The whole truth about the efficiency of solar panels (10 photos). Solar battery repair Glass coating repair
Now you will learn what sellers will never tell you solar panels.
Exactly a year ago, in October 2015, as an experiment, I decided to join the ranks of the “greens” who are saving our planet from premature death, and purchased solar panels with a maximum power of 200 watts and a grid inverter designed for a maximum of 300 (500) watts of generated power . In the photo you can see the structure of the polycrystalline 200 watt panel, but a couple of days after purchase it became clear that in a single configuration it was too low voltage, not enough for the correct operation of my grid inverter.
Therefore, I had to change it to two 100-watt monocrystalline panels. In theory they should be a little more efficient, but in reality they are just more expensive. These are high quality panels from the Russian brand Sunways. I paid 14,800 rubles for two panels.
The second cost item is a Chinese-made grid inverter. The manufacturer did not identify itself in any way, but the device was made with high quality, and an opening showed that the internal components are designed for a power of up to 500 watts (instead of 300 written on the case). Such a grid costs only 5,000 rubles. The grid is an ingenious device. On the one hand, + and - from solar panels are connected to it, and on the other hand, it is connected to absolutely any electrical outlet in your home using a regular electrical plug. During operation, the grid adapts to the frequency in the network and begins to “pump” alternating current (converted from direct current) into your 220 volt home network.
The grid operates only when there is voltage in the network and cannot be considered as a backup power source. This is its only drawback. And a huge advantage of a grid inverter is that you basically don’t need batteries. After all, batteries are the weakest link in alternative energy. If the same solar panel is guaranteed to work for more than 25 years (that is, after 25 years it will lose approximately 20% of its performance), then the service life of an ordinary lead-acid battery under similar conditions will be 3-4 years. Gel and AGM batteries will last longer, up to 10 years, but they also cost 5 times more than conventional batteries.
Since I have mains electricity, I don't need any batteries. If you make the system autonomous, then you need to add another 15-20 thousand rubles to the budget for the battery and the controller for it.
Now, as for electricity generation. All energy generated by solar panels enters the network in real time. If there are consumers of this energy in the house, then all of it will be used up, and the meter at the entrance to the house will not “spin”. If the instantaneous generation of electricity exceeds that currently consumed, then all the energy will be transferred back to the network. That is, the counter will “spin” in the opposite direction. But there are nuances here.
Firstly, many modern electronic meters count the current passing through them without taking into account its direction (that is, you will pay for the electricity sent back to the network). And secondly, Russian legislation does not allow private individuals to sell electricity. This is allowed in Europe and that is why every second house there is covered with solar panels, which, combined with high network tariffs, allows you to really save money.
What to do in Russia? Do not install solar panels that can produce more energy than the current daily energy consumption in the house. It is for this reason that I have only two panels with a total power of 200 watts, which, taking into account inverter losses, can supply approximately 160-170 watts to the network. And my house consistently consumes about 130-150 watts per hour around the clock. That is, all the energy generated by solar panels will be guaranteed to be consumed inside the house.
To control the energy produced and consumed, I use Smappee. I already wrote about him last year. It has two current transformers, which allow you to keep track of both the network electricity and the electricity generated by solar panels.
Let's start with theory and move on to practice.
There are many solar power calculators on the Internet. From my initial data, according to the calculator, it follows that the average annual electricity generation of my solar panels will be 0.66 kWh/day, and the total production for the year will be 239.9 kWh.
This data is for ideal weather conditions and does not take into account conversion losses DC into alternating voltage (you are not going to convert your household's power supply to constant voltage?). In reality, the resulting figure can be safely divided by two.
Let’s compare with actual production data for the year:
2015 - 5.84 kWh
October - 2.96 kWh (from October 10)
November - 1.5 kWh
December - 1.38 kWh
2016 - 111.7 kWh
January - 0.75 kWh
February - 5.28 kWh
March - 8.61 kWh
April - 14 kWh
May - 19.74 kWh
June - 19.4 kWh
July - 17.1 kWh
August - 17.53 kWh
September - 7.52 kWh
October - 1.81 kWh (until October 10)
Total: 117.5 kWh
Here is a graph of electricity generation and consumption in a country house over the last 6 months (April-October 2016). It was during April-August that the lion's share (more than 70%) of electrical energy was generated by solar panels. During the remaining months of the year, production was impossible largely due to cloudiness and snow. Well, don’t forget that the efficiency of the grid for converting direct current into alternating current is approximately 60-65%.
Solar panels are installed in almost ideal conditions. The direction is strictly south, there are no tall buildings nearby that cast a shadow, the installation angle relative to the horizon is exactly 45 degrees. This angle will give the maximum average annual electricity production. Of course, it was possible to buy a rotary mechanism with an electric drive and a sun tracking function, but this would increase the budget of the entire installation by almost 2 times, thereby pushing its payback period to infinity.
I have no questions about generating solar energy on sunny days. It fully corresponds to the calculated ones. And even a decrease in production in winter, when the sun does not rise high above the horizon, would not be so critical if not for... cloudiness. Cloudiness is the main enemy of photovoltaics. Here is the hourly output for two days: October 5 and 6, 2016. On October 5 the sun was shining, and on October 6 the sky was covered with lead clouds. Sun, oh! Where are you hiding?
In winter there is another small problem - snow. There is only one way to solve this: install the panels almost vertically. Or manually clear them of snow every day. But snow is nonsense, the main thing is that the sun is shining. Even if it’s low above the horizon.
So, let's calculate the costs:
Grid inverter (300-500 watts) - 5,000 rubles
Monocrystalline solar panel (Grade A - top quality) 2 pieces of 100 watts - 14,800 rubles
Wires for connecting solar panels (cross section 6 mm2) - 700 rubles
Total: 20,500 rubles.
Over the past reporting period, 117.5 kWh were generated; at the current daily tariff (5.53 rubles/kWh), this will amount to 650 rubles.
If we assume that the cost of network tariffs will not change (in fact, they change upward 2 times a year), then I will be able to return my investments in alternative energy only in 32 years!
And if you add batteries, then this whole system will never pay for itself. Therefore, solar energy in the presence of grid electricity can be beneficial only in one case - when our electricity costs the same as in Europe. If 1 kWh of network electricity costs more than 25 rubles, then solar panels will be very profitable.
In the meantime, it is profitable to use solar panels only where there is no network electricity, and its implementation is too expensive. Let's assume that you have his country house, located 3-5 km from the nearest electric line. Moreover, it is high-voltage (that is, you will need to install a transformer), and you have no neighbors (no one to share the costs with). That is, you will have to pay approximately 500,000 rubles to connect to the network, and after that you will also have to pay network tariffs. In this case, it will be more profitable for you to buy solar panels, a controller and batteries for this amount - after all, after putting the system into operation, you will no longer need to pay any more.
In the meantime, it is worth considering photovoltaics exclusively as a hobby.
Hello community! This kit was purchased solely for educational and self-development purposes. Below is the assembly process and basic measurements based on the results of balcony tests.
The parcel came with a track and was tracked without problems at every stage. Delivery time is quite standard - 1 month. Packed tightly and conscientiously - not a single part of the kit was damaged. Actually, that's all I got. 
1) Flux pencil. I haven’t used this before, but I wasn’t particularly delighted, although I won’t say a bad word. In principle it is convenient. The algorithm is simple: grease and solder. When you shake, you can hear a liquid of unknown origin splashing inside, the composition is not indicated! From useful information from the pencil case you can only get a link to the vendor’s website and support e-mail: and [email protected], respectively. Out of curiosity, I took a walk, it didn’t seem to be cheap. 
2) Tire (small 2 mm) for soldering photocells to each other. I didn’t measure the length, but there is a lot of it. After complete assembly of the kit, visually there was as much left as there was. Since the battery in my pocket spectral device ran out :_), the metal from which it was made could not be determined. But the tape is tinned and soldered very easily. 
3) Busbar (large 5 mm) for soldering assemblies of photocells and/or solar panels. Although I know for certain what ohmic losses are, I did not use it; I made the “+” and “-” terminals from a small bus. And even though because of this I will miss 0.000018 W, but honestly I was just lazy) 
4) Well, actually, the photocells themselves (as many as 42! pcs.) were lovingly rewound by the Chinese in packaging film. 
The geometric dimensions correspond to the declared ones. 
But there were several elements with minor chips. It’s a shame, of course, but the loss of area (read power) is less than 1%, I think. Since when an element is destroyed, the voltage it generates remains the same as that of the whole, it can be mounted in a circuit with (slightly less) success. 
Since the seller stated that at the equator at noon on a cloudless day, each such socket is capable of delivering 0.5 V, it was decided to sequentially assemble 36 elements to generate ≈ 18 V.
“They write on the Internet” that the most convenient platform for assembling such a solar panel is an A4 (photo) frame. Which was purchased in an off-line store at a reasonable price. But let's get back to editing.
The "+" contacts of the photocells are on the back and have different lengths. 
Therefore, I took a piece of a small tire (cut by eye ≈ 1.5 times the width of the module). I tinned it with regular rosin (it was somehow inconvenient and unusual to use a flux pencil. I put it aside...) 
After which I applied it in place along the length of the contact and ironed it with a soldering iron. 
The work is quite painstaking, and the material does not like to be rushed at all; I didn’t even expect that these panels were so fragile - almost like an eggshell. Therefore, stock up on kvass beer and patience. 
To prevent short circuits, I did the soldering of the “negative” contacts the other way around - I tinned the photocell track and ironed the busbar to it. 
Of course, by the end of the work I had already acquired a certain skill, but neither this nor the six (42-36) element head start saved me from collapse - I broke more solar panels than were available. That's the kind of handyman I am. A cruel joke was also played by the rivets of the photo frame latches, which went right through the working surface of the PCB and, although I had sealed it with electrical tape, still protruded quite strongly, so much so that they probably damaged a couple of elements; no less. 
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Because even in the absence of direct sunlight
the entire visible horizon was covered with a veil, haze
my solar battery consistently produced 19.7 V
For the use of which, a converter was purchased. Which at idle without hesitation gave out 5 and a penny volts.
But when connected as a load, the voltage dropped to 3.9 V
But still, a current of 0.14 A was used to charge the phone.
Conclusion: this kit is ideal (all included) for educational and educational purposes, and the device assembled on its basis is quite capable of powering undemanding consumers.
P.S. I will then solder the Schottky diode when I fill it with sealant.
p.p.s. There are really a lot of consumables (tires and flux) left
ppfs test took place on July 6, 2015 at 17:15 hours in the northern hemisphere, at a latitude of approx. 60 degrees N (Leningrad region)
All the best and light)
I'm planning to buy +52 Add to favorites I liked the review +71 +135In Minecraft, the solar panel is one of the main sources of energy, which makes solar energy electric current. If you have a relatively small number of such batteries in minecraft, then they are suitable for use as auxiliary energy supply systems. If you make a lot of such modules, then solar panels will help you switch to this type of energy production. When excess electricity appears in Minecraft, it can be accumulated in special energy storage facilities and batteries. In addition, the improved solar panel has a slot that can be used to charge batteries and tools.
Terms of use.
This mod, unlike traditional windmills and watermills, should be used in a 1x1 work area. That is, it will take only one block. This device cannot work at night or in the rain. Therefore, you need to install it in mine craft only where there is direct sunlight. There should not be any blocks, glass, cables or pipes above the batteries that the BuildCraft mod has. The only exception is snow. During one day of light in minecraft, one solar panel generates up to 13 thousand eE, producing a voltage of 1 eE/f. After installing such a system in the desert, you will not be afraid of rain, since it does not happen here. The only problem for battery operation will be at night.
Like many other sources of electricity in minecraft, this panel will become available only after you install the industrial craft 2 mod. Although many people perceive it as an additional source of current, if you craft many such systems, you can completely replenish all your energy reserves. It is best to collect energy in minecraft in special batteries, which will allow you to use it in cloudy days and even at night.
Manufacturing
In order to make one solar battery in mine craft, you need to have specific elements, as the table informs:
Installation.
An efficient solar battery can be crafted from these elements. In Minecraft it needs to be installed where there is direct sunlight. A conventional or hybrid system can only operate during daylight hours. When night falls, you can use the energy stored in the batteries. If you read the craft wiki, they advise placing the device in the desert, since there is no rain or cloudiness there.
In addition, after reading the craft wiki, you will learn that you can make a solar-powered helmet from such a device. It is very convenient to use when traveling long distances. All this will provide the crafter with the necessary level of mobility.
Advanced alternative sources.
By installing the Advanced Solar Panels mod, you will be able to use advanced energy generators in minecraft. This improved panel will not only provide more power, but also generate it on cloudy days and at night. In addition, such equipment will have increased voltage at the output and increased internal capacity. Besides the improved battery, there are other alternative power generators such as hybrid panel and super panel. They allow the use of uranium as additional energy. You can find out the recipes for making them by reading the crafting wiki. The only drawback of such systems is their higher price.
Compact Solars.
If you don't like any of the improved minecraft batteries, then you should install the CompactSolars additional mod. With its help you will get several new products at once. Their advantage is that the improved panel will take up much less space than conventional batteries. This add-on was created in order to combat lags that occurred due to overloading the server with large fields of energy sources.
Solar cells are quite thin, usually ranging from 0.2mm to 0.4mm in thickness, so they are quite fragile and break easily. Therefore, it is not uncommon for situations when, when working with solar cells, a certain number of broken, broken elements appear, and it also happens that already upon receiving the parcel you notice that many elements are damaged. However, even a broken element continues to work, which means that they can be used to create a solar panel.
Materials needed to create a solar panel from broken solar cells:
1) fragments of solar cells
2) a soldering iron with a power of 15-25 W, as well as the necessary consumables for it
3) multimeter
4) eraser
5) foil tape
Let's consider the main features of working with broken solar cells and the stages of creating a working panel from them.
Naturally, when assembling a panel from broken solar cells, you need to know and take into account several features.
For example, a broken solar cell will produce the same voltage that is stated for whole cells, but the current strength from the broken cell will directly depend on the size of the fragment.
It is also important to know that with a series connection, the voltage will be summed, but the current will remain unchanged. That is, to obtain the required voltage of 12 V to charge the battery, you need to connect 24 solar cells in series, the voltage of each of which is 0.5 V.
And the magnitude of the current will depend on the smallest fragment in the series circuit of elements. Thus, if you connect 23 elements with an area of 10 cm² and one with an area of 2 cm² in series, then the current strength will be determined by the element with an area of 2 cm². That is why, before starting to assemble the panel, it is necessary to sort all the fragments of solar cells by size.
If, after sorting, you notice that you do not have enough large fragments of elements to assemble one circuit line, then you can connect two small fragments in parallel, since in a parallel connection the current strength is summed up, but the voltage remains unchanged.
Below is a diagram of such a connection, where two small fragments of solar cells connected in parallel in a series circuit are used:
Having decided on the diagram and arrangement of the elements, the author began to prepare the elements for soldering.
Basically, mono and polycrystalline elements have a negative pole on the front side and a positive pole on the back.
Before soldering busbars to solar cells, it is necessary to clean their contacts. For these purposes regular will do eraser. The contacts must be thoroughly cleaned so that the solder is distributed evenly across the entire contact. At the same time, cleaning must be done carefully so as not to break the already fragile fragments of elements into even smaller parts.
After the contacts were cleaned, the author proceeded to tinning the front and back side contacts. When working with a soldering iron, it is also necessary to avoid excessive load on the solar cells.
After this, you can begin soldering the busbar to the back side of the element. When soldering a foil busbar, you should leave a spare busbar in one direction for connection with the subsequent circuit element. If the bus has already been soldered on the front side, the margin is left shorter, that is, try to calculate the length of the bus correctly.
After the bus has been soldered to each element, all that remains is to connect all the elements into one serial circuit. The author took the left stock of the bus from the back side of the element and soldered it to the front side of the subsequent element. In this way, several series circuits were assembled, which were then connected in parallel to increase the output current.
It is clear that a solar panel made from the remaining fragments of broken elements will have lower productivity than the same panel made from whole elements. But this will mainly be due to the area occupied by the elements; if you arrange the fragments as densely as possible, then the efficiency of such a panel will tend to the efficiency of a panel of the same area made of whole elements.
The very formulation of the question of repairing or restoring a solar module or solar cell deserves special attention. Helium panels, manufactured industrially and correctly installed, as a rule, rarely fail. And, if something happened to them, then it is likely that the damage is so serious that repairing a solar battery will cost more than buying a new one. However, by wisely using the necessary materials and tools, you can repair such modules. As for panels made in artisanal workshops or even with their own hands, here the widest opportunities open up for the master.
Possible types of damage to solar modules
As a rule, branded solar panels are quite reliably protected from external influences. However, situations may arise in which they may also fail. For example, large hail can damage glass, a strong wind can tear off an insecurely fastened or unhidden power cable, which, by the way, can also be damaged by a marten or weasel. If the glass does not crumble when hit by hailstones, then microcracks may form in it, through which water will penetrate into the body. This moisture can fog up the glass, leading to loss of performance; moisture will cause corrosion, which will destroy the solder contacts of live parts.
Helium panel after hail
If the glass is broken during bad weather, the silicon wafers may also be damaged. If the damage to the plates is fatal, then such a module must definitely be replaced, and if the damage is minor, you can try to repair the panel by restoring the damaged cells and replacing the glass. Small manufacturers can sell substandard products at a low price, but the module components will be of low quality. The glass may be chipped, some solar cells may also be damaged, or individual elements may be soldered poorly. But in good hands, even such modules can turn into reliable sources of electricity.
Damage to glass edges
And finally, another category of solar electricity consumers is garden lamps. Various manufacturers update their product range almost every week. The number of lamps cannot be determined, and competition has led to the fact that their prices have become almost bargain-basement. And when a lamp breaks down, the owners simply throw it away, without thinking that it can be repaired. But the master will never throw it into a landfill, but will first try to repair it. And, as practice shows, a faulty device in the vast majority of cases can be repaired and serve for a long time.
Glass cover repair
Damage to the glass coating of solar modules may not be fatal, and therefore there should be no rush to replace the entire module. Cracks, small holes, and chips can be successfully repaired using special liquid adhesives. At the same time, the performance of helium panels practically does not decrease. Small cracks and small holes in the glass are easy to notice even with a quick inspection. And the module should be repaired as soon as possible, since water that gets inside, when frozen, can break the glass and damage the solar cells themselves.
Typical glass damage
To repair the glass of helium modules, it is recommended to use so-called ultraviolet liquid glass. This liquid glass, when applied to damaged areas and hardens, does not change the optical properties of the glass coating at all. To apply this product to cracks, a special tool is used, which in addition has an ultraviolet emitter, which helps speed up the hardening process. In this case, it is not at all necessary to remove the helium panel. All work can be carried out without disassembling the batteries on the roof.
Ultraviolet adhesive (liquid glass) FoxFix´s UV Kleber has been developed specifically for repairing the glass coating of solar modules.
Ultraviolet liquid glass
This acrylate adhesive also cures under natural light, but special ultraviolet emitters are used to speed up the curing process. The hardening process lasts from 10 to 15 seconds. During this time, the glued areas are firmly fixed, but final hardening and diffusion processes continue for several hours. After hardening, the compounds are colorless, transparent, waterproof, heat-resistant (temperature range from -50°C to +120°C).
Before using glue, the surfaces to be glued must be cleaned of grease and dirt. This can be done with any cleaning product such as BerFix®, acetone, alcohol or commercial glass cleaner. After the surfaces to be bonded have dried from the cleaning agent, liquid glass is applied. To treat hairline cracks, depending on the width of the gap, the glue should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3. If a sufficiently large piece of glass is knocked out or chipped (up to ten square millimeters), then the glue is applied without diluting with water. It is recommended to treat the damaged glass surface gradually, allowing the already glued areas to set.
After applying the glue, treat the joint with an ultraviolet emitter for about a minute.
Ultraviolet emitter
After completing the repair work, the surface should be cleaned of adhesive residues. This can be done with a blade or a special cutter. An ultraviolet emitter is usually included in the gluing kit. One such tool is Few Second UV Light Liquid Quick Fix Glass.
It consists of a replaceable reservoir into which liquid glass is poured from an ultraviolet emitter. Liquid glass from the reservoir is supplied through a capillary to the surfaces to be bonded.
After completing the application of glue, turn on the ultraviolet emitter and treat the areas to be glued. This tool is supplied with a spare container of glue and two CR1620 3V batteries.
Helium cell repair
Failed various external lamps most often have one common cause of failure - corrosion of conductor connections. The metal coating of the positive electrode is often completely eaten away by corrosion. Or the electrode itself and its conductors may also be damaged. Since a way to solder a conductor to glass or ceramics has not yet been invented, it is advisable to use conductive glue for repairs. Further, all operations are performed very simply.
First you need to unsolder the existing conductors from the electrodes. The places where the conductors were connected to the electrodes must be thoroughly cleaned. The stripping area is several square millimeters.
Sealed conductors. Corrosion at solder joints
Then the area is degreased and a small layer of conductive glue is applied. This glue seems to restore an electrode that has been damaged by corrosion. After the glue has dried, a stripped conductor is applied to it, and a drop of solder is applied to it with a hot soldering iron.
Refurbished solar cells
When the solder hardens, apply two or three drops of hot melt glue to it. After this glue hardens, the solar cell is ready for use.
In essence, if there is necessary tools, materials and minimal skills, repairing solar panels is not such a difficult job. And anyone can cope with this task. There would be a desire.
