> > > Solar cells bonded to the car directly require some sort of clear resin,
> > > epoxy, or polymer. This usually only lasts about a year before it starts
> > > to break down from UV damage. ...
>
> Shocking Lesson: I was preparing to show my solar prius one day and used a
> damp cloth and water to wipe the dust off the 11 solar panels. At first I
> felt a slight tingling here and there and then went back to the same panel
> and got a good shock.
>
> My panels are fiberglass composite so that they bend slightly and were all
> connected in series to get to 250 VDC for directly charging the Prius
> battery. After several years (and this event) one could see water incursion,
> discoloration and corrosion that had crept into the solar cell layer
> (sandwiched between the fiberglass substrate and the polymer sealing top
> layer..
>
> The depth of the edge incursion was as high as 1/2 inch in some edges.
> The problem was obvious! And I had seen it coming in fact, I know that I
> did an initial poor quality sealing job, but figured I'd get back to it some
> day to do it right. Never did. until I scraped the car 14 years later
>
> See image of solar cells: about 50% down this page:
> http://aprs.org/FD-Prius-Power.html
>
> Bob, WB4APR
_______________________________________________
Address messages to [email protected]
No other addresses in TO and CC fields
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/
LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
