After the sealant and paint had dried the mounting brackets were fitted to the back of the panel. The ridge tiles on the roof were then removed and the panel screwed to the main wooden beam across the middle of the roof. The panel initally suffered with some condensation due to the sudden tempature change but this soon vanished.

Under bright sunshine the panel was producing a off load output of 19.5 volts and 2.6 amps

Fitting the panel to the roof

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After waiting a day for the painted baseboard to dry, I fitted the solar cells to the board today and soldered interconnecting wires to join them all together in series. Under artifical light the output from the panels was 13.5 volts and once the silicone sealant is dry I will be able to take the panel outdoors to try a test under sunlight!

Half of the cells fitted to the base board:

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After sourcing 50 solar cells from the USA via ebay, I am building a weather proof outdoor solar panel array which should supply enough energy to run the household lighting circuit.

Started work today on building the panel array using 10mm foamx (sourced from a local sign writer www.signimages.co.uk ) and using 2mm perspex and 8mm wooden square section for the panel spacers and braces.

The photo below shows one of the single cells before having link wires soldered to join them together. Each cell should produce approx .5 volts at 3.6 amps.

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