DIY solar panels?

[rarebear.nm]

Anyone in this forum who has made their own solar panels from only components? Like individual solar cells, custom frame, wiring, the whole thing.

If so care to share your story?

I know many will ask why would someone do that. I look at RVs where the roof space may be too broken up to add much by using standard sized panels and custom sized/shaped panels could be a real plus.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

Anyone in this forum who has made their own solar panels from only components? Like individual solar cells, custom frame, wiring, the whole thing.

If so care to share your story?

I know many will ask why would someone do that. I look at RVs where the roof space may be too broken up to add much by using standard sized panels and custom sized/shaped panels could be a real plus.

I don't quite understand what you are trying to do. You need a factory to make a solar panel. If you are looking to hook up various sizes and odd shapes, trying to cover as much area as possible, you can buy just about any size shape, voltage, wattage you can think of from Alibaba. There are tons of DIY videos on youtube about guys putting low cost solar and battery together.

[ArtJoyce]

I looked at it, but it was much cheaper to buy a panel already assembled. But custom buil DC ing panels are the way to go to best fit you space needs.

[Mark_K5LXP]

In a past life I knew a guy that had a business doing custom panel assembly. This was pre-chinese cheep solar days and I guess he was working an angle of buying wafers in bulk, and he had automated wafer interconnect soldering equipment. What I took away from seeing that operation was the elephant in the room is the glazing, and creating a sealed panel that stayed sealed. No doubt it can be done in single quantities but there would be a learning curve and messing around sourcing materials. With the time and tooling investment it would have to be a pretty remarkable result to make that trouble worth it. Not every project has to justify itself and if it's something one wants to putz with and are OK with some issues or even failure then there's no reason not to try. But if it's not about entertainment I think coming up with a solution using commodity products would be more cost effective and likely more reliable.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[RS ODonnell]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

Anyone in this forum who has made their own solar panels from only components? Like individual solar cells, custom frame, wiring, the whole thing.

If so care to share your story?

I know many will ask why would someone do that. I look at RVs where the roof space may be too broken up to add much by using standard sized panels and custom sized/shaped panels could be a real plus.

I installed twelve of these on our 35' Montana for that very same reason. Mapped the roof at various times of day and in different orientations to avoid shading by AC unit's and MaxxFan rain covers. Put four on our last rig (24' Class C). Very pleased with their performance.

https://www.renogy.com/100-watt-12-v...ompact-design/

[rarebear.nm]

Thanks for the comments so far. The question is not about costs. I do not expect a DIY panel to save any money. In part I like doing things like this myself for my own enjoyment. Cheaper than playing golf.
Nothing against golf for people who enjoy that.

I've tinkered with this idea for some years and high grade components for the entire project are readily found on the web. I really like SunPower's newer C60 cell technology, clean, efficiency at about 23.7% and produces about 3.55 watts per cell, higher than common solar cells. They also outperform standard cells in low light conditions. If needed each cell bend about 30 degrees without breaking. Something most other cells can not do. Another option in panel design is that these cells can be cut length wise to give you a partial cell to max out the space.

The other key point is I can make a panel to fit the roof spaces I have. When you have a large roof standard panels are the right solution. I used three commercial grade panels on our 5th wheeler with great results.

Things of greatest interest to me is the encapsulation of both sides and sourcing a good aluminum frame material. I'd plan on cutting and welding the frame members.

I may decide to can this idea, but for now I'd like to take it through the design stages with material lists and costs.

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

Thanks for the comments so far. The question is not about costs. I do not expect a DIY panel to save any money. In part I like doing things like this myself for my own enjoyment. Cheaper than playing golf.
Nothing against golf for people who enjoy that.

I've tinkered with this idea for some years and high grade components for the entire project are readily found on the web. I really like SunPower's newer C60 cell technology, clean, efficiency at about 23.7% and produces about 3.55 watts per cell, higher than common solar cells. They also outperform standard cells in low light conditions. If needed each cell bend about 30 degrees without breaking. Something most other cells can not do. Another option in panel design is that these cells can be cut length wise to give you a partial cell to max out the space.

The other key point is I can make a panel to fit the roof spaces I have. When you have a large roof standard panels are the right solution. I used three commercial grade panels on our 5th wheeler with great results.

Things of greatest interest to me is the encapsulation of both sides and sourcing a good aluminum frame material. I'd plan on cutting and welding the frame members.

I may decide to can this idea, but for now I'd like to take it through the design stages with material lists and costs.

I applaud your desire to create something unique but it's not something I remotely would have interest in doing myself.

I am curious...just how much total wattage are you trying to obtain in solar output? Unless you're talking about small popups or a 1976 Boler, it is pretty easy to find room for 600 to 800 watts of solar. Heck, I could easily reconfigure and swap out the small panels on our 32' overall 5er to install 1000 watts+. Seems to me storage and battery weight/size are the issue for most.

[rarebear.nm]

Originally Posted by kdauto

I applaud your desire to create something unique but it's not something I remotely would have interest in doing myself.

I am curious...just how much total wattage are you trying to obtain in solar output? Unless you're talking about small popups or a 1976 Boler, it is pretty easy to find room for 600 to 800 watts of solar. Heck, I could easily reconfigure and swap out the small panels on our 32' overall 5er to install 1000 watts+. Seems to me storage and battery weight/size are the issue for most.

I installed 1050 watts of solar on our 32ft 5th wheeler a few years back. In this case the MH is only 27ft total and roof space is shorter.

This is not really about why I'm looking into this but how to best complete a couple of steps in the fabrication of some panels. I'm looking for about 500 to 600 watts total. RVers typically install solar to provide other options to recharge the batteries. In most cases solar setups on RVs are seldom cost effective.