[Power] $30 resin panel in my hands from eBay

[Kim Blewett]

I'm a "lurker" on this list, I don't have time for much research but 
we're using small computers with small solar installations in the field 
for longterm translation and book production. Here's a comment based on 
our experience in Papua New Guinea...
>
> Probably won't matter for you for testing but the wire contact points 
> and a short bit of the wire should be coated with something like hot 
> glue or some other thick coating. If there isn't some sort of strain 
> relief I expect those connections will fatigue and break with a 
> moderate amount of use.
>
>
>     Electrically there isn't a whole lot of concern but if you happen
>     to set it down on some sort of surface thats conductive you may
>     lose some power that way.  I can image wet mud in a coastal area
>     might have enough salt or other ions it it to be conductive enough
>     to steal power.
>
> I was planning to seal the wire contact points. And then for strain 
> relief, which does seem essential, I have a bunch of these combination 
> adhesive mount/cable ties:
>
> http://www.panduit.com/wcs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Panduit_Global%2FPG_Layout&cid=1345564328975&packedargs=classification_id%3D120%26locale%3Den_us&pagename=PG_Wrapper
 From a tropical perspective... this looks like a good idea. But these 
mounts are labeled "indoor only." I suspect they'll get brittle and 
break fairly soon if exposed to the sun.

Kim