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advice on broken solar panel z 06-16-2008
Posted by Ulysses on June 25, 2008, 12:36 pm
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>
> The question I was really asking was (as I am thinking about biulding a
> solar water heater and am wondering what material would be best for the
> front) if there is something about laminated glass that makes it less
> suitable than polycarbonate? I'm talking about the wave lenghts they pass
> here. As I can get glass or lam but as yet have no idea of the price of
poly
> here.

My solar water heater is at ground level, easily accessible. The
glazing is just old glass salvaged from a garage door. I close the
insulated covers at night and place a piece of clear polycarbonate
roofing over it when thunderstorms are predicted. That's all, and it's
enough.

For that matter, since the sun won't be shining anyway, a piece of plywood
or whatever is handy would work too.

I'm thinking that we need to determine whatever it was that broke z's panel
and protect against that. For all we know it could have been squirrels with
hammers.



Posted by z on June 18, 2008, 9:52 pm
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>
>> bealiba@gmail.com wrote in
>> :
>>
>> >> Heya
>> >>
>> >> I picked up a Coleman CL 3600 solar panel kit for next to
>> >> nothing.. they are 3 18 watt panels -- two are in perfect shape,
>> >> but one has the glass badly spidered.
>> >>
>> >> Its not broken broken.. just cracked badly and the cell itself
>> >> seems OK. Just wondering if you guys had used any kind of magic
>> >> spray that would seal up the cracks and keep the thing water
>> >> proof. I could try to replace it but its encased in this housing
>> >> that doesn't look like it was ever meant to be taken apart.
>> >>
>> >> I just want to keep the water out and not lose too much light
>> >> penetration while not risking damaging the cell itself by
>> >> replacing the glass.
>> >>
>> >> I have some POR-15 high temp clear coat I use on aluminum engine
>> >> heads etc to keep the corrosion from coming back after polishing..
>> >> dono what it would do on the glass.
>> >>
>> >> Any other ideas on magic spray/coating ?
>> >>
>> >> cheers
>> >>
>> >> -zachary (working on solar while the sun evaporates all my
>> >> hydro-electric water)
>> >
>> > Clear casting resin.
>
> I would be worried about the resin leaking through the cracks and
> making a big mess out of the whole thing. Plus I've seen some clear
> resin turn yellow. Do you have enough room to just put another piece
> of glass on top and seal the edges with some clear silicone?


Yeah I could do that .. the glass thing is a no go. I'd have to drive
about 10 dollars worth of gas to get the glass and such.

I ended up ording a 5 dollar can of that resin spray. It'll hold out for
a year or two I hope -- then I can try to pull the glass if it starts
getting yellow.

Thought about the film thing too, but dang that stuff isn't cheap. I
need these bad boys in production.. an extra 54 watts would make a nice
boost in the energy production.

Just built a frame for em, i'll add the two 18 watt panels for now till I
can get the other one fixed.

thanks everyone for the good advice as usual... what a resource!

Posted by Ulysses on June 19, 2008, 11:07 am
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>
> >
> >> bealiba@gmail.com wrote in
> >> :
> >>
> >> >> Heya
> >> >>
> >> >> I picked up a Coleman CL 3600 solar panel kit for next to
> >> >> nothing.. they are 3 18 watt panels -- two are in perfect shape,
> >> >> but one has the glass badly spidered.
> >> >>
> >> >>> > I would be worried about the resin leaking through the cracks and
> > making a big mess out of the whole thing. Plus I've seen some clear
> > resin turn yellow. Do you have enough room to just put another piece
> > of glass on top and seal the edges with some clear silicone?
>
>
> Yeah I could do that .. the glass thing is a no go. I'd have to drive
> about 10 dollars worth of gas to get the glass and such.

You mean *everyone* doesn't have a bunch of scrap glass laying around?

What I had in mind was the glass from the picture of ugly old Aunt Edna
that's been in the closet for 15 years.

>
> I ended up ording a 5 dollar can of that resin spray. It'll hold out for
> a year or two I hope -- then I can try to pull the glass if it starts
> getting yellow.
>
>



Posted by z on June 19, 2008, 12:02 pm
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>
>>
>> >
>> >> bealiba@gmail.com wrote in
>> >> com
>> >> :
>> >>
>> >> >> Heya
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I picked up a Coleman CL 3600 solar panel kit for next to
>> >> >> nothing.. they are 3 18 watt panels -- two are in perfect
>> >> >> shape, but one has the glass badly spidered.
>> >> >>
>> >> >>> > I would be worried about the resin leaking through the
>> >> >>> > cracks and
>> > making a big mess out of the whole thing. Plus I've seen some
>> > clear resin turn yellow. Do you have enough room to just put
>> > another piece of glass on top and seal the edges with some clear
>> > silicone?
>>
>>
>> Yeah I could do that .. the glass thing is a no go. I'd have to
>> drive about 10 dollars worth of gas to get the glass and such.
>
> You mean *everyone* doesn't have a bunch of scrap glass laying around?

Yeah too bad we weren't neighbours. I've got a LOT of wood lying around.
My old man had a portable saw mill so we've still got stacks of lumber --
Glass not so much.

Could do some trading :)

>
> What I had in mind was the glass from the picture of ugly old Aunt
> Edna that's been in the closet for 15 years.

Oh well this would need to be a pretty large chunk: 12 x 28.


Lets just hope the magic spray works for now.

Posted by Ulysses on June 19, 2008, 6:19 pm
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>> >> Yeah I could do that .. the glass thing is a no go. I'd have to
> >> drive about 10 dollars worth of gas to get the glass and such.
> >
> > You mean *everyone* doesn't have a bunch of scrap glass laying around?
>
> Yeah too bad we weren't neighbours. I've got a LOT of wood lying around.
> My old man had a portable saw mill so we've still got stacks of lumber --
> Glass not so much.
>
> Could do some trading :)

My next-door neighbor died recently and his wife got in a dumpster to get
rid if his "junk." Kinda sad. I probably could have made a vacuum powered
solar antigravity perpetpual motion woodgas water pump 10 kW generator from
all that stuff. At least she didn't throw away the tractor.

>
> >
> > What I had in mind was the glass from the picture of ugly old Aunt
> > Edna that's been in the closet for 15 years.
>
> Oh well this would need to be a pretty large chunk: 12 x 28.

That's a little bigger than I would have guessed.


>
>
> Lets just hope the magic spray works for now.

I'm sure you'll get it to work.



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