Speed of Dark Blog

My home-made solar panels were finally set up today to do a test, and behold!  In full sun I achieved 430 mA.  Not great, the cells were rated at 875 in perfect conditions.  Remember, however, that I used less than ideal methods of soldering and attaching the cells to the back board.  As a result, several have cracked with temperature change and the hardening of the adhesive.  Add that to “lessons learned”

• Use the flat wire to attatch the cells together
• Use an adhesive with a low expansion/contraction coefficient.  Or double-sided tape, perhaps.
• Gather materials for the frames before buying next batch of cells.