How To Create A Solar Panel

September 21, 2017

How To Create A Solar Panel

Fews step of how to make your owe solar panel

Step 1: Creating a Template & Putting Frame Together

First, I want to make a template for my solar cells. What I used was a spare piece of regular plywood, a piece of regular cardboard the size of a solar cell, some tile spacers, and a staple gun to create my template. Using a ruler helped to keep everything aligned, and it's easier to cut the plywood using a jigsaw, but a regular hand saw will do fine as well. Next, once I finished my template, I started to put the frame together. What I used was a 1x2x8 piece of plywood, and cut that to fit my outer frame of the plywood. I wanted to make sure the outer frame was not too high to prevent from loosing any sunlight I could be using. So I then placed the pieces of plywood on top of the 2x4 pressure treated plywood, and screwed those down and sanded the entire frame afterward as seen in Part 2 of the video. After sanding and cleaning up any extra dust left over, I applied the Deck and Siding paint onto the frame. I wanted to give it 2 coats for a nice seal from UV rays, and making it water resistant. I also needed to place 2 coats of the Deck and Stain paint on the 2x4 piece of pegboard.

Step 2: Assembling the Solar Cells
Next, while my first coat was drying, I started to work on assembling the solar cells. The best way to learn how to assemble the solar cells would be to simply watch the video. A quick overview of it is, the bottom of the solar cell is the positive side, and the top of solar cell is the negative side. I wanted to connect the solar cells in series, with a total of 36 solar cells, which will give me 63 watts. I used tabbing wire with a soldering iron to connect the solar cells together. For my panel I had 3 strings of solar cells. To connect those strings of solar cells, I used what is called a bus wire. The bus wire goes at the end of the strings to create one long string, however, curled up in a way like a snake.

Step 3: Creating Holes for My Connections

Next, once the pegboard and plywood had 2 coats of Deck and Siding paint, I needed to screw the pegboard down inside the frame (plywood). What I did was first place the solar cells inside my frame to get an idea of where I'd need to place the screws, and then took the solar cells back out once I made my marks, and then screwed the pegboard down. Next I went ahead and drilled 2 holes at the end of my frame for my negative and positive connections to run out.

Step 4: Gluing the Solar Cells Down

Afterward, since I had two strings completed, I was able to go ahead and solder my bus wire on one end to bond the two strings of solar cells together.

Step 5: Soldering Bus Wire

Next, after hooking all 3 strings of solar cells up in series, I was ready to get my 22 gauge wires (red and black) ready for soldering. On the ends of my leads from my gauge wires, I connected some connectors to make the process of soldering them down to the bus wire a lot easier. To help give the inside of the solar panel a nicer look, I used 2 strips of wiremold and ran the wires inside those. This is also seen in Part 7 and Part 8 of the video. Afterward, I took the panel outside in the sun to test the voltage/current of the whole panel to make sure I was getting 18 volts and 3.5 amps in an open circuit and short circuit.

Step 6: Visiting the Electric Side