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Going to start with an 80w and have just spent £44 on all i need for the electrical side of things. I ve got glass and a quality clear resin in the cellar .... Am now intrigued to see how it will go !!
Last Feb 2010 I read up all the posts here on the MHF forum.. Bought everything from ebay, B&Q and my local car shop..
At the time all in price was just under £230 for 80w, you can get it cheaper now..
Self fitted and i'm no expert.. It's been great, I just leave it on all the time and my battery is always full.. Fantastic when at long rallies and no EHU plus saved me cash when abroad as I dont waste 4 euro a night on EHU.. My original batteries were not the best, so this year changed 2 old 85amp to 1 x 110amp....
I think it's one on the best investments you can get for a motorhome. The hardest things are just working out where to run your wires and that 1 moment when you drill through your roof.. :lol
______________________________________________________________ Steve Tonks...
Going to start with an 80w and have just spent £44 on all i need for the electrical side of things. I ve got glass and a quality clear resin in the cellar .... Am now intrigued to see how it will go !!
Any pitfalls please feel free to let me know !
Hi Spatz1
It sounds like you are going to be actually building your own panels..if you are then you may like to read these old threads... some of it may be out of date but they will give you some ideas
______________________________________________________________ When confronted by a problem, you can solve it easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have handled this?"
seems things have come on a bit since then with all the tabbing /buss wire supplied and the flux pen...80 w for the £44
like i said , i ve got loads of glass, and the resin (top quality as i used to make glass furniture) and i m just working on ideas to keep it simple and neat and proffessional !!!!
So the "kit" arrived quickly and its the first time i ve seen the cells in the flesh and they look fine and test at .51v in this rainy weather...I hadnt realised how thin they actually are (no thicker than paper )and couldnt believe how light the box they arrived in was....
The tabbing wire is pre coated in solder and to be honest at this stage it doesnt look that daunting a task to set about it and almost seems a shame to have to add so much weight (glass & frame) during the encapsulation stage.....
Now i ve seen everything - Depending on the outcome of the soldering and if its as neat as i hope, i m thinking a long the lines of Flexible solar pannel and trying to come up with a method of encapsulation that can be done at home and last a couple of years without the weight associated with glass.
Just one problem, they only delivered 33 cells instead of 36 and i d been looking at so many on e bay i forgot to check the feedback of the supplier..... you ve guessed it , a big fat zero .
I am in the process of building my own. I have come to the conclusion it is not really worth it.
I am building a 144Watt panel and it will cost me about £150 once completed. I pick up the low iron toughened glass tomorrow.
The cells are all tabbed and I have the EVA already.
You need to totally encapsulate the cells. Don't use a wooden backboard as this can absorb moisture and the cells will die very quickly.
There are two recommended methods to encapsulate them. A liquid silicone compound such as QSIL This stuff isn't cheap but gives the best results. It is not recommended to use anything not designed for the job as it will yellow or degrade in a way that will reduce the effectiveness of the panel.
The other method is to use EVA. This is a sheet of plastic material that fells rubbery to the touch. You use heat to melt it and this bonds to the glass and to the back of the cells. It is a pain to use and you need to put a sheet of it on the glass then the cells then another sheet. You are supposed to put a backing sheet such as tedlar over this but i haven't been able to source any at the right price so am going to try without. The EVA method works best if you have a vacuum pump to get rid of the air before heating.
Anyway. I have come to the conclusion that premade panels have dropped down to £150 in price now so the saving is not big enough to warrant the work unless you are doing it for the sense of achievement.
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