When constructing a solar panel for outdoor use it is desirable for the cells to be housed in an air tight enclosure. That isn’t a problem using readily available materials. The problem is that even though it is air tight the enclosure has air containing moisture equivalent to the relative humidity the day it was sealed into the enclosure. As temperatures repeatedly vary there will be condensation cycles which will eventually cause electrical shorting thus shortening the useful life of the panel. A popular means of dealing with that is to encapsulate the cells with moisture proof materials. In this case the cells are secured in place making encapsulating pretty much out of the question. Dang!

Because the cells are already secured to the back panel, it appears the best option to add longevity is remove moisture from the internal air after the assembly is completed. Can that be accomplished? Let’s just say I have a plan. One thing for sure, the project (and costs) to this point aren’t going to end up sitting at the curb on trash day. Nope, the panel will be finished and used as intended until it no longer functions. In the meantime it will be good for comparison to future panel projects. Who knows, maybe it will serve as well and as long as the next panels constructed according to (supposedly) better methods. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

So the project goes forward. Starting with the next post photos and detailed explanations of each step will be included. You will have enough information to be able to duplicate this project. That’s not saying you should do that since there are better ways of making solar panels but you will have the advantage of knowing the mistakes I made, techniques for working with solar cells to avoid the “oh shoots” (not exactly my words but trying to be polite) and numerous insights along the way. Following this experiment to it’s finale will get you well prepared to avoid my mistakes and economically build proper solar panels. Or you can go about the learning curve from scratch and consider the cost your tuition.

Video documentation of the next solar electric panel is the plan. Of course, that’s assuming a suitable digital video camera within the finances of an old guy on disability can be found. I believe in miracles, don’t you?

Other projects captured my interest and I thought nothing more of it until two days ago when I happened upon a link that took me to that very same site. Well that got me questioning how logical it would be to buy that information, build the “under $200” wind powered generator and use it to provide some part of our electric use. So I did a bit of rough calculating.

Information download: $50

Wind generator: $200

Wow, shouldn’t take much time at all to pay for itself. That is until you dig into the FAQs. You see the unit is built with the “goal” of generating 500 watts at winds of 20 MPH or above. Um, I’m here in North Dakota, on the plains, we get quite a lot of wind but I can guarantee we seldom see 20 MPH sustained winds. But OK, for the sake of this let’s just say we have 500 watts generated 24 hours per day. In the course of a month (30 days) that would mean 360 kilowatts. At a current per KWH rate of $.05/KWH there would be an $18 per month saving from my electric bill.

Sounds good so far don’t it? With higher output unit we could supply all we need for the house and even sell the excess back to the electric company. But there’s that 20 MPH wind to consider. Let’s get closer to realistic and say we have pretty consistent 10 MPH winds. Now we’re only generating 250 watts and maybe saving $9/month. Oh and did I mention the electricity generated is probably not 120 Volt 60 cycle alternating current so you’ll need to charge battery banks (not inexpensive) and use an inverter just so your appliances will work. Inverters are notoriously inefficient so after generating that 250 watts and charging the batteries you may end up getting 125 watts (I don’t know, possibly more or less) from that 500 watt generating system. If you decide to build a much higher capacity unit at much higher cost, the cost of charging equipment, expense for greater capacity battery bank(s) and the much larger inverter needed to supply larger amounts of electricity to your appliances adds up.

Of course the bottom line question is will it pay for itself? I sincerely believe it will but I also believe before that break even point you could have paid the electric company for a long time. You likewise will have repairs and maintenance above and beyond the initial costs and may need to pay qualified people to assure your system is properly connected.

Tempted though I may be, I think it’s not for me. I’m sure glad there are people out there willing to undertake these endeavors and I expect incredible advances are being made every day. I’m fascinated and that fascination will never go away.