Oil filled solar panel tests

[iFred]

On panel 3A @ 15.1 - 15.5 vdc. January 1PM to 1:45PM testing....

Today was a nice sunny warm day, so I hooked up 2 panels in series

2. panals in series = 3 amps at 30 volts. No problems there. Normal
   
4. panels in series/parallel shown in the hookup link = 6Amps !! yippy at 30V DC!!!
   
   

next I filled one of the cells with 10W 40 Motor oil, its all I had available, so what the hell.. it looks a little yellow but works OK. I filled it to cover four of the bottom cells.

Voltmeter shows no loss at all.... 3 amps at 15.5 VDC ! Neat!

Next the amps on one panel, Actually the sun moved slightly and showed higher amps then what the meter say now, which is 2.661 amps. After moving the panel into the sun 45 mins later and readjusting, I got 3.1 amps at 15.6 vdc

For the cell hookup see this link

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/69/cellhookup.gif

So what I want to say is that with a clear synthetic type of oil, there is no problems, in fact what I found was that the amps did go up because the cells where being cooled by the oil. Very neat stuff. As usual please feel free to comment. Thank you!

[picmacmillan]

good job fred.....you picked a beauty day for your testing......i will look around for some different kind of oil just to give it a whirl myself...maybe baby oil, i think that stuff is clear....not sure, i haven't used any lately pickster

[JavaMoose]

Don't use Baby Oil.  What I used to submerge a computer was Medical Grade Mineral Oil.  Cheap by the quart, and sold in Walgreens/CVS/Rite-Aid/etc.  It is water-clear too.  Hope that helps some, worth testing.  It worked fine on my PC.

[JavaMoose]

Picture, if you are interested:

[pyrocasto]

I may just try that. That would get rid of the problem with expansion/contraction, it would protect the cells better from the elements(leakage, blunt objects, ect...). I just hope it dont break down and turn black or something later on. I also thought it would be conductive, but I guess not. Oh well, it sounds worth a try.

Remember though, that it will add a good deal of weight to the panel.

[Gary D]

Nice Fred! I'd be afraid to try it after all the hard work you put into them. Glad it works.

  You can keep the white stuff up there! Only a few dustings so far this year in Pa. YEA!  Gary D.

[stm]

"The white stuff" was specially imported from northern alaska just to cool his homemade pv pannels.

Great job fred - i hope that the oil works for you in the long run.

How would you mounting the pannels - are you adding a frame to the pannels?

/Steffen

[iFred]

The white stuff was someones elses wet dream... Don't look at me I did'nt do it..LOL

Would Mineral Oil freeze??? I need a clear synthetic that will not freeze.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[wooferhound]

I would be courious if after 30 years, will it breakdown the solar cells ?

[JW]

Looks good iFred,

Ya id be kind of wary of using pure mineral oil in such an application. The mineral oil will brake down to carbon under high heat conditions, as well as out gass and make pressure, or if it is an open system smoke pretty bad. check this link-

http://www.radcoind.com

 If you request to speak with the engineer, he will recomend the best heat transfer-fluid for your application. tell them its for a solar heating application. Last time I spoke with them they mentioned to me, they supply heat transfer fluids for alot of solar eperimentors. Just make sure you know your circulation flow in gpm for your circulation pump. Also tell them your system(pluming/heatexchangers) material, if its not all stainless steel. My system has copper heat exchangers, this was important for the proper selection of the heat transfer fluid. Other than that, many non-toxic fluids are avaliable thru these guys.

Cheers

JW  

[pyrocasto]

From the sounds of it, there is no plumbing. I wonder how much an oil pump, the pipe, the oil, and the electricity would cost to do it. I doubt it would cool it enough to make it worth it. But, if you started using solar colectors and such, it might just be worth it.

[picmacmillan]

 fred...below is some testing i did on mineral oil.....mineral oil does thicken and become somewhere between translucent and opaque when frozen....i do know that motor oil will also become very thick(depending on the type). the mineral oil does unthaw very quickly but at this point i would have reservation about using it, especially in the climate that i am putting my panels  where it will reach -45 celcius for fun.... i have emailed the company suggested in this post to see what they can recommend for this purpose....still testing...although i may test a synthetic oil after this to see how it reacts to freezing etc.......pickster

[ghurd]

How are they performing on very overcast days?

G-

[iFred]

THe computer in liquid was very cool to look at!!!!

Picky, Thanks for the report on the mineral oil. Do me favour, take some of that stuff and put it into another container, close it well, no moisture and freeze it again, let me know if it does the same thing again. I am wondering if any mosture or water got in during the freeze. When you do it this time, fill the container to the very top.

THANKS!

I am wondering if a thinner oil is'nt better.. As far as life span of the cells, I think if done correctly, it should make them last longer, but thats just my estimate.

regarding overcast days output  -Not to bad, The amps drop drastically, even though the voltage is there.I was doing a test in the last snow blizzard and I had voltage of about 10vdc but no amps at all. I'll be waiting till march and the thaw till I put it all up. In the mean time .. testing & research..

 

[picmacmillan]

hi fred....hey i have a comment and a question....my comment is i tested one of my panels this morning in a so, so sun...i got 15.6 volts dc + or - a bit....and .36 amps.....i don't know if i read my meter right or if i had it on the right function ,...i am terrible with a volt meter as you know.......should it be 3.6 amps?...or is that what i have....the photo shows my amp meter if i have it on the right function?....

 now my comment is, maybe oil will keep the cells cool for some time, but the heat retention properties are high and will cause the cells to keep more heat after the sun has heated the oil....just look at how long it takes for the oil in your car to cool down....i realize a car engine operates at a higher temperature, but i am just using this as an example....your thoughts on this as always would be appreciated..... pickster

[jimjjnn]

Looks like your meter was reading 5.42 amps and meter leads were connected to + and 10 amp connection which would be correct

[pyrocasto]

But the cells are only rated at 3.6a, so that shouldnt be possable.

[sandovalch]

Most probably the amp reading was right. As you can see in the picture, you were partially shading the cells and this contributes to a big Amp drop!