Build a 60 Watt Solar Panel

Step 6 Solder the solar cells together

I started out by drawing a grid pattern on each of the two pieces of pegboard, lightly in pencil, so I would know where each of the 18 cells on them would be located. Then I laid out the cells on that grid pattern upside-down so I could solder them together. All 18 cells on each half panel need to be soldered together in series, then both half panels need to be connected in series to get the desired voltage.

Soldering the cells together was tricky at first, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly. Start out with just two cells upside-down. Lay the solder tabs from the front of one cell across the solder points on the back of the other cell. I made sure the spacing between the cells matched the grid pattern. I continued this until I had a line of 6 cells soldered together. I then soldered tabs from scrapped solar cells to the solder points on the last cell in the string. Then I made two more lines of 6 cells.

I used a low-Wattage soldering iron and fine rosin-core solder. I also used a rosin pen on the solder points on the back of the cells before soldering. Use a real light touch with the soldering iron. The cells are thin and delicate. If you push too hard, you will break the cells. I got careless a couple of times and scrapped a couple of cells. More details on this step can be found on my web [site at http://www.mdpub.com/SolarPanel/]

Comments

[~boots~]

unfortunately i chose to solder the tabbing wire to the negative side of my cells but they seem to not just pop off, but pull the whole contact point off the cell itself and refuse to stick back on. any suggestions?

[speedstix]

 flux is your friend, I would advise to get a flux pen and try again. 

[airsofter1]

 It is possible that your soldering iron is to hot. When I first started soldering my cells together I burned off a couple contact points to. You could also be holding it there to long. So either switch to a lower temperature soldering iron or don't hold it there as long. Good luck

[patenaude]

 It appears that you are soldering them in parallel, not in series. Are the tabs set up so that allows for a series by soldering straight across?

[patenaude]

 Nevermind... I just figured out that both wires are anodes, and the tabs on the back are all cathodes (or vise versa.)