Repairing damaged solar cell

[triumphrider-1]

Has anybody repaired a damamged solar cell before? I checked some websites for sugestions, but most say just to replace the cell; a couple mention soldering them, but I do not want to melt the coating.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[krugford]

Details/Pics? What kind of encapsulation is on them? Conformal, EVA, bare cell?

If the solar cell in question is cracked, it cannot be fixed and will need to be removed from the panel and replaced. How is the panel laid out? Which direction does the crack run? There's the possibility that it could break to short, which means you only lose that cell. Generally, you'd have bypass diodes soldered to the backsides to automatically bypass a cell when it's voltage drops relative to it's neighbors which effectively creates a dead short across the cell minus the voltage drop of the diode.

If it's a conformal coating, it can easily be burn away with the soldering iron in the local area to remove the cell.

Give me more information/pictures/links on the type of panel this is and I can give you some better recommendations on how to proceed.

 

[triumphrider-1]

I'm assuming its a bare cell, and that its not repairable from what you say (had a feeling so). As you can probably tell, I do not know a whole lot about solar cells (bought this kit a couple years back and just dug it back out of the closet last week).

Here is the broken panel:

 

[Simple_serf]

It's done...replace.

the problem with most breaks, at least with the panels I play with is that any repair (which you usually try because replacements are so damn expensive) is pretty much impossible, you might get a couple amps (MA in your case) but the cracked area is going to have issues with expansion and contraction...my panels get to be about 160-180 degrees in full summer sun (that's with the backs open to plenty of airflow!!) yet in the morning they are at 50 degrees...they get to full temp within 30 minutes of getting full sun.

On yours, I'd just get another cell, or one with similar electrical properties, if you really want to build the kit.

 

[triumphrider-1]

I don't think I'll be replacing it since the kit still works with the one panel broken. When I do get more panels they'll be a bit larger (atleast 100W) so I can play around with some interior lighting.

 

[Simple_serf]

I'm currently running 131W worth of panels...I was able to get the 15w panels from Northern cheap. I would like to get some old Arcos or early BP panels, given that they are lower voltage. My system is setup with a Xantrex (trace) C-35 charge controller, a Xantrex Xpower 800W inverter, 500AH of batteries all of which is monitored by a Tri-Metric 2020 battery monitor system.

After about 6 months, The system is still running well, although more panels would be a good idea, especially for winter. We'll see how it does. When I go completely off grid, I would like to get one of the older Xantrex SW series inverters (pure sine wave), or a large 3600W DR series. Whenever I do this, I'll probably jump up to 24 or 36 volts so I don't have to upgrade all of my heavy wiring. The rest of the equipment can be switched on the fly.