Broken Glass on Solar Panel

bad luck Mike.......did the same thing last year on our 120watt panel......as you say, it worked ok until the first lot of rain....warranty did not coverit, but our Insurance Company did!! Hope you get the same.....ours was on the roof of our Bushtracker....CIL paid in full for new replacement, no fuss.....all the best with yours...Henners

best thing to do for it is silicone over the cracks so no more dirt or moisture gets in there as it wont affect the output that much if the modules are not damaged.

cheers

Any chance of just gluing another sheet of glass over the whole mess. You would only need an rtv glue seam right around the outer edge of the new sheet.

G'day Penguin, Yeah! I've had this happen to me as well, mine was an older Solarex panel. More than likely yours, like mine has armour glass as the panel over the solar cells. If yours is not to old and the cells have not stuck to the glass you may be able to replace the glass. If this is so use 5mm laminated instead of the original glass....do not, I repeat do not use normal 2,3 or 4mm glass. If you are able to afford the original glass by all means use it but normally the price is very restrictive!.
Now if the solar cells are stuck to the glass panel, by a new solar panel!!

andy

Tempered glass is the way to go, but as it has to be custom made, unless you are buying a lot of it, it is prohibitively priced.

Laminate will crack, but at least the plastic laminate layer in the middle will keep the moisture out.

If you are careful and want to see if you can fix it your self, try drilling out the rivets that hold the corners together and see if the frame will come apart easily. If not, stick a 5c pop rivet back in the hole.

Stuff to consider:

Will cutting out some of the light spectrum affect the panels output and does the glass have to be a special composition?
Laminate will block most of the UV. As UV light will break down the plastic layer in the middle of the laminate they add UV filters to protect it. It is also why they don't cover them with Lexan.
Glass with different ingredients and quality is used for differing applications, so how will it work here?

We have tried clear contact on our repeater trailers with success. The ones at the mines sometimes get showered with rock when they blast and they basically bleep ter. Everything is still in place but it resembles a car window when it smashes. You can get clear contact in a width of the older 80W panels which is good as there are no joins. This holds everything together and keeps a majority of the water out.

Regards
David

You could also try to replace it with an Unisolar panel. No glass to break on these!
Klaus

Make sure you use Neutral Cure Silicon - normal Silicon Rubber gives off Acetic Acid when it cures which will attack the Solar Cell.