| STEP 1 |
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- Grab a multimeter capable of measuring fractions of DC voltage and your collection of solar cells.
- Position a light source near your collection of solar cells; this will enable to you get a consistent measurement of voltage output of each one of your solar cells with a light source that has constant output and is a fixed distance away.
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| STEP 2 |
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- Set the multimeter to measure DC voltage.
- Place the negative test lead (usually black) on the side of the solar cell which indicates negative voltage (usually the front).
- Place the positive test lead (usually red) on the side of the solar cell which indicates positive voltage (usually the back).
- Observe what the maximum voltage output is. Don't move the solar cell around to try to get a higher reading since you will be grouping the solar cells together according to how much voltage they generate at the same position from your light source.
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| STEP 3 |
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- Separate your solar cells into groupings of .05 volt increments as you are taking voltage measurements.
- This will allow you to take maximum advantage of solar cell output by grouping solar cells together (each group would be a solar panel). For example, if you had 35 solar cells which had an output of .45 volts and you had one which had an output of .35 volts, the output of your solar panel will suffer.
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| STEP 4 |
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- Get your solar cell tin wire.
- Cut out a cardboard panel that is approximately 10 1/2" in length.
- If you do not already have solar cell tin wire that is precut to 10 1/2" in length, you can use the length of the cardboard panel to cut a roll of solar cell tin wire or trim strips.
- Mark one end of each wire (I used permanent marker) that you will be adding solder to.
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| STEP 5 |
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- Apply solder on 1/2 of the solar tab wire with your soldering iron. The marking that you made will "float" onto the top of the solder so it will still be there. The reason for marking one side which has solder on it is to easily determine which side of your wire has solder on it (later).
- When you are done rotate the cardboard around so that the marked end is furthest away from you (rotate 180 degrees).
- Turn each wire strip around.
- Now, solder 1/2 of the solar tab wire with your soldering iron.
- When you are done you should have a collection of tab wire which has solder on 1/2 of it on one side, and the opposite side will have 1/2 of solder on it. Solder will be on the whole length of the tab wire (not on the same 1/2 of the wire).
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| STEP 6 |
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- Grab a stack of solar cells (for the type of solar cell being used here, 36 of them will create a 100 Watt solar panel using manufacturer ratings...since blemished cells are being used more than likely our panel will not generate 100 Watts maximum but a little less).
- Place a single solar cell onto a flat surface that will draw heat away from the solar cell. I used a glass table-top that was approximately 1/4" thick.
- Lay a solar tab wire with solder on it over each strip (or bus) on the solar cell. To ensure that the end of your wire with solder on it is facing the solar cell, make sure the tab wire with the mark on it is facing the solar cell.
- Grab your soldering iron and heat up the solar tab wire (the heat will melt the solder causing the wire to become attached to the solar cell).
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| STEP 7 |
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- When you've completed soldering tin wire to your stack of solar cells, they will all need to be arranged in series (the negative side of one solar cell will be soldered to the positive side of another solar cell).
- To begin, place one solar cell face down.
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| STEP 8 |
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- Take another solar cell, turn it over and place it so that the tin wire covers the back of the previous solar cell. Although not too evident in the picture, you will want to have about 1/16th of an inch between the ends of solar cells so they are not physically touching each other.
- Solder the tin wire (by heating it with your soldering iron) to the back of the previous solar cell.
- Don't solder all 36 solar cells into pairs of two. This step is just illustrated so that you can specifically see how to add one solar cell to another solar cell.
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| STEP 9 |
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- Now that you see that we are doing nothing more than turning the solar cell face down and soldering the tabs of one onto the backside of another, it's time to use a pattern that will allow us to solder all 36 solar cells together.
- From the picture you'll notice all of the solar cells are numbered. This is the sequence, and positioning, to use on the 48" x 48" x 1/8" polycarbonate sheet. If you do not want to risk scuffing the sheet, you will need to use another transparent surface (so you can periodically test the cells to make sure good connections are being made).
- Lay down your first solar cell (as indicated by #1) and then lay down the second solar cell (as indicated by #2) and solder #2 to #1.
- Repeat the process, following the picture, until you've layed down and soldered all 36 solar cells. The last solar cell that you will lay down and solder is #36.
- Solder 3 tin wires onto the back of solar cell #36 and face them upwards (the same direction as the 3 tin wires from solar cell #1).
- When completed you will have a symmetrical array of solar cells approximately 3' 5/16" by 3' 5/16" in size.
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| STEP 10 |
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- Shift attention to the 48" x 48" x 1/8" acrylic sheet (which will be the back of the solar panel).
- Drill two holes as indicated by the picture. These two holes are to allow you to feed a positive and negative wire (18 AWG) outside of the panel.
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| STEP 11 |
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- Trim back the tin wire leads from solar cell #1 and solar cell #36.
- Solder a tin wire across the ends of the tin wire leads for solar cell #1 and solar cell #36.
- Solder a 4" long black coated wire (18 AWG) onto the tin wire of solar cell #1.
- Solder a 4" long red coated wire (18 AWG) onto the tin wire of solar cell #36.
- Using the silicon sealant/adhesive, apply three small "globs" of it on each solar cell as indicated.
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| STEP 12 |
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- Place the 48" x 48" x 1/8" acrylic sheet over the solar cell array so that the array is centered in the middle of the sheet.
- Carefully lower and release the acrylic sheet onto the solar cells. Let the silicon sealant/adhesive dry.
- Feed the two wires through the two holes you had drilled.
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| STEP 13 |
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- Turn the acrylic sheet over so that the solar cells face up.
- Take 2, 4' lengths of the 1/4" rod and place one at the edge of one side of the acrylic sheet and glue it with the gorilla glue. You may want to clamp the rod down so that it does not shift as the glue dries.
- Repeat the same process on the opposite side of the acrylic sheet.
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| STEP 14 |
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- Cut 1/2" off of the remaining 2, 4' lengths of 1/4" rod.
- Place the 2 lengths of rod on opposite ends of the acrylic sheet and glue it with the gorilla glue. You may want to clamp the rods down so that they do not shift as the glue dries.
- Along the inner joins of the rods (which form 90 degrees) apply the silicon sealant.
- Allow the glue and sealant to dry completely.
- Place gorilla glue along the top of the rods. Set the polycarbonate sheet (48" x 48" x 1/8") on top. You may want to clamp the sheet down so that it does not shift as the glue dries.
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| STEP 1 |
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- Drill a hole in the bottom of the 3" x 2" x 1" enclosure box.
- Drill a hole in the side of the lower side of the 3" x 2" x 1" enclosure box.
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| STEP 2 |
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- Glue the 4 terminal barrier terminal block to the bottom of the enclosure box using the Gorilla Glue.
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| STEP 3 |
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- Feed the two wires from the solar panel through the bottom of the enclosure box.
- Attach a #8 Insulated Ring Terminal Wire Connector to the end of each of the wires.
- Attach the color-coded wires (red for positive and black for negative) to the terminal block.
- Glue the enclosure box to the back of the solar panel using the Gorilla Glue.
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| STEP 4 |
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- Attach the diode to the terminal block as indicated (the band on the diode usually represents the positive side of the diode).
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| STEP 5 |
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- Feed a length of 18 AWG, red and black colored wire through the side of the box (length of each color coded wire should be at least six feet).
- Attach a #8 Insulated Ring Terminal Wire Connector to the end of each of the wires.
- Attach the color-coded wires (red for positive and black for negative) to the terminal block.
- Apply silicon sealant/adhesive on both sides of the enclosure box's lower wall to fill in the hole that was drilled to feed the wires through. This will help seal the enclosure box from material and insects getting inside. It will also help secure the wires so that they do not get pulled out of their connectors.
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