Building your own solar power panels is not as tough as you thing, with most required goods available easily and cheaply. When the entire world is going through an economic crisis, it is high time we too contributed our part to save some of our hard money that we pay off on energy bills. Apart from this, the fact that the natural fuel reserves, including coal, is not going to last for more than a few decades, should make us sit up and find and use alternative sources of energy to run our electric equipment. Till a few years back, those interested in harnessing the power of the sun to power their residence, through solar panels, had no other options apart from purchasing ready to use panels that used to be affixed on their buildings.
However, things are changing at a rapid pace. People worldwide are trying out the “do it yourself” kits that helps them to harness the untapped energy provided by the sun. There are many such kits available in the market and these kits contain all the required materials and equipment along with the instruction guides that are required to set up “do it yourself” solar panels. These kits permits anyone to build and setup solar panels in their home, thereby helping them to lead a green lifestyle. The biggest advantage of such kits is their cheap costs and the ease of setting them up. There are certain materials that are required for building a solar panel and they include copper wires, micrometer, soldering iron, solar panels, and solder along with flux.
Most such items can be purchased from the local hardware store at reasonable prices. The steps required for building your solar panel is easy and there are guidebooks available for those who are not mechanically inclined. The first thing you have to do is making the solar power cells and then connecting each of them in series in order to make the solar panel. These individual panels have to be then connected to each other. The final stage involves of connecting the assembled solar panels to batteries. You can also connect the solar panels to an inverter that helps preserve the power harnessed during the daytime so that they can be used at night.
While these “build it yourself” panels can take up to one week to assemble, it is worth it because of their relatively low costs. The ready-made panels cost in the region of $3000. The panels assembled at home serve basically the same purpose as those purchased from the market and save you a decent sum of money. Used properly, these solar panels can reduce your power bills by approximately 80% and pay of for themselves in just a few months. Apart from this, think of your contribution to keep the world free of greenhouse emissions and you will understand why more and more people are opting in for installing solar power panels in their home. It is high time; you too opted in for the same.
Building A Solar Panel
Are you looking to build your own solar panels, probably because the cost of buying a solar panel is through the roof. A typical home uses 300 watts of power per day, and if you were to go and buy sufficient solar panels to produce that amount you would need to spend close to ten thousand dollars. Now for a regular family throwing ten thousand dollars towards some solar panels is not a viable option.
That is why I opted for building solar panels. I will show you want you need, and how to avoid costly mistakes. This seemed a little easier then out wind generator that took us a little while to assemble, but was still quite easy with the guide that we followed.
What you need
-A guide, these are readily available on the net
-Some simple tools and a clean work place
-Make sure the guide is tested, and easy to follow, some guides are complicated and end up taking to much of your time and money
The guide that we used focused on installing solar panels, but there was also a section that covered building your own. We set off and starting following their instructions to the letter. Some of the guides online even talk about how you can sometimes get solar panels for free, but we wont cover that.
First you need something to mount the solar cells on. Preferably a piece of plywood, you can use OSB material but plywood is more durable and last better in the weather. OSB will absorb the water when it rains and this can ruin your project. To build your own solar panels you will need to do some soldering to get the appropriate tool.
Always wear safety equipment, when working
Basically building solar panels is quite easy but you have to know where to get the solar panels. Once you have acquired the solar panels its a matter of soldering the negative and positives wires to make a completed panel. Once you have done this you can mount the solar panel and run the wires. Depending on how much power you are supplying, you can either hook them up to run your washer and dryer, charge batteries, hook them up directly to your meter. You have a few different options but make sure to find a guide, and follow their instructions.
Let me tell you, its pretty cool to see my meter spinning the other way, yeah its taken some work but I now get checks from the electrical company, and I never have to worry about paying them again. Building solar panels was a fun project.
Both Y.t. Lee & Ben Levanger are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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