Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Amorphous, care much less efficient than crystaline or wafer based solar cells due to the thin of silicone material on the cells... however output of poly/mono crystaline cells do reduce as they heat up which is what you are referring to but still isn't that bad.

It is though a proven fact that ALL existing amorphous cells reduce in output over the years of direct exposure. The direct heat, change in temperature and UV have an adverse reaction on the plated silicon deposits on either the glass or steel whereby they begin to crack or lift off the backing. Thicker deposited/near IEC rated cells (4th GEN) are more efficient and aren't effected as much by long periods of exposure so basically if you pay big then you are OK (and have a lot more of them). Fact is 4th gen cells are getting close to polycrystalline cells but are more expensive to manufacture so many company's skimp on the standards.

How long is a long time dryland? Both the guy I bought my cells from (15 year PV vet) and the engineer at solar sales, warned me explicitly against thin film photovoltaics... they don't even sell them... they are mostly for low power, or portable applications.

I must admit the newer amorphous cells are getting better and what they are doing with them is fantastic...But ALL the cheap panels coming out of china, with constant use are, for a lack of a better word... shit!

...But ALL the cheap panels coming out of china, with constant use are, for a lack of a better word... shit!
=================
But who would buy that ...only quality lasts...I have been using solar in boats while you were still learning to say solar power though since the 70's the quality has improved and no doubt will continue to do so.
Basing comments on chinese junk doesn't seem fair to the major suppliers of the good systems.
The system I am waiting to evalute is the sunball which if it is as claimed makes all the others look poor as far as output goes but then how much is hype ?
Pete

I visited the sunball (now suncube) guy a couple of months ago, and have my name down to put his system on here. If it wasn't for his system, I would already have flat panels on. I truly believe his system will be worth the wait. I was there for a couple of hours. This guy doesn't mind a chat. He freely admits he is not an inventor, merely a developer and his goal is to reduce our peak demand for electricity. He has had all levels of Government visit him, and ETSA are keen to see it proceed, as they know, the more systems he instals, the less money they have to spend on infrastructure upgrading. Unfortunately, his time frames are a bit ambiguous, but I noticed on his website the other day, he has advertised for positions vacant, so that sounds promising. As for how much is hype. Lets hope none! LOL The system, if it's as efficient as he says it is, will , at $15000 wipe the competition clean away.

Had to laugh, becasue i would have written it like Tim LOL

Dryland..... i'm sure i've read some where that output of one (or both) type of panels drops markedly with high ambient temps. And i also thought i read that one of the two types drops its output with age.......

now you make me doubt my memory

PS Reets says: "dont the poles get 24/7 sun for some of the year?" LOL

ah yes the suncube.... very interesting... well worth watching I agree.

Bit pricey at the moment, but must be getting close to being economical for some smaller commercial type businesses, especially with the abilitly to offset some cost by feeding excess generated capacity back to the grid

Monya the suncube is 1 of the reasons I havent ordered panels yet in a big way as I hope its no hype either but yeh he is a bit on the slow side.

Steve the crystaline drop off between 0.4-0.5% of their output voltagefor every 1 degreeC over 25C At 30C ambient its conservatively 13.2% and 18% at 40C. Amporous cells increase voltage slightly as they heat up. the quality amporous units are coated with blue titanium dioxide this decreases power losing reflections and increases the absorption of light in the blue spectrum. They are also more tolerant of shade than crystaline because as all panels lose a substantial part of their output the amporous panels are less affected.
Anyway this is a forum about BYA not solar panels so I will now drop it.
Its just as a long time user and follower of alternative systems I study it closely.
Peace love and mungbeans to all (aquaponically grown of course )
Pete

Nah man, its good to be corrected by someone who knows better, and solar stuff definatly has a place in BYAP. Besides, you won me over when you started quoting percentages LOL

Steve

Does anyone know much about the sliver technology happening in regency park S.A. Apparently the panels are using 90% less silicon,I suppose this is a good thing.(comments anyone)

after the all the fanfare it seems to have gone quiet. Maybe the experimental modules are being improved?
Like the panels that use the light reflected back from underneath to activate another set of cells to give higher outputs, after the hype no more has been said. But then experimntal stuff has a habit of coming back with a vengance so heres hoping.
Would be good to have a lower priced panel though.
Pete

silver makes it sound expensive. are they cheaper?

Dr Suzuki couldn`t talk about it enough when I was watching him on telly,reckoned it was going to be the next best thing coming out of Oz

Didnt see any smiles steve so i guess you miss read.its SLIVER

DOH! I'm just spewin i did mis read it, my post could have been seen as quite funny otherwise


Thanks for the correction

If i was REALLY thick i could say......oh, slivers of silver......that would make it cheaper LOL

The world record for solar technology..... 40.7% Efficiency. Getting there...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12 ... .php#perma

The science of PV panels and cells is branching off so much it is hard to keep up. In the time it took me to write a report last year I had to rewrite half of it because of all the changes in technology... concepts come and go all the time.

Shade is a big issue with my cells, if one or two cells are shaded it can affect the whole output. Polycrystalline modules are made up of many cells in series with each other. Shade one and it acts as a barrier for the electrons to flow. I've go to get mine as high up as possible.

The chinese shit I was referring to was the beginning of this discussion, the crazy Clark solar panel for $16. They work, very little power, but reliability... zilch!

"Would be good to have a lower priced panel though. "

I fully agree, the reason why they are so expensive is because of all the steps it takes to make a solar panel all at different plants and locations... raw materials, doping, cell manufacture, module manufacture, then finished product and retail... Too many steps and pockets to fill up. Need to find a way to streamline it. Bring the price down for more average joes to afford.

40.7% thats pretty good isn't it?

Thermal efficiency of a internal combustion engine is only what, 34% for a high spec engine?

That means that one of those panels is more efficient at energy conversion than a GMC genny by streets!