I wanted to make my own solar panels for a long time. This week I finally got the chance. I learnt a lot from youtube videos and instructables website, but most panels were made of glass, wood and epoxy resins. I realized it was too much effort for cheap rejected solar sells picked up from ebay.

So I decided I had to use polycarbonate or acrylic sheet for the job. I heard stories about acrylic sheets melting in heat, solar cells getting destroyed by moisture etc. But I still decided to go ahead with it because it was the simplest, strongest and safest encapsulation I could think of.

The panel cost me around $35 to pack 22 3"x6" cells (.5V x 3A x 22 = 33W). The whole setup can be folded and connected in different ways to charge Li-Ion, SLA or NiMH Battery packs.

Step 1: Things Needed

Solar cells: Picked from ebay. 40 3x6 cells with tabbing wire - $40
Optix Acrylic sheet: $28 (32x44inch sheet) cut into 4 - 16x8 sheet and one 1 16x12 sheet. Picked this one up from Lowes and they were kind enough to cut it for free. Thanks Lowes!
Silicone sealant - $6 (This one is from GE and is flexible, clear and cures in 24 hrs)
Rubber electrical tape (optional).
Small 3/8" tile spacers ($2 for a pack of 100).
Some wires.

Step 2: Solder the Cells

I am not going to go through this step in detail. There are many videos on this online. Most of them work but if you are doing it for the first time, you will break a few cells and solder will not stick to the solder lines on some.

Tab them and then connect them top o bottom, 4 cells in a line. Then solder both the ends with bus wire and attach 2 connecting wires. The picture has more cells since i soldered more cells to use the available space. But you can decide to make this for 4 cells or 6 cells or 8 cells. However, if you make the panels longer, you risk the fact that the acrylic sheet may become too flexible and that may break the cells.

Step 3: Encapsulate the Cells

To encapsulate the cell, position the cells in the middle of the cut sheet. Make sure you clean the sheet and cells with windex to remove any finger prints. The put a little bit of silicon at the center of the cells, flip them over and press them gently to stick them to the acrylic sheet at the base.

Then put some tile spacers. I used 3/8" spacers. I put them so that any direct pressure on the cover doesnt crack the cells.

Follow these steps:
1. Place silicone at the back of the cells and stick them to Acrylic sheet.
2. Place tile spacers.
3. Put generous dose of silicone at the edge of the acrylic sheet. Then take the upper sheet and stick over the cells.

Thats it! Let the silicone dry and the panel is ready .

Each cell produces about 2V and in the best case up to 3A of current. (6W of power).

Step 4: Testing the Panels

To test the panels, I connected them + to negative in series. Then I connected positive of the panel to positive of the battery and negative of the panel to negative of the battery. I should use a blocking diode but I skipped it for testing purposes since panels are producing higher voltage and thereby driving current into the battery.

the panels were producing close to 8.5 volts but they are connected to a battery which is at 6.3 V. So the battery drags the panel voltage down to about 6.3 volts. However, the panels continue to put about .3A of current into the battery thereby raising the battery voltage gradually. In about half hour battery voltage and gone up to 7V. Once the panels were taken off, battery went back to about 6.4 or 6.5V but it did get some charge.

You have to be careful not let the battery voltage go over 7.2-7.5V because it can damage the batteries permanently.

Another good idea would to cover all the edges of the solar panel with regular electrical insulation tape. Tape the sides with 2-3 layers to provide it a neat finish and added protection.

Next step for me is to design a charge controller for the panels. I have ordered some from eBay and will let you know which worked well.