Are you better building solar panels from chipped solar cells, or just buying a new one?
It is becoming more common knowledge now that broken, chipped or otherwise damaged solar cells can potentially be used to make a homemade solar cell capable of producing electricity. Basic electrical wiring of several of these panels together has the potential to boost voltage so it can charge a few batteries in a bank, and at least partially power an appliance or two (when connected to a power inverter, of course.)
To many homeowners and do it yourselfers, this is a dream - a really cool project that isn't too expensive and can reduce electric bills. The more electricity you can produce, after all, the less demand there is for it from the power grid. This lowers your bill. Or, if you are really adventurous, you can even get an electrician to connect your system to your house, and thus produce power that is fed into the grid. In theory, if you produced enough excess power, your meter will actually reverse and you will see credits on your energy bill!
Whoa! Hold on. Nothing we talked about here is illegal, but its time for a reality check. First of all, depending on your energy usage and demands, you would need to produce a lot of power to have an excess in the first place. And based on the solar panels available today, it is highly unlikely you will produce enough power to become a part time energy supplier.
But, it is entirely possible to produce just enough power to reduce your energy bills by or bucks per month.
You can go about this a couple ways, in regards to solar power. You can either build the solar panel array yourself using old broken solar cells and wiring them together yourself, or buying relatively cheap larger solar cells from a wholesaler and wiring them together.
I am currently writing another more detailed article on how to wire together broken solar cells to make a working panel, but the basic concept is this. Gather broken chips or cells of approximately the same size. I'd also recommend taking a multimeter or voltmeter and measure the approximate power output. The reason you want to do this is because when you wire solar panels in series, the power produced will only be as large as the lowest power cell. In other words it makes no sense to group a cell that gives off 200mv with one that produces 65mv, because the 200mv will fall to the 65mv level.
Once you wire and solder the cells together, you connect the cells to a bus, or larger gauge wire that collects the power. Now you just seal the cells (which are placed on wood, or another material), place plexiglass over the cells, seal the unit that that's it. Connect the two bus leads to another array for increase your power, then to a battery.
You can also add a charge switch or charge controller which avoids letting the battery become overcharged, a diode which prevents power from flowing to the panels at night, a power inverter so the battery power can be converted to A/C, etc.
Building a panel out of new or slightly used solar cells that are whole involves the same basic process, except there is less soldering and electrical construction. The cells are already whole and probably wired. Plus, if you buy or obtain several cells that are rated the same, you can be confident connecting them in series without a serious drop in power.
The process of enclosing them, sealing it, and connecting it is the same. So, which is better? Which gives you more power? And which is more cost effective?
Well, you can generally get broken solar cells relatively cheap or even free if you know where to look. (Call your local highway department, hint-hint). Whole solar cells you will almost always have to pay for, and they can get pricey. However, you may find that more than a few cells in your bargain bag of solar cells do not produce any power at all and are worthless. And each one will produce sometimes wildly different power amounts.
Whole solar panels will almost always give you more power than broken or chipped ones, piece by piece. Five whole solar panels even at 9x9 inches will give you more power generation capability than five chipped pieces.
If you don't mind doing quite a bit of work yourself, discarding cells that don't work, and soldering cells together, then the DIY method of building a solar panel out of chipped cells may be for you. You can build the panel as big as you want and get the most bang for your buck.
The whole panel method is easier, requires less work, but still lets you make your own enclosure. However, it is definitely more expensive. Let's talk costs. Whole panels around 9x9 inches may run you - each. By contrast you may be able to score 20 or 30 2"x2" or 3"x3" chipped panels for around , which is a little over a buck each.
The power each produces will vary on how many cells you connect, and what each cell can produce. (Also, don't forget the brighter the light source is, the more power is produced.)
Look for future articles on building practical solar panels, experiments, and how much raw power can be generated from each soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
What is the best source for building your own solar panels?
I'm interested in building solar panels myself. I don't have a lot of money to invest, but would like to at least learn about it. Can someone recommend a step by step instruction manual or site that goes into detail?-
ANSWER:
Are you talking photovoltaic panels to make electricity from sunlight. Don't bother making them yourself. Without very specialized equipment you can't make any that will produce a usable amount of power. Leave the manufacturing of solar cells to the pros. If you want to make solar collectors to heat water or your house that's a different story. http://www.bioenergynews.org/RenewableEnergy-67780-0865715610-Solar_Water_Heating_A_Comprehensive_Guide_to_Solar_Water_and_Space_Heating_Systems_Mother_Earth_News_Wiser_Living_Series.html
This book should get you started.
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QUESTION:
whats a good college course to learn about building solar panels, wind turbines and renewable energy?
i live in southern alberta and want to be in renewable energy.. any suggestions?-
ANSWER:
I may not understand your question. If you want to learn how to size/install about renewable energy, there is a college that teaches that: http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/pages/4003.aspThey turn out great students and are one of the top renewable energy colleges out there! (I know, we've hired folks who have graduated from there before)
If you don't want to devote that much resource/time to it, there is alot of free learning, including free webinars at www.altestore.com. And there are also places that offer online and offline courses for $ like SEI http://www.solarenergy.org/ and MREA http://www.the-mrea.org/
I hope that helps!
-Nick
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QUESTION:
Where can I read about building solar panels that can convert the energy into electricity?
Please...serious answers only. I know how to use google, but I was wondering if there's a better website that I probably won't find...like something written by a college.-
ANSWER:
Try these sites;
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QUESTION:
Can I still use broken solar cells for building solar panels?
I thought I could spend less when using one. My friend told me it would still work too. Any advices?-
ANSWER:
The issue with broken solar cells is that you have to measure the current capacity that you can get out of each one and calculate how many to wire together in parallel and in series to get the desired characteristics. It's the nature of solar cells that broken ones are perfectly fine except that they just have different performance characteristics and hence can't be wired in a uniform pattern. Shorted cells should be easy to deal with as well, you just break them into two or polish off whatever trace that shorted them.Usually voltage differences are differences between the quality of the individual silicon wafers while current differences are due to the size of the fragment that's been broken off.
It used to be you could get the broken fragments for free and it was just a matter of putting a lot of labour into wiring them up yourself but now they sell the broken fragments by the pound so much of the financial advantage is gone. Also because you are also arranging broken fragments onto a panel, the panel won't be as efficiently covered with solar cells as a panel made with unbroken solar cells.
Sometimes you can just buy solar cells in bulk for a good price. Them come in a block of wax to prevent accidental breakage. It's a lot of work to melt them out of the wax and hand solder them into a panel but doing the labour yourself could save you a lot of money, however most of the savings in this approach aside from the labour is because you would be using inferior materials to mount them such as mounting the cells on a sheet of exterior grade plywood.
There are advantages to hand assembling solar cells into a panel. As you're measuring each cell or cell fragment, you can better match the voltage output of the cells that you're wiring together in parallel and better match the current outputs of what you're wiring in series rather than just assuming that each cell is the exact same voltage and current.
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QUESTION:
Why don't the American billionaires start companies building solar panels or any production in America?-
ANSWER:
U would think they would...if it were profitable.
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