T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Mount flexible solar panels by the eyelets only?

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Re: [Electric Boats] Mount flexible solar panels by the eyelets only?

Hi,

I have one of these panels I use for charging in my boat and it is pretty rugged.

I know a friend who custom built solar cells for an Anartic balloon project for NASA. He just used silicone and glued the individual cells to a fibre glass matrix which was launched up into the upper atmosphere.

But if you wanted to add rigidity to these panels you could also mount aluminum angle along the long edge. The angle comes in different widths and thicknesses. 1/2" X1/2" x 1/8" would be light and strong. Drill the edge and into the angle and pop rivet together or for temporary drill the aluminum angle at the eyelets and plastic wire tie together.

Mike Roll

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On Aug 5, 2015, 7:54:58 AM, 'Capt. Mike' biankablog@verizon.net [electricboats] wrote:

Sounds like a plan Bendik. The beauty of these panels are how lightweight they are and the ability to easily move them about. Also size. My 100 watt flexible panel is smaller than the ridged Seimens 75 watt panels that are part of my original solar bimini. I'd be only using only the flexible panels if I were building it today.

Capt. Mike
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http://biankablog.blogspot.com
From: "Bendik Vignes bendik.vignes@yahoo.com [electricboats]"
Sender: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:00:05 -0700
To:
ReplyTo: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Mount flexible solar panels by the eyelets only?

Thanks for your suggestions Mike and Kevin!
Square tubes might make the panels a bit bulky when folded, but I guess your right that they give better stiffnes than a plate..
I might just try to mount the panels without any extra stiffening frame and see how that works. If it turns out that they start moving or vibrating to much I should make a frame of some sort...
Bendik

From: Bendik Vignes ;
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com ;
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Mount flexible solar panels by the eyelets only?
Sent: Thu, Jul 30, 2015 1:13:17 PM

Thanks for the feedbacks Hannu and Mike!
I guess I should glue a sheet/plate of aluminium on each of the panels to make them stiffer.
Bendik

On Wednesday, July 29, 2015 7:53 AM, "Hannu Venermo gcode.fi@gmail.com [electricboats]" wrote:

No.

No experience with panels specifically, but nothing that size will last while vibrating in the wind.
They are just too thin to last, without a substrate or backing of some kind.

On 21/07/2015 08:46, Bendik Vignes bendik.vignes@yahoo.com [electricboats] wrote:

I have no experience with flexible solar panels, but many of you do - what is your opinions/experiences: are flexible panels durable enough to be mounted by the eyelets only?

Regards

Bendik, Norway

-- -hanermo (cnc designs)