I came across some used solar panels but I didn't know where they came from and they didn't have any markings on them to tell me what they were. The price was right even though I didn't know the wattage or the voltage - I took a chance and bought them anyways.
There were six of them in all, mounted on a fiberglass backing and covered in a silicone or rubbery substance to hold everything in place. I put them in the sun and pulled out my multi-meter to see what I had bought.
To my surprise they measured about 9.5 volts with a little over 0.5 amps per panel. This is something I had never run into before, I thought that any solar panel would produce enough voltage to charge a 12 volt battery. This wasn't the case with this lot of panels that I had just bought.
Since there were six of these 9.5 volt 0.5 amp panels I decided that it'd be best to configure them in a way that would work for a regular 12 volt system.
I wired two panels in series and that brought the voltage up to over 21 volts - the amps stayed about the same. I then took each set of two panels that were wired in series and wired them together in parallel - this brought the total amperage up to about 2.5 amps.
When all the wiring was done the setup worked out to be about a 50 watt panel and that should be sufficient enough to run the small greenhouse I've planned.
I built a nice PVC frame and mounted the panels to it and will be wiring them together in a more professional manner very soon.
Total cost - about $80!
Submitted by James Clapton (not verified) on December 14, 2010 - 1:48am.
Match the panels to the job they'll be doing. If you are going to power a limited number of circuits, or even a single appliance, you have to know how much energy it uses and make sure the assigned panel(s) will handle it.
Submitted by Robert Jhon (not verified) on October 8, 2010 - 6:04am.
Well, the required items are only things that are in and around your household and you need not take pains to buy something new for making a solar panel here. The necessary items required are listed below;
Screwdriver
A wood saw. (An electronic wood saw shall be preferred rather than a hand saw)
Soldering gun
Drilling machine
Copper wires
Cutter for cutting wires.
Paint brush.
Electrical Solder
Sheet of plexiglass.
Silicon caulk.
Rosin flux pen.
Procedure of making solar panel from recycled scrap
Cut the plywood in dimensions that could accommodate all the solar cells and paint the cut plywood with UV protective varnish.
Connect each cell to each other using wires and soldering them. But before that make sure to apply flux to all the connector strips in cells using the Rosin flux pen.
Attach these cells to the plywood using silicon caulk dabs. Make sure to accommodate holes for the two wires that have to be pulled from the last solar cell. Once the wires have been fed through these holes it is of utmost importance that you seal it using silicon beads.
The next step is to drill holes in the plexiglass to accommodate screws through them.
Build a frame to support the plexiglass.
With the help of silicon and screws attach the plexiglass frame to the plywood containing the solar cells.
Thus your solar panel is ready. Make sure that you have assembled all parts carefully.
Submitted by Robert Jhon (not verified) on October 8, 2010 - 5:20am.
I will give you some point to How to recycled some used solar panels
Recycling plants that recycle these parts could also be run on solar power, further reducing our carbon footprint as we recreate new solar energy systems and recycle old ones.
Imagine that- other countries such as Canada and Mexico dependent on the U.S. for energy. Such benefits could be pumped back into maintaining those solar systems and increasing the incentives for homeowners to start using renewable energy.
Submitted by cactii on October 8, 2010 - 3:47pm.
Canada dependent on the USA for energy? You need some real education! Canada exports WATER and ELECTRICITY as well as oil products to the USA.
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