Solar cell soldering

[colum]

I've been soldering for many years but my first attempt at connecting wired to a solar cell has been pretty bad. I used 60-40 fluxed thin my best connection was by fluxing the silver line first and then heating a drop of solder on it and then applying the heated silvered wire to the drop.
I would appreciate it if someone would advise me on the best method.
Thanks....colum

 

[73's de Edd]

First you initially see that your solder drop fully flowed into and blended in with the cells solder coating.
Then the only thing that I would do differently would be to ADDITIONALLY flux the silver wire and solder tin coat it , until the point that you can see that it is then FULLY solder tinned overall.
THEN you move the tinned silver wire atop the tinned solder drop and hold until you see them flow together, (additional drop of flux optional here, you evaluate initially ) and then move away the solderig tip and FREEZE from making any possible motion until the short time that the joint takes to set and solidify.
Clean off any flux residue.

 

[colum]

Thanks 73's de Edd for your advice, I can't wait to try it again.... colum

 

[johnshaw]

Here are some steps hope it will help you -

Step 1: Locate the wide line or bus, running down the face of each solar cell. On whole solar cells there are multiple buses, but on broken cells there may be only one.

Step 2: Clean the bus of each solar cell with a pencil eraser so the solder will stick.

Step 3: Cut 10-inch lengths of ribbon wire, one per cell.

Step 4: Lay a line of solder down the length of the cell bus.

Step 5: Place a length of ribbon wire on the solder. Leave a generous tab hanging off the cell and heat the wire with the soldering iron. The solder you just applied to the bus will melt and connect the wire to the cell.

Step 6: Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for each solar cell or solar cell fragment.

Step 7: Turn the solar cells face-down and arrange them in a column with the ribbon wire tabs hanging off the front and each solar cell laying on the back of the DIY Solar panel directly above it. Keep about 1/4-inch distance between the cells.

Step 8: Solder each cell's free wire tab that is on the back of the cell above it to where it touches the back of that solar cell.

Step 9: Repeat Step 8 until all of the solar cells are connected.

Remember on both poly- and mono-crystalline solar cells, the back of the solar cell is the positive side and the front of the solar cell is the negative side.