Posted by Anthony Matonak on June 16, 2005, 5:15 pm
Mark Norton wrote:
> I have a question for this group. I have been lurking here for over a year
> now, and have seen a lot of people talk about having to replace broken
> panels, but I have not seen anyone talking about WANTING broken panels.
...
The reason there isn't a lot of interest in broken panels is because
they are very difficult, mostly impossible, to repair. The exceptions
are those with jumper blocks breaking the panel (electrically) into
sections or amorphous glass panels which don't have encapsulants or
internal wiring.
Anthony
Posted by William P. N. Smith on June 16, 2005, 5:24 pm
>a 100 watt
>panel that has shattered glass, but still produces the proper voltage could
>be used still to produce 50 watts of power.
Maybe. OTOH, maybe it'll put out zero volts. Either way, if the
glass is broken, the environment can get at the wafers and their
interconnects and corrode them away. If they do work, they may not
work for long.
Posted by Mark Norton on June 16, 2005, 5:48 pm
All of the panels that I have seen that he has gotten have produces between
17 and 20 Volts (Open current). I know that the some of the sun will be
reflected by the glass, but there still has to be some getting through. He
has several that he has put on his roof, over a year ago, and they all seem
to still be working. I guess what I am asking, is this:
Is there any real reason that a system could not be built with these
panels, without "fixing" them? Leave them in a shattered glass state, and
build a 12 Volt system with them???
Posted by wmbjk on June 16, 2005, 8:12 pm
On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 17:48:08 GMT, "Mark Norton"
>All of the panels that I have seen that he has gotten have produces between
>17 and 20 Volts (Open current). I know that the some of the sun will be
>reflected by the glass, but there still has to be some getting through. He
>has several that he has put on his roof, over a year ago, and they all seem
>to still be working. I guess what I am asking, is this:
> Is there any real reason that a system could not be built with these
>panels, without "fixing" them? Leave them in a shattered glass state, and
>build a 12 Volt system with them???
Sure. I've heard of some working for years with cracked glass. Since
you apparently have an endless supply of replacements, except for the
nuisance of swapping them out if they die, it sounds like a plan.
Wayne
Posted by George Ghio on June 17, 2005, 6:28 am
The funny thing is that you still have gotten no real answer.
If the glass is shattered, lay the panel flat on the ground and use a
good quality two part casting resin. The panel I know of that was
repaired this way was broken 9 - 10 years ago after an argument with a
rock.
Free power is free. Why bother to ask?
Mark Norton wrote:
> I have a question for this group. I have been lurking here for over a year
> now, and have seen a lot of people talk about having to replace broken
> panels, but I have not seen anyone talking about WANTING broken panels. I
> have a friend that gets 8-10 broken panels every few months, and I was
> wondering if they could be used. Here is the ultimate idea . . . a 100 watt
> panel that has shattered glass, but still produces the proper voltage could
> be used still to produce 50 watts of power. No? Am I wrong here? Is there
> something that I am missing?
>
> It would seem to me that I could put together a large sized (Both the space
> and the wattage) 12V system using these broken panels. Who cares if they
> only produce half their rated wattage? Isn't 50 Watts of FREE power better
> than 100 Watts of power that I paid $00 for?
>
> What am I missing?
>
> The YouthMan
>
>
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> now, and have seen a lot of people talk about having to replace broken
> panels, but I have not seen anyone talking about WANTING broken panels.
...