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The top side of a perfectly normal solar panel. Solarbotics part SC2433 Viewed: 733 times.
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The bottom side a perfectly normal SC2433. Viewed: 595 times.
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Broken SC3766 beside a normal SC3766. If the solar panel is broken like this it will still work but the current output will be decreased by the amount broken off. Viewed: 607 times.
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Broken SC2433, again this solar panel will still work but at about 1/5 the current output of a normal SC2433. Viewed: 578 times.
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A common occurance. For some reason you are not able to get solder to stick to the pad. The pads on the panasonic solarcells are copper plated aluminum, quite often the copper plating gets torn off and leaves only the aluminum. Aluminum can be nigh impossible to solder too. Viewed: 587 times.
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Step 1-
Clean off all the solder flux used while trying to solder to the pad. This can be done with a sharp knife. Be careful not to scrape too hard or you will scratch the pad right off! Viewed: 554 times.
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Here is a cleaned pad. You can see a bit of copper still so this pad may still be solderable, but lets assume it's not. Viewed: 548 times.
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A common paperclip will be used for this repair. Viewed: 542 times.
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Cut a bit off the end of the paper clip. Viewed: 543 times.
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Bend that end into a "U" shape. Viewed: 560 times.
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Press the "U" clamp onto the solar panel. This will probably be the most difficult part. You want enough pressure that the paperclip is making an electrical contract but not so much that it scrapes off what remains of the pad. Viewed: 538 times.
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Top side of the solar panel with the clamp fix. You may want to add a bit of glue to this side. I used thick CA glue. Viewed: 534 times.
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Solder a wire to the clamp. Viewed: 552 times.
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The other fix may work if the pad is still mostly intact but what to do if the pad is mostly removed? Viewed: 534 times.
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Conductive epoxy! Viewed: 589 times.
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Conductive epoxy out of the box. Viewed: 562 times.
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Hmmm similar no? Viewed: 538 times.
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Mix the epoxy and imbed a stranded core wire. Don't forget to put the wire in! unlike the paper clip you can't solder to epoxy! Viewed: 580 times.
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A different clamp method using a small piece of brass. Viewed: 566 times.
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A different clamp method using a small piece of brass. Viewed: 619 times.
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New solarcells. Not bad preformance either. Viewed: 698 times.
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Soon... Nice thing is that these pads are *much* more durable. Viewed: 764 times.
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