$9.99 Canadian Tire solar panels

[Fiddlehead44]

Yesterday, I purchased 10 of those cheap solar

panels. They are for trickle charging a 12V

battery. 1.8W 125 mA Max. About 14"x4". I want

to join them together and make a larger solar

panel. I guess this would be 18 W and 1.25 amps.

Or thereabouts. They have a built in  blocking

diode. They have about 10' of wire and a cigerette

lighter adapter or aligator clips available. I can

identify the positive and negative cable easily.

Should I join all the pos.+'s together as well as

the negatives-?. Also the are designed for inside

of car useage, but I want to use them outside. I

was planning to mount them on a piece of plywood

and cover them with a piece of plexiglass. Would

they get too hot this way? I also could discard

the present frames and just mount the solar cells

directly to the plywood or I could use silicone

and seal them around the frames and not cover them

with plexiglas. Any advise please.

                Fiddlehead44

[WXYZCIENCE]

That is cool, I was going to do the same thing! Went to C.Tire and they were sold out! So you are the one who scooped me! I got a rain check for 10 although. Also if they are the ones I think, they have a small circuit built into them. But don't quote me on that. I will have to actually open one up to see. I will be interested in your outcome. I like to see others familiarize themselves with a method. It only helps others.Thanks, Joe

[asheets]

Are they any different from these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-Solar-Panel-Battery-Charger-RV-boat-SUV-Vanagon-NR_W0QQcmdZViewIte
mQQcategoryZ63687QQitemZ8051610364QQrdZ1

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

____________ Alan Sheets -- asheets@frii.com

[willib]

Glad to see you took advantage of the good deal..

yes to hook them in parallel is what you would want to do..

connect all positives together and all negatives together..this will give you the same voltage and ten times the current of one..

[willib]

As for the heat, in my opinion , the cooler you can keep them , the better off you will be..

[ElSenator]

I have almost finished a similar project using a dozen of the VW solar panels, an old storm window, 2 pieces of hammered and drilled copper pipe (buss bar?). On the test run, it pulled about 25-28 watts into an almost charged battery. Now I'm working on a frame, and mounting. Pictures in a couple of weeks!

 

[ghurd]

The VW PV I remember testing extensively, put out 3.8W cycling into a full battery.

The controllers are the On/Off type, and the set points seem to vary slightly.

Good sun and a low battery might make 45W.  I'll wait for photos!

Not all VW PVs have the built in controller.

G-

[Spelljammer]

I have used these solar panels before.  I put three together to charge 36 volt battery bank for my recumbent bike.  They aren't weather proof so I mounted on a piece of plywood and stretched some clear 3mm poly over them and stapled it on the back side.  These 3 and the one in my truck all had a problem with the black plastic trim and the heat.  On a hot summer day they will start to seperate and warp.  Works fine though.  If you put a big washer on the screws when you screw them down to the wood then that works fine.  You will still want to weather proof them with plastic or glass to keep the rain off them.  Glass is better than thin plastic becuase the plastic will crack within a year. Also, they have little blinking diodes that may fail too, but the panel itself seems to keep on goin.