Seasons greetings from La Paz, Mexico. Nice place to be fixing the
boat, don't you know . Even in these dark times I've been thinking
that there was a problem with my solar array and now that we are in a
town I finally got around to ripping off the suspect panel to inspect
it. It is a Kyocera KC80 and is a laminate of glass, EVA glue and PVF
backing. A small section of backing has pulled away from the glass
causing a fault in the ground line for about 2/3 of the cells. I can
make the panel work by squeezing in just the right place so I'm pretty
sure this is the only problem with the module. I tested the bypass
diodes and connectors and they are good. Now, I just e-mailed kyocera
and don't yet know what their response will be. In the event that I
have to fix the module I can see two ways to go about it. The
delamination is at the edge of the panel. My current "fix" for
testing purposes uses a clamp on the frame to press a couple of nuts
up against the plastic which squeezes the contact closed. I could tap
the fame and make-up a cam to clamp the thing. Another way to go
about it would be to carefully slice open the blistered section of
plastic and attempt to fix the contact and then seal it up with a
bunch of goop. I'm thinking 5200 for the goop. I'm not sure what to
use to join the connections. They are thin foil and already damaged
so I think solder is out. Some kind of conductive room temperature
glue would be ideal. Is there any such thing? Does anyone know the
Spanish for it? Or I might epoxy a bit of silver or copper foil
across the joint... Not quite sure of how that would work in detail,
though...

Any ideas out there?

Thanks!

--Tom.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:41:43 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Seasons greetings from La Paz, Mexico. ... They are thin foil and already damaged
so I think solder is out. Some kind of conductive room temperature
glue would be ideal. Is there any such thing? Does anyone know the
Spanish for it? Or I might epoxy a bit of silver or copper foil
across the joint... Not quite sure of how that would work in detail,
though...

Any ideas out there?

Thanks!

--Tom.

Solar panels are often made with soldered copper tape busses.
So copper tape and solder would be one way to go.
There is a siver loaded epoxy that can do reasonably well in thin
layers. It's expensive, naturally.

BrianW

These have a 25 year warranty. Contact the manufacturer.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

On Dec 22, 9:04*pm, Geoff Schultz wrote:
These have a 25 year warranty. *Contact the manufacturer.

-- Geoffwww.GeoffSchultz.org

I'm trying to. Meanwhile I'm in a sort of remote place and want the
solar so it might be nice to fix the panel, too...

--Tom.

On Dec 22, 9:00*pm, Brian Whatcott wrote:
....
Solar panels are often made with soldered copper tape busses.
So copper tape and solder would be one way to go.
There is a siver loaded epoxy that can do reasonably well in thin
layers. It's expensive, naturally.

BrianW

Right. The tapes on these panels are either well "tinned" or silver.
I presume the former. From the lens side I can't see any solder but
that doesn't really mean anything. If the foil is tinned maybe just
touching it with an iron would make a join...

--Tom.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:00:05 -0600, Brian Whatcott
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:41:43 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Seasons greetings from La Paz, Mexico. ... They are thin foil and already damaged
so I think solder is out. Some kind of conductive room temperature
glue would be ideal. Is there any such thing? Does anyone know the
Spanish for it? Or I might epoxy a bit of silver or copper foil
across the joint... Not quite sure of how that would work in detail,
though...

Any ideas out there?

Thanks!

--Tom.

Solar panels are often made with soldered copper tape busses.
So copper tape and solder would be one way to go.
There is a siver loaded epoxy that can do reasonably well in thin
layers. It's expensive, naturally.

BrianW

As for solder, one of the lead free formulations, 95 tin, 5 silver, is
twice as strong as the old 50/ 50 lead/tin and melts at 375. Some
have said there is a 25 year warranty, although how you can trust a
company to exist that long is beyond me

Casady

wrote in message
...
Seasons greetings from La Paz, Mexico. Nice place to be fixing the
boat, don't you know . Even in these dark times I've been thinking
that there was a problem with my solar array and now that we are in a
town I finally got around to ripping off the suspect panel to inspect
it. It is a Kyocera KC80 and is a laminate of glass, EVA glue and PVF
backing. A small section of backing has pulled away from the glass
causing a fault in the ground line for about 2/3 of the cells. I can
make the panel work by squeezing in just the right place so I'm pretty
sure this is the only problem with the module. I tested the bypass
diodes and connectors and they are good. Now, I just e-mailed kyocera
and don't yet know what their response will be. In the event that I
have to fix the module I can see two ways to go about it. The
delamination is at the edge of the panel. My current "fix" for
testing purposes uses a clamp on the frame to press a couple of nuts
up against the plastic which squeezes the contact closed. I could tap
the fame and make-up a cam to clamp the thing. Another way to go
about it would be to carefully slice open the blistered section of
plastic and attempt to fix the contact and then seal it up with a
bunch of goop. I'm thinking 5200 for the goop. I'm not sure what to
use to join the connections. They are thin foil and already damaged
so I think solder is out. Some kind of conductive room temperature
glue would be ideal. Is there any such thing? Does anyone know the
Spanish for it? Or I might epoxy a bit of silver or copper foil
across the joint... Not quite sure of how that would work in detail,
though...

Any ideas out there?

Thanks!

--Tom.


No ideas, but I'm glad to hear all is well! An uneventful cruise?


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

How old are the panels??

On Dec 23, 4:41*am, pirate wrote:
*How old are the panels??

They are just under 9 years old. They are supposed to be warranted
for 20 but there may not be a practical way to get a replacement to me
here in Baja Mexico... I just don't know yet. I have sent Kyocera an
email and attempted a phone call but no joy. It is the holiday season
so there may not be anyone in the office...

--Tom.

They should be able to ship them to La Paz. You might want to talk to the
people in the Moorings office. They're pretty good with local info like
this.

wrote in message
...
On Dec 23, 4:41 am, pirate wrote:
How old are the panels??

They are just under 9 years old. They are supposed to be warranted
for 20 but there may not be a practical way to get a replacement to me
here in Baja Mexico... I just don't know yet. I have sent Kyocera an
email and attempted a phone call but no joy. It is the holiday season
so there may not be anyone in the office...

--Tom.



--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com