<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Joel,<div>A good argument against ever increasing PV sizes and a great argument against big PVs on RVs and other mobile mounts.</div><div>Thanks, Bob-O</div><div><br><div><div>On May 22, 2010, at 4:42 PM, Joel Davidson wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Hello Drake,</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">(silicon not silicone) Good question about thickness. I recently inspected a circa 1996 solar array with 300 micron thick, 6-inch round cells encapsulated behind 3 mm thick glass and found a few cracked cells and impact fractures. Today, some cells are 260 to 200 microns and even down to 180 to 160 microns thick. I think if the cells are handled properly, and the glass is 4 mm thick, and the module frame is strong enough to minimize twisting, and the modules are handled and installed with care, then cell breakage can be kept to a minimum. It's not how thin the cells are. It is how the cells and modules are encapsulated and handled.</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Joel Davidson</font></div><blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px; position: static; z-index: auto; "><div style="font: normal normal normal 10pt/normal arial; ">----- Original Message -----</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10pt/normal arial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); background-position: initial initial; "><b>From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a title="drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org" href="mailto:drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org">Drake Chamberlin</a></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10pt/normal arial; "><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a title="re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches</a></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10pt/normal arial; "><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Saturday, May 22, 2010 1:39 PM</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10pt/normal arial; "><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re: [RE-wrenches] 30-year old PV module</div><div><br></div>Thanks for the excellent article. I have two of these old Arcos, and they still put out like new, even though one was (apparently) used in a concentrator, due to the fact that it came bronzed. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><br>Do you think the newer modules, with thinner silicone, will last as long?</blockquote></div></span></div></div></body></html>