Broken solar cells

conntaxman

I have some broken cells, I know that in a string the power is determined by the lowest power cell. If you took the broken cells and were to make a panel just to use them up, and ran Each cell + to one buss bar and each - to its bus bar, I know it will be .05 vdc, and then install a diode on this and tie that to the busses of the other panels. Would they produce more amp for the system? say the cells were 3x4 and 3.8 watts. and say the broken part was about 1 square inch in one corner .Or just put them in series to get more amps.
tks

John

BB.

Re: Broken solar cells

I am not quite sure I understand--But if you are trying to do low voltage paralleling with blocking diodes, The cells output ~0.5 volts per cell and blocking diodes have ~0.2 to 1.0 volt drop... Generally blocking diodes are not needed for "12 volt" panels, optional for 24 volt panels, and a requirement for 48 volt panels.

So, build a parallel "bus", measure the current, and "match" build the next until you get XX cells in series. Note that this may end up costing more time and money vs scrapping the project.

-Bill