How to make solar cells, By taking junk Solar Cells, that have no soldering,tabs / points, and make them usable for DIY solar panels or science projects.
What is nice about this is you can get solar cells like this at a much cheaper price, so this would bring the project cost down.
In the next steps I will show step by step how I did this and how they work. I have made a video of this and I am really happy with the results of the experiment . I will be making a cheap DIY solar panel with this and I will post it when i am finished.
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Check out my Video on this at
http://www.youtube.com/user/SOLARCELLS101?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/YSv6hVhweeA
my website www.solarcells101.com
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Signing UpStep 1: Adding wire to a solar cell with no soldering points pos side
I am showing the top of the solar cell this is the neg side and it has no spot to solder to, Normaly this would be junk. I got some clear transparent tape from wallmart it looks off brand its just called TRANSPARENT Tape get the clear stuff!! Use thin wire, the best is flat tabbing wire and tape it down as flat as you can and try to hit all the collector grids. If you can run two strips across the top or negative - side, and two strips across the bottom or positive + side. This will work much nicer just incase you miss a collector or it was not down flat the other will hit it. You need to get as many amps as you can to make this worth it. In this step this is how the negative - side is done. In the next step I will show how I did the positive + side of the solar cell.
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thanks.
they tested voltage with no load attached. Current output is very very very small on small panels.
Solar cells produce current in proportion to the amount of light they receive. The amount they can capture is proportional to the area of the cell surface. So, by cutting a cell in half, the amount of electrical current it will produce is reduced by half.
The amount of voltage a cell produces is fairly constant while illuminated at about a half a volt. Therefore by wiring cells in series, you can produce electric current at a voltage level determined by the number of cells. 10 cells makes 5 volts, 36 cells makes 18 volts, etc.
Although the voltages add up, the current is constant in the series circuit. If you understand your physics or electronics, you'll see that the amount of current a solar panel produces is determined by the whole series of cells. It is therefore important that the cells be of about the same size. Your current will be limited by the lowest current produced by any cell, so the smallest cell is the weakest link. Chose broken cells and match them by size for best results.
My concern with using tape to make the connection to the cells would be the longevity of the contact. Will it degrade over time through corrosion, either through oxidation or by chemicals in the adhesive on the tape? I guess the only way to find out is time. I'd be curious to hear how these hold up.
I would - personally - never buy broken cells to do this with, but would certainly try it to play around with the cast-offs from a DIY solar panel project. As anyone who has worked with these cells knows, there is always some breakage and you always order extra because of that.