This is our seventh post on the subject -Build Your Own Home Made Solar Panels-

In this post we shall discuss how to connect the solar cells together.

Let´s dive into it…

You will find little tabs on the back of the cells. Take your soldering iron and heat it up. Touch the tip to the tab and gently feed some solder onto the heated surface of the iron. Just one drop will do. Make sure you do all 4 or 6 of the tabs you find.

Wiring solar cells

The tabs on the back of the cells will form a line, one on top and one on bottom. The top tabs are negative and the bottom tabs are the positive leads.

With the drop of solder on the backs of the tabs gently place a copper wire lead onto the tab and heat it up. The wire will bond to the tab and connect the negative tabs together.

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Wiring solar cells

Use different color wire for negative and positive leads to avoid confusion.

The cells should be stuck down to the plywood base in the pattern you made before and the wires are gently fed through the back of the plywood.

Use enough caulking to secure the cell to the backing. We usually use some sort of silicone because is pliable and lasts long time.

Use each hole for two cells, one facing right and one facing left, so the lead wires will easily thread trough the holes. Be careful not to press too hard on the cells when you are attaching them. We usually use a small piece of wood to place on the cell to press evenly with, avoiding breakage

Do the same for the other tabs.

Solar cells backer

When you have all of the solar cells stuck down on the backing you will need to wire all of the same color wires together.

It is a good idea to make leads long enough to join the ends later. Test fit a couple of cells before you begin.
Remember to connect all of the positives leads together and the entire negative leads together, or your panel will not work properly.

This spaghetti of wires will get connected to a junction box outside of the panel. We put another piece of plywood on the back of this backer piece just to keep out the weather. Remember to coat it with three coats of epoxy too.

All of the same colored leads will be joined together and the positive and negative leads will be connected to just one wire leading to your batteries.

Use the glass to cover the front. You can use aluminum sealer strips that you can screw the glass down with or make your own from wood. Seal up all the edges and leave a drain hole in the bottom of the panel to let any accumulated moisture drain out.

In our next post we will describe How to Connect the Controller.

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