How to MAKE PV Solar Panels

Step 3 Preparing Broken Cells

If you can solder onto the cells then they are higher quality than the ones I have
so you can skip these preparing steps:

On the blue side, scratch the thick line with a very small flat screwdriver with just a little force
so that the cell doesn't break, and the line should turn from white to shiny unless it's already
shiny and ready to solder. Try to make a little shiny circle. We will solder there.
Make the flat edge of the screwdriver completely touch the scratched area so it rubs wide.
Mostly push back and forth so that the rubbing removes the thin oxidation.
After scratching the line, turn the cell and scratch the circle back and forth again.
Maybe turn it once more and scratch it once more.

Now flip the cell over and notice the rough stuff on the back. If there appears to be
two different roughnesses or shades of grey, we are going to scratch in two places.
Again, turn the cell and scratch it in one or two little circles by pushing the edge of the
screwdriver up and down to remove the coating that solder won't stick to.

Now back to the blue side. Try to get a solderball to stick.
If it does not stick, and rosin gunks up the area, scrape it off and try again,
and if it seems hopeless, scrape another part of the wide line on the cell.
I did not have the problem because of practice.

Now try to put a bump of solder in the two places scratched on the bottom of
the cell. I was only able to get one bump to stick. There are areas on the
bottom where solder just won't stick. But if neither spot sticks, try scraping the
rosin off the spots and soldering again, or carefully scratching another spot.
If you have a bump on the blue side, it's good but you can't lay the cell flat now.
The spot that worked was rougher and thicker than the one that didn't, and
that means there's a lot more silver there, and more likely it will solder.

Now that you have two solder bumps, you can attach two thin wires,
either strands from stranded wire, or thin wire-wrap wire.
What about thicker wire? It can pull the lines off the cell and then you can
forget about soldering it. Put it in the "wire glue" bin.

Now that there are two wires on the cell, test it with a meter. The Blue side
of the cell will make up to 0.55 Negative volts, so connect the meter PLUS
to the wire on the silver-gray bottom of the cell. My cell isn't getting much
light but the meter needle is indicating that it is making electricity.