by Andrew Oke
“Living Off Grid Newsletter” <support@living-off-grid.com>
Hello,
Well, today will be the last day that we talk about solar panels because I really want to talk about a variety of other topics with you. Todays tip is about how to connect the solar cells together. Again, it comes from our book “Building and Installing Solar Panels” which can be found here:
http://www.living-off-grid.com/solar/solar-panel-easy-installation-guide
The excerpt from the book is below:
Connecting the Solar Cells Together
You will find little tabs on the back of the cells. Take your soldering iron and heat it up. Touch the tip of the tab and gently feed some solder onto the heated surface of the iron. Just one drop will do. Make sure you do all of the 4 to 6 tabs that you find.
The tabs on the backs of the cells will form a line, one on top and one on
bottom. The top tabs are negative and the bottom tabs are the positive leads.
With the drop of solder on the backs of the tabs gently place a copper wire
lead onto the tab and heat it up. The wire will bond to the tab and connect
the negative tabs together. Do the same for the other tabs.
Use different color wire for negative and positive leads to avoid confusion.
The cells are now stuck down to the plywood in the pattern that you made before and the wires are gently fed through the back of the plywood. Use just enough caulking to secure the cell to the backing. We usually use some sort of silicone because it is pliable and lasts a long time.
Use each hole for 2 cells, one facing left and one facing right so the lead wires will easily thread through the holes. Be careful not to press to hard on the cells when you are attaching them. We usually use a small piece of wood to place on the cells to press evenly with, thereby avoiding any breakage.
When you have all of the solar cells stuck down on the backing you will need to wire all of the same color (negative) wires together.
It is a good idea to make the leads long enough to join the ends later. Test fit a couple of cells before you begin.
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I would love to get into more detail, but the book is over 100 pages long and would make for quite a long email. Again, that tip came from our book “Building and Installing Solar Panels” which can be found here:
http://www.living-off-grid.com/solar/solar-panel-easy-installation-guid
Tomorrow I’m going to get into grid-tie solutions and just some overall good tips for people wishing to live off the grid.
Until then,
Andrew
