Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I bought two to build a solar powered battery charger and one of them broke on me. They are very flimsy, and I would definitely not recommend these.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I was going to use it a a solar charger but it broke the second day. good power, just too weak for most to use I guess. More voltage would be nice too.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I bought one of these for a project and it broke while I was soldering the wires to it. I got a another one and was very careful. It survived the soldering but broke soon after. After spending [$] and nothing but broken pieces to show for it, I was kinda wishing i got the [$] one. I emailed customer service twice and got no response. Luckily I talked to the manager about it and he gave me [$]off of the [$]r one. RadioShack was helpful and I was happy in the end, but I would advise you just upgrade to a better one.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

HORRRRIBLE i had to soder this to wires but it brokein the process!!!!!!!!!! and NOTE: IT IS TINY!!!!!!!!!

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

This cell puts out a lot of current but not a lot of voltage. I personally prefer to buy cells that have more voltage.

Be careful when soldering. This cell is already brittle, and too much heat just makes it worse.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

one user stated that this is silicon and it is!! so its pretty cheap for any element collection, and the .5 v well try and attach a transformer to try and step it up (maybe get a magnifying glass to focus the sun so it may get stronger). just this is very fragile, i will buy one eventually so that bill gates will be happy GO GREEN

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

This is very good. I bought this at radio shack, after looking at 3 different stores for a efficient solar cell. the wiring diagram was wrong, but I followed directions from other customers, and took it out side. outside, it produced 1 volt, and more than 250 milliamps in indirect sulight.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I use the cell as a photodetector in physics teaching demonstrations, connected to a Radio Shack miniature amplifies speaker.

Unfortunately the cell comes without wire leads attached, and soldering to the tiny rail on the front takes so experience and care.

The bigger problem is that cell is very fragile! It needs to be enclosed or protected in each application so that it can't be touched. I was being very careful, and broke it anyway :(

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

The instructions for connection of the solar cells are wrong.
It takes skill to solder leads to the cell.
The user must realize this is a single crystal silicon cell about 200 micometers thick and it will break easily unless you have handled semiconductor materials before.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

i was building a solar car and it split in half. i bought 3 and they all got chipped or snapped in half. it was such a waste of money. i could have spent that [$]and added only 10 more dollars and gotten me a nice solar car kit offline. my project's due in less than a week. i am soooo stressed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

this product has not power patentuals.
i will not recomend this product to any one

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

Great product! I had gotten a few two weeks ago just to fool around with. I hooked three up in a series to make 1.5V. I hooked this up to a 1.5V calculator. Works even in indirect sun!!!

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I personally love this. I had gotten a few to fool around with about two weeks ago. I hooked three up in a series circuit to a 1.5V calculator. Even in indirect sunlight, it works perfectly. I plan on hooking up 6 to run a mini 3V radio I have.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I work at RadioShack... I connected three of these in series to run a 1.5 volt motor for a little car and it worked fine. I agree that they are hard to solder and the directions are very incorrect but they got the job done.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

thought they where 0.3 amps, there really 0.03 amps, need a 100 of these just to get 3 amps vs 10 if they where really 0.3 amps. False Advertising!!!! DO NOT BUY!!!!

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

It worked fine and all but after 2nd time using it it cracked in half from me pressing down on it with some wires.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

The instructions are wrong. Solder one lead to the front, one to the back. In full sun or a strong flashlight, you'll get 0.55 VDC just as they state. Soldering is a little tough with these, after 4 or 5 it got easier... but for a school project that's a lot of money to burn through to get it right! But I think they are good for fun projects.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

First recognize what you are buying, a piece of silicon. If you where to see silicon wafers used in many electronic devices (op-amps, transistors, etc.), before it gets singulated into chips, you would see that large pieces of silicon are very fragile (as I have experienced). This device dates back to the beginning of solar cell technology. It performs pretty much as stated. Ah, never read the instructions, knew how to wire it up to begin with. I have been involved in the electronics industry for many years. I recommend that this is a device for those whom collect historical electronic devices, as I do. I bought 2 or 3 to have around for show and tell. It is an excellent device for science projects, if you know what you are doing. It is very simple, easy to understand, and is best for demonstration purposes.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I'm an electrician at a Nuclear power plant. My son was in need of a demonstration for a science project at school. Last minute of course. I was going to put three in series to power a 1.5V light bulb. After the painful task of soldering 28 awg wire to the "Front" as the instructions state at the points listed, I'm out [$]and it's 2 AM with no science project. I'm ashamed that these say "custom made in the USA"

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I got this for my science project it held up good except it took me a while to solder the wire to it. I would only recommend this to someone if they were doing a school project because of its lack of power.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

i bought 3 and they are hard to solder and break way to easy.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

There are no leads or solder points you have to connect your #25 wire to the face. I bought two and couldn't get current from either of them.

I ended up pulling old cells off a previous project.

Complete waste of money and time.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

It broke as soon as i touched it!

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

Tried using this solar cell for a science fair project and it would break in half trying to pick it up out of the case. We bought 2 and broke 2 instantly - waste of money.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

I got this because I have some very nice flexable panels that [...] used to carry and I need more power now...boy am I dissapointed!First, the directions are wrong. It says to solder both wires to front -- in reality it's to the front and back at the edge.After I finally figured out where the contacts were, I put a meter on it...it produces 0.6v@30mA outdoors in full sun BUT in a window it only produced 0.3v@14mA; not worth anything...

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

[...] I found this solar cell produced some voltage with indoor fluorescent light, so it works. Watch out though, because it's delicate.It needs the leads prewired for most customers.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

My only complaint is that the instructions are inaccurate. If you soder the cathode on the front and anode on the back however, the cell does what it is supposed to. Some people may not have known that and assumed it was no good. I generally get 200-250 mA at .50 volts per cell. If you wire them in an array you can get your money's worth. I bought them in bulk so I also had a discount.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

not too strong.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

First off, the soldering instructions on the package are wrong. They state to solder both leads to the front of the panel. If you try this you'll get very low V, if anything. Instead solder one lead to the front and the other to the back and the panels will perform as intended. Second, the panels are very fragile: bending the lead once attachd can snap the panel in half. Otherwise the panels work well, but they are a bit pricey.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

For more output power, place the cells in a "series" (increased voltage) and "parallel" (increased current) configuration. A recent design coupled an "array" of these solar cells with a 1.6MHz DC-DC switching converter IC to make an 80% efficient 6.0V DC solar power supply; current output was rated at 6.0V and 550mA.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

for what you get, it's REALLY overpriced. I was planning on building 12v power supply for stuff but these are only about .45-.5 volts in my window. it's a good idea but way too expensive. they used to sell other ones like a 3v 50ma one I got one time. wish they still did.

Comments about RadioShack Silicon Solar Cell:

powerful cell... big price...