Solar voltaics - My $50 230 watt solar panel works

So I finally got around to unwrapping my solar panel from it's travel blanket, and tested it with the multi-metre.

It looks like this.

It's leaning against my aquaponics growhouse.

It's big.

If you look closely in the pic above, you can see the glass is shattered.

That's why I got it for $50.

It looks like this in the bottom left hand corner.

From the way it shattered, I'd guess it's tempered glass. That means to replace it will cost around $200, and it will be heavy.

I want it light to go on my boat, so I dont think I'll be using glass.

One option would be to just pour epoxy resin all over it and fill in the gaps to water proof it, but the weight is a bit of an issue. Another is just a sheet of plastic. My boat is small, and isn't meant to be carrying anything other than one person. I plan on either one or two people, a stack of gear, a motor, and this solar panel an aquaponics system, and perhaps a grow house. I'll also need a way to keep any fish I catch alive, so some kind of live well will be required. Otherwise I'll need to catch a fish for each meal on demand. I hate pressure, and I hate being hungry,, so being able to catch some fish when they are plentiful, and save them for a day or two will be a really useful thing. It will also be easy enough to do given how much water I'll have all around me. There should also be enough power left over at the end of the day for an air supply, and perhaps a bit of lighting.

I dont really know how much my motor will use, but I'll do some tests in a bucket of water soon, and find out. If there is enough power saved to the battery during the day, I might even get a few extra hours of cruising early morning or into the evening.

Who knows.

I cant work such stuff out, so only tests will tell.

The best news in that my low cost solar panel works.

I guess I can call that a success.














at 120 thing in 20 years when taking risks on buying broken stuff at auction, I have a 100% success rate so far with solar voltaics, and discovering my $50 230 watt solar panel works.