a good place to buy solar cells

[Joe Wotypka]

anybody know a good place to buy solar cells .i have a small machine shop and can make my own panels but trying to find a good outlet for cells is hard .i only need to buy a 1000 watts at a time . if any one can help i would be thankful ,joe

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Joe,

Have you looked at E-Bay? I've heard there of several people that bought their cells there.

-RoB-

[Mario De Castris]

Hi Joe,

I was talking to a friend of mine last week and he told me he just received his solar cell order I believe from China and he is selling them on eBay. He was also telling me about the price been to high even though I think he imported quite a few thousands. You might want to check out his web site www.green-first.com or contact him. He is also a member of this board. He tells me that he would be starting assembling panels some time in August. Good look in your search.

Mario

I Rob,

I hope my post is allowed. If not please remove!

[Rob Beckers]

Joe, if you happen to talk to Jens (the owner of Green-First) please say 'hello' from me. Tell him to post a bit more on the forum! :) Assembling panels would make a great story that many would be interested in. Same for your own project of course.

-RoB-

[John Dalhaus]

Try these links:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/1/5/51211/79555

http://pyronet.50megs.com/RePower/Homemade%20Solar%20Panels.htm

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4497

http://www.canrom.com/index.htm

http://www.gatewayelex.com/

http://www.allelectronics.com/

http://www.siliconsolar.com/index.php

http://solarjohn.blogspot.com

John

[Jens Naumann]

anybody know a good place to buy solar cells .i have a small machine shop and can make my own panels but trying to find a good outlet for cells is hard .i only need to buy a 1000 watts at a time . if any one can help i would be thankful ,joe

Hi Joe,If you go to
www.green-first.com
and click on solar cells, you'll find both the 5" and 6" for sale for $5.07 a watt - no minimum purchase necessary -- you can order on-line with credit card/or paypal - hope that helps - Jens

[G. S. Hudson]

This has a very useful thread, thank you!

[Joe Wotypka]

i got some nice cells from ebay for 1.51 a watt. now i am going to make a 250 panel.thanks for the replies. joe

[Rob Beckers]

Joe, please let us know how the panel making goes. A few pictures if you can. I'm sure others are thinking about making their own panels, your info would help.

-RoB-

[Joe Wotypka]

i finished the panel and had standing up in my side yard testing it .the next day it was gone.call the police and it turn out the trash men took it along with 4 deep cycle batts. volt meter the temp stand . they paid for it only the parts to build it .it took 15 some hours to build with 40 6x6 cells and 72 1.5 x 6 cells. i had them set up on angles in the panel to get the most sun light as the sun passed over.a waste of time! i cried. now i am going some kaneka solar panels they seem to be a good buy.i found a good place to get deepcycle batts. company with lots of computers the power backup. i got 80 big batts. for free and still more to pickup i tested them and found only one bad.i just called around, they 7 years old they should last a bit longer .joe

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Joe,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune!
That's bizarre... Did the trash guys mention why they took it? If it wasn't at the curb it would be hard to mistake for trash!

If/when you build new panels post a few pictures of the process. We want to know. :cool:

-RoB-

[Ralph Day]

Those trash collectors went above and beyond the call of duty! Around here if a dog or crow gets you trash strewn around...it's still there until you pick it up yourself. Yet your collectors went and took batteries too! Those are re-cycleable, not landfill!

Better luck next time, maybe in the back yard or the basement.

Ralph