Build your own solar panels

The three day workshop on building your own photovoltaic panels went well. I had around 22 students the first day and 8 the second two days. This was just the right amount to build six 65 watt panels. The wood for the frames and plexiglass had been previously cut, so the kids had to sand, drill, assemble and paint the frame components. Simultaneously we laid out sets of 7 cells and soldered them together. This was fairly easy because the 3" x 6" cells had two pretinned tabs.

The kids had to touch the connection spots on the back of the cells with a flux pen, add a dab of solder to those six points and then solder the tabs from the front of one cell to the six points on the back of the next one in series. We then added some bus wire to the end of each set of seven and hooked 5 sets of 7 cells together. Broken cells, and cells damaged by rough handling accounted for the rejection of around 40 of the cells...MLSolar provided an extra 40 with the shipment...like they knew!

The panels all tested under low light conditions in the cabin we were working in and our first test panel was brought out into the full sunlight and gave us an easy 20+v dc! I'm going to try to post pictures to show you the process. The second workshop will take place at the end of this month and we'll be making a short video of the process. We're going to try to use some double sided tape to keep the cells aligned and a bit more stabilized, some of the damage we had was due to the process of transferring the completed series set of cells from the cardboard to the wooden frame.

The camp was cozy and very easy to use to teach the kids the processes. Bill, Todd, Robin, Jamie and Shari were wonderful hosts. It was fun for me to be a participant rather than the camp cook this time- I learned a lot about how they do things that will save me time and effort the next time I go there.

The second session will have a few more power points and alternative activities to refine the process further. E-mail me if you want to build your own PV panels! jsjuczak@gisco.net I'm also now on Facebook thanks to the careful tutelage of Bill W. on the last evening.