When making solar panels the first thing you need to do is make strings of solar cells. Once these strings of solar cells are made you need to connect them together.
Connecting things this way is necessary because each individual cell doesn’t produce that much voltage (which we need to charge a battery) If we're talking about charging a 12 volt battery you need at least 16 - 18 volts to be able to charge it. Each cell only produces 0.55 volts (optimally) so we need to hook them up in series to jack the voltage up.
You’re going to need some tools in order to connect the strings together. First, you’ll need the strings of solar cells that you’ve constructed so far. In addition, you are going to acquire: a soldering iron, solder, flux, silicone, bus wire, and some black tape.You will also need a piece of plexiglass (or whatever you’re using for the front of your solar panel).
Start by sticking each of the strings in place with a little blob of silicone. I always do this first because that way I can make sure that all of the strings are evenly spaced (the easiest way to make solar panels look good is make sure all of the cells are evenly spaced apart). Once that’s dried you can start linking the strings of cells together.
As we did with the individual cells we’re going to be connecting the strings from negative to positive. This will let us reach that critical 16 volts of power we’re looking for. Cut strips of bus wire (bus wire is like tabbing wire, but a little wider so it can carry more power). Put on some flux on the cell where you’re going to be soldering because it helps the solder ‘stick’ to the cell and not your iron. Place the piece of bus wire in place and apply some solder. Do this for all you’re joints (it doesn’t take very long).
Congratulations! You’re now one step closer to having built a solar panel.
I built my own solar panels and a wind generator and saved well over $30,000. I get a cheque from the power company because I produce more energy than I use. If you'd like to learn how you can do the same, check out Homemade Solar Panel.
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