Build Your Own Solar Panel

With ready-made solar panels costing thousands of dollars it definitely makes good economic sense to build your own solar panel system.

Do you want to know how to build a solar panel, and do you realise just how easy it is to do?

These days there are many good sources of advice and instructions for building solar panels, and making them is remarkably straightforward.

You do not need any special skills or technical know-how. All materials are easy to obtain.

It is quite possible to build a home solar panel for under $200 and in a weekend.

Click here for more information about how to build your own solar panel

These are the basic steps for assembling home made solar panels.

You make each panel from a number of photovoltaic (PV) cells linked together to form PV modules. Each solar cell generates electricity from sunlight, normally in the range of 1 to 2 watts, so that a typical solar panel of 4 x 6 ft will produce 150 – 200 watts of Direct Current (DC) electricity. An inverter is used somewhere in the system to convert this DC into Alternating Current (AC) which is then able to power domestic appliances or feed into the grid.

Before you build your own solar panel you need to do a bit of planning. These are the main points for you to consider:

• Site: PV modules need sunlight, so the solar panels should face the sun at noon – south in the Northern Hemisphere (and north in the Southern, of course). Avoid costly mobile units that constantly face the sun – it is better and cheaper to build several diy solar panels even if it is less efficient. The site should not be shaded by trees or other buildings. You will need a space of between 120 and 1,000 sq ft.

• Mounting: You can mount your homemade solar panel on your roof, on the ground, on a wall, on a garden shed – anywhere convenient and suitable.

• Size: Build your own solar panel to suit your domestic electric requirements and the available site. Utilities in most US states now accept metered electricity from homes that have off-grid generators, which is used to offset supply from the grid at other times. See our Blog for more recent news about feed-in tariffs, which will be particularly relevant to countries outside North America.

• Budget: See if you are eligible for a government or state rebate. It is possible to make your own solar panel for less than $200. This will produce up to 200 watts per hour of direct sunlight. You might decide to build several solar panels, or use them in conjunction with a wind turbine, to produce several kilowatts of ‘free’ power. And it has been shown that solar panel construction will add to the value of your house – as much as $20 for every $1 saved in electricity bills per year.

• Back-up: Solar electricity is produced intermittently, depending on available sunlight. You could use batteries to store surplus (DC) power rather than depend on the grid, and there are sources of free or cheap batteries if you know where to look.

To build your own solar panel, you will need a good quality step-by-step instruction manual. This will show you how to obtain the PV cells – usually from the internet but becoming more common locally now – wire the homemade solar cells together and fit them into a simple glazed metal box for protection from the elements.

You will probably need advice on how to estimate the size and quantity of solar panels, how to select and site the inverter, how to mount the panels and how to join the system to your domestic electric circuit. A good instruction manual should have this information for you.

None of this is complicated, but investing in a good step-by-step manual will be a great help – we have reviewed several popular guides and can thoroughly recommend the GreenDIYenergy Kit. It has all the necessary details and information necessary for making solar panels easily and cheaply, and is full of useful professional tips as well. We believe it represents excellent value for money, and it comes with a full satisfaction guarantee.

Why not make a solar panel this weekend? Save money and have fun at the same time!

Click here for more information about how to build your own solar panel

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