You absolutely need tinned interconnection ribbon. DO NOT USE COPPER WIRE.It wont work,you will end up with non working or just broken cells from all the heat of trying to use regular wire while soldering.I wrote an e-manual on this covering all aspects of making your own panels in fully photo documented and explained form.Till its circulated,i want to try to clear up some misconceptions and have some people avoid mistakes i made.A couple ive seen here are 1)Those are really nice looking panels from Czech Republic? and im not ragging at all on product you are trying to sell but i warn anyone away from using wood in any form on their panels.It warps,it is porous and is a maintenance issue.Common C Channel aluminum from Home Depot is fine for almost any panel and if you need rigid sides for larger 125-210W panels,use 1" square aluminum barstock.Again,im sure that Teak is protected but for DIY'ers i wouldnt suggest using it.2)Those small tabs from Ebay are not what you need.You MUST use ribbon that covers the ENTIRE CELL,not just connecting it with two little pieces.The busbars need to be fully connected to get all the electricity from each cell.I have a supply of ribbon for the strings and bus--its limited for now so im not a reliable source at present but talk to Jim Brazinet at Plastecs and he will send you the right amount and type of ribbon you need.If you buy cells from him,you will get it for free.The wire is flat copper that is SILVER in appearance,the silver is the tin coating added at manufacture and is CRITICAL to you being able to solder to your cells.You will have to add solder to the wire to make it stick(have to coat it).3)Silicon Solar no longer carries those cell kits,only the 2.3W cells.I would warn away from those kits anyway as they are bisected quasisquares.Im still not sure why people want to use those segmented cells,manufacturers laser-cut those usually on cells that have cracks or flaws in them so that they can sell the pieces at price and not as broken fullstock.I bought 1 of those kits a long time ago and just was an extra pain dealing with the halves.The 2.3W cells are good though,pricey but pretty much all thats out there unless you order from overseas or the smaller cells from plastecs.
So not trying to be a know it all but i had to spend 6 months finding alot of this info and it COST in mistakes,not everyone should have to spend extra money to make this stuff or even have to search for the material because more people NEED to be doing this.Solar should have been mainstream 20 years ago.
Anyway,my manual will be circulating shortly but you will find it at
http://livingoffthegrid.org and other sites as well-maybe this one if they think its useful