The solar cells arrived last week. Included with the cells was pre-tinned tab and bus wire, flux and solder. Not included was the “instruction manual” which the seller promised would be in the mail Monday morning. It hasn’t arrived yet but it is only Wednesday. Previous research and experience caused the temptation to just go ahead and get started anyway. I have resisted, just in case there may be little known methods, techniques and secrets within their information versus information gleaned from other sources. Somehow I’m expecting to learn very little more, but just in case, I wait.

Do it yourself projects usually start by mulling over what you intend to accomplish until the goal is pretty clearly cemented in the mind. General details, for that matter even intricate details are frequently worked through before anything gets put on paper, into a text document or a CAD drawing. In the mind’s eye the project is completed in seemingly no time. In actual hands on doing it, well the time factor expands exponentially or at least that’s how it feels. I hesitate to speculate how much additional exponential expansion will result from documenting with pictures (possibly videos) plus lots of instructive text and probably more. One thing for sure, it ain’t gonna be just making a solar panel and explaining what and how I did it.

I tell ya, some of the things I get myself into. OK, let’s not go there.