I also built my own panel from seperate cells as you have I also found that they are very fragile I used thin copper strip to connect the cells.

I managed to knock the whole lot off a shelf in the garage and smashed the lot.

Rich

Oops indeed!

I have found some 3 x 6 cells on evilbay that are pre-wired which might be better / easier to make.

I still need some similar 6x6's though so that i have a matching set.

Well I got the panel back from the DG people.. much more robust now! and very heavy.

Anyway there was a moment of sunlight so i nipped outside with the panel and a 50W 12v bulb. The bulb was drawing 3.75A at 10V which was nice, I dont have anything more meaty to connect to the panel but im happy with that. Not sure what happened to the other 12.5Watts though..

Hey everyone

I have been building panels with the cells you get off ebay (Eco IQ).

36 x 1.8w 3.6amp for £45 approx. (AND THEY GIVE YOU A COUPLE EXTRA FREE)
Each cell is 0.5v, so you should end up ideally somewhere around 18volts

Here's how I did it:

BOUGHT THE CELLS PRE-TABBED IN 3's (MAKES THE SOLDERING MUCH QUICKER AND SAVES BREAKAGES)

BOUGHT A £20 60x80cm ALUMINIUM PICTURE FRAME FROM B&Q (DURABLE FOR THIS WEATHER AND THE IDEAL SIZE FOR THE JOB - JUST AND NO MORE!!)

ASSEMBLED THE CELLS IN 4 ROWS OF 9 (FITS PERFECTLY INTO THE FRAME WITH A LITTLE TO SPARE TOP AND BOTTOM FOR BUS WIRE ETC - BEAR IN MIND YOU DON'T WANT THE BUS WIRE TO TOUCH THE ALU FRAME!!!)

SOLDERED THE CELLS FACE DOWN ON TOP OF THE PAPER THAT COMES WITH THE FRAME, ON TOP OF THE GLASS, THEN SOLDERED THE TABS TO THE BUS WIRES

CAREFULLY REMOVED THE PAPER FROM IN BETWEEN THE CELLS AND THE GLASS

CUT HOLES IN THE BACKBOARD OF THE FRAME TO ALLOW THE POS AND NEG BUS WIRE TO COME THROUGH THE BACK

CUT A 60x80cm PIECE OF LAMINATE FLOORING FOAM UNDERLAY (THE KIND YOU GET ON A ROLL FOR £10, AGAIN FROM B&Q) AND CUT HOLES FOR THE POS AND NEG BUS WIRE TO GO THROUGH. THIS FOAM IS GOOD AS IT KEEPS THE CELLS SNUGLY IN PLACE WITHIN THE FRAME AND ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO REMOVE OR REPLACE ANY FAULTY CELLS LATER IF NECESSARY (PREVIOUSLY I'D SEEN A GUY WITH MANY VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE ETC BUILDING PANELS AND HE RECOMMENDED SECURING THE CELLS WITH SILICON - NOT VERY CLEVER IF YOU EVER NEED TO REPLACE ANY CELLS, AS THEY'RE SO FRAGILE!!)

INSERTED THE GLASS WITH THE CELLS ON TOP INTO THE FRAME THEN CAREFULLY PUT THE FOAM ON TOP OF THE BACKS OF THE CELLS, THEN THE BACKBOARD IN PLACE, FEEDING THROUGH THE POS AND NEG BUS WIRES, ATTACHED THE CLOSURE CLIPS

SOLDERED BLOCKING DIODE ONTO POS, THEN ATTACHED LENGTH OF CABLE

CHECK WITH MULTIMETER IN SUNLIGHT - I GOT 20v - YEEHAH!

(STILL TO SEAL THE FINISHED UNITS WITH SILICON, BUT THEN THAT'S THE EASY BIT!)


Took me maybe two hours max to build - and please bear in mind, I'm a novice at soldering / panel building.

If any of you need help / advice, let me know, I'd be more than happy to try and help with pics / instructions.

Don't be daunted - I was originally, but it's actually remarkably easy, and you'll end up with a fine looking panel that works and costs a fraction of a factory built one (you'd be paying somewhere in excess of £150 for a 60w)


HAPPY DAYS!!

I've experimented with making my own solar pv panel, here's my thoughts:

The cells are very fragile! I also found that they tend to warp once the tabbing wire is soldered on.

I found some UV stable resin on ebay and used that to encapsulate my panel so no glass used on mine. Only time will tell if lasts.

In the end I came to the conclusion that it didn't work out much cheaper than buying a ready made panel, but it was good fun.

Hi John,

Sorry to burst yer bubble, but the facts are that building your own panel is MILES cheaper than buying factory built, and if you build it well, it WILL last.

Factory built panel - expect to pay upwards of £2.50 per watt for mono/poly and upwards of £3 per watt for amorphous - I have been checking prices for a couple of years on factory built solar panels - trust me - I have spent what seems like an eternity finding the best prices!

Home built poly panel (with aluminium frame) - £1 per watt - maybe £1.25

I know - I have bought both factory built AND built my own.

I'm not particularly great at soldering, and am a relative novice at electronics, but what I've built easily outstrips the factory built panels in terms of value for money.

There are obvious drawbacks - if you plan to apply for FIT's, you can't use your self-built panels - they need to be approved panels as does your GTI etc. and fitted by an approved installer, but if you are just making panels for off grid use, then there's absolutely no contest.

Yes, these cells are fragile, but if you're careful, and buy them tabbed in 3's, it's much, much easier.
I used a sheet of foam underlay behind the cells to both hold em in place and account for unevenness in the solder on the backs. The important thing is to buy your cells PRE-TABBED, and be very careful with em when you unpack and assemble them.

At £44 for 36 x 0.5v 1.8w 3.6a cells (check out ECO IQ on fleabay), and £20 for a 60x80cm aluminium picture frame (B+Q), that makes 64 quid. BTW 60x80cm frame is the PERFECT size for these cells arranged in 4 columns of 9.
Costs buttons for the rest (diode / bus wire / silicone).

Ok, agree that buying pre tabbed cells would make life a LOT easier. You can get chinese mono panels for £2 a watt on ebay, or if you go direct to a supplier you should be able to get them for around £1.75 a watt.

No matter how well you build a panel you will always struggle to compete with a factory made unit. I'm not saying that it cant be done, just that its not as easy as some think.

How many winters have your panels been out in? Have you had any condensation problems yet? Have you considered encapsulation? Just pour it full of UV stable resin - much closer to the process used on factory units.

Good tip about the picture frame from B&Q, I'll look out for one next time in there, I still have enough cells to make up another couple of panels when I get time.

EDIT - I have a MCS approved 1.9kWp system installed, so I've had the chance to compare the build quality

Hi John,

Thanks for your comments.

Can you please point me in the direction of those panels on ebay, and any chinese suppliers who'd be willing to sell in small quantities / wattages.

Correct me if i'm wrong but I suspect you'd have to be buying serious wattage to be commanding £1.75/watt?

If this applies to 100w panels or thereabouts, I'd be extremely interested to buy some - my problem is, I don't have a few grand spare to buy a large system, I'm just building mine up gradually, month by month.

100w for £2 here plus del

80w for £2 here INC delivery


Not quite £1.75 but close


PS I have 15 of the 80w ones but paid LOTS more as I bought them before the recent price drops.