulking.....

.so, i don't know what they charge for a store bought panel, but i would like to know....sounds like 75 cents is pretty cheap for free electricity for life......well,i may just have to get me some more of these cells...you can tell the guy who sells them is an honest fellow and does a real good job of packaging them....it would be real nice to live close to him because they let you pick your own if you can get there....then there would be no damage and every one would be perfect.....anyhow, have a good night gents....pickster

[iFred]

Yea, thats the stuff! pretty good too, yes, your welcome to drop in.

[iFred]

Oh, sorry I was thinking something else when you mentioned cell damage. LOL... Good vino..