Connecting terminal to glass solar panel

[barbados]

Hi Guys,

I have recently purchased a glass Solar Panel

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G14791

I am having a challenge in connecting the negative and positive copper terminals to this panel, it seems to be a sheet of glass with a solar panel stuck onto the back of it.

The instructions directed me to scrape off a bluish paint or a bluish stain from the glass part of the panel using a utility knife and then connect my terminal there.

I am however a little confused as to what to do, I was wondering if anyone has ever seen this type of panel before.

Here's hoping .

Many thanks

Andre  

[barbados]

Please see a rough diagram of the cross section of the panel.

Thanks again

Andre

[TomW]

I have one very similar but smaller.

It had clips that gripped the glass and made contact. One strip is Positive the other is negative.

Pretty cheap connection scheme but works at first.

Cheers.

TomW

[DanG]

may be the time for conductive epoxy; I think ra-didio shack carries a small pen type applicator, or even automobile rear windscreen defroster repair goop. If trying to solder you need to exclude air mostly, someone here posted plain mineral oil worked well...

[Nando]

Andre:

You need to be careful with the connection, unhappily you have not defined well the contact area to see if it is metal deposited on the glass or sheet metal glued to the glass.

If it is metal deposited on the glass, careful cleaning with steel wool is best and the copper strap should be already covered with the solder, then you should use flux to cover the deposited metal and the solder, then placing the strap to the deposited metal heated with a large surface soldering iron tip -- important for a fast soldering, make sure that the strap does not move at all until the solder solidifies.. ( this means that you should have the strap well placed and secure before the soldering tip touching the whole area).

Nando

[bob golding]

hi silver loaded epoxy works well, but it is expensive. only really worth while if you are going to get a lot of these panels. just for experimenting use clips.

bob golding

[wooferhound]

The Ad that you linked to says . . .

-- This comes with a piece of copper mesh stick-on tape and instructions to allow you to solder wires to it. --

I have a panel similar to that one. I used a Blow Torch to unsolder some Edge Connectors from a computer Motherboard. Then I cut the ends off of the connectors so they could open up and the glass could slide into the connector. it's worked for 8 years so far.

[barbados]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your contributions.

I am very sorry not to have responded earlier, but my computer at home is not working and so I am restricted to using my system at work.

I am not seeing any conductor within the glass of the solar panel, and am not sure what I am connecting the copper terminal to, some one told me to look for a very fine wire string that I can feel on the surface of the panel.

I find my self not scraping glass , which makes no sense, sorry to be a bother but any ideas ?

By the way I ahve included a front and a rear shot of the panel for you, the front has a redish/brown colour , while the rear has a shiny silver surface.

Many thanks

Andre

[barbados]

Hi Wooferhound,

Thanks for you information, can you please check my last posting, I think I finally understand what to do, I have to place the terminal on the silver not the brownish/red side of the panel.

The instructions however spoke of placing them on the side which had the bluish tint, which was the brown side, can you possibly post a picture of your panel fully connected up as well.

Many thanks

Andre

[alancorey]

I've got a pair of similar panels also, which I haven't connected yet due to lack of a good connection method.  http://www.herbach.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HAR&Product_Code=TM93SED
2493&Category_Code=SED

I like Wooferhound's idea of the edge connectors.  I might be tempted to hacksaw out a chunk of motherboard and connector rather than trying to unsolder it, but that runs the risk of conductors on the other side of the motherboard doing things you don't want.  Edge connectors used to be common enough in surplus circles that you might be able to find new ones.  Also, early PCs (1980s - 1990s) used to have edge connectors as floppy drive connectors.  I've got one here that has both pin type connectors and edge connectors on the same floppy cable.  The ends still need to be cut off, and in hooking up the cable you'll probably find that odd-numbered wires in the cable connect to one side of the glass and even-numbered ones connect to the other side.  Just about any junk computer should have something that will work.

If you haven't done it yet it might be worth propping your panel up where the sun can hit it and you can sit comfortably at it.  Then use a multimeter to look for where the voltages are instead of taking the manufacturer's word for it.  On mine I found the conductor on one side is the same everywhere like a backplane, and on the other side I found places where the cells connect, with voltages up to about 19 volts in full sun.  In that spot with 19 volts, the other conductor is on the other side of the glass there, so an edge connector would work.  If you can't find a way to prop it up safely get someone to hold it for you, because you'll probably want both hands for holding the meter probes in place.  Just don't drop it.

  Alan

[cyplesma]

I have a couple (2 left of 4, 2 broke) small panels that are of this type. Got them from ebay. The way I received them is they have a copper strip (about 3/16") on the positive and negative sides. they did provide clips, but you had to scrape off some piece of contact type paper to get to a copper at the negative and positive sides, you then put the clip on so it touched the copper. but the positive copper strip runs the length of the positive side and the negative copper strip runs the length of the negative side.

probably why wooferhound used the method he did to make sure he covered the length of the pos/neg sides.