Ways To Build Solar Panels At Home

Many people have been researching on building solar panels to lessen dependence on the utility company so that they can have a back up source of energy in an emergency situation. However, once they get started and see how easy and inexpensive it can be, they begin to do so and totally free themselves and soon become free from the electric company and often use the electric company as a back up to their solar system.

The true benefits of learning build DIY solar panels and installing them is that as you begin to learn how to build solar panels you are saving money, energy and the earth. So you are being kind to your family economy, future generations of people and to the Earth, as we know it.

While saving money is a great reason to learn how to build a solar panel, it is really sort of icing on the cake. There is a sense of satisfaction that go along with creating something that frees you from dependence on a large utility company. In fact many families make it project that they can all get involved with so that that sense of pride and accomplishment covers the whole family.

If you involve your children in the project and they learn how to build solar panels, it can become something that interests them. There fore as they grow into adulthood they may be more likely to become involved in it with their family. This can be a cycle that is great for everyone.

Learning how to build solar panels is the beginning of the job. You will then need to learn how to effectively harness, store and distribute that power. Again, this is all fairly simple to do and can be done, for the most part with commonly available items from the Internet.

You can work on what you learn about how to make solar panels as a part time hobby and as time and finances allow. It is not doubt that you will find yourself being drawn in and building more of them as you get into the build process.

Learning how to build solar panels can be a hobby that can and will pay you and your family significant dividends over your lifetime. The Internet is a great place to learn about making these things and a phenomenal place to save money on the parts once you begin to build.

If you take the time to learn how to do it correctly you will find that you can easily construct a quality panel over a fairly short period of time and in no time at all you and your family can begin to pull yourself off the commercial power grid and become more and more sufficient on yourselves.

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Building Your Own DIY Solar Panels

You have a few choices in building solar panels. You can build it yourself or purchase a prefabricated one. Making a DIY solar panel is easier than you would think. Once you have the right materials; solar cells, tabbing wire, and flux pen, you are on your way to building a small scale panel in no time. Most people build their DIY solar panel in less than a day. It also makes for a very fun weekend family project.

Solar panels are made up of numerous silicon solar cells. They generate electricity once photons from sunlight hit the silicon cells bouncing electrons within the cells across the panel. This creates a current which is drawn through copper tabbing wire.

In order to learn how to build a solar panel you will need to take a few initial steps to assess the situation.

1. Purpose - What are you going to use the solar panels for? If you are using the panels to power lighting for a toolshed or RV, you will need less electricity than if you wanted to power your entire household. For this, you will need to determine the wattage for your purposes. You can use a kill-a-watt voltmeter to measure appliances in your house.

2. Grid Tie or Offgrid - If you plan on connecting the panel to your house, you will need to decide whether you need to connect it to your existing electrical grid. You will need an inverter to convert DC current to AC current that is usable within the household. If you decide to go offgrid, you will need a battery to store the electricity. For a single panel, you can survive with a standard 12V battery.

3. Financial considerations - Look into government and state rebates and tax incentives. The first place to look is your local utility's website. Ask people in your neighborhood who have installed solar on their rooftops and ask them what measures they took.

Solar panel installations have gone up about 50% each year since 2004. The technology is solid and the paybacks in cost savings are substantial. Do your part and build your own solar panel for your home today.

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Installing the Solar Array

Firstly, it is a good idea to clean the glass on the front of the panels first, using a water and dirt repellent glass polish or wax. These glass polishes ensure that rain and dirt do not stick to the glass, thereby reducing the performance of your home solar power systems and are available from any DIY store and many supermarkets and car parts and accessories stores.

Assembly and Connections

Some roof mounted solar mounting kits are designed to be fitted to your roof before fitting the solar panels. Others are designed to have the solar panels mounted to the fixing kits before being mounted to the roof.

With a pole mounted system, you typically erect your pole first and then fit the DIY solar panels once the pole is in position.

A ground based mounting system is the easiest to install as there is no heavy lifting to be done.
As a general rule of thumb, you tend to mount and wire the solar panels at the same time. If you are stepping up the voltage of your system by wiring the panels in series, wire up the required number of panels in series first (i.e. sets of two panels fro 24v, sets of four for 48v).

Once you have wired up a set of panels in series, test them using your multi-meter set to a voltage setting to check that you have the expected voltage (20v plus for 12v system, 40v plus for a 24v system and 80v plus for a 48v system).

Take care when taking these measurements as 40v plus can give a nasty shock in the wrong circumstances.

Once each series is wired up correctly, make up the parallel connections and then test the entire array using your multi-meter, set to voltage setting.

If you have panels of different capacities, treat the different sets of panels as separate arrays. Don’t wire panels of different capacities together, either in series or parallel. Instead, connect the arrays together at the controller.

Once you have completed testing, make the array safe so that no-one can get an electrical shock by accident from the system. To do this, connect the positive and negative cables from the solar array together to short-circuit the array. This will not damage the array and could prevent a nasty shock.

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Build Your Own Solar Power System to Save Money

Solar power system is more efficient then other power sources. By using solar power for your home power supply, you will save up to 85% on your monthly electricity bill. Sun energy is captured through solar panels and converted into electricity which can be used to power your entire home. This is for sure also a great way to save money.

We need electricity for so many things in our homes; heating, air condition, refrigerators, ovens, computers... and when you use solar power systems, you remarkably reduce your demands for electricity. This of course has a huge impact on lowering your monthly electrical bills. The more things there are in your home that need power to operate, the more it makes sense to use solar power systems as a power source for your home.

Solar panels do not have a negative effect on the Planet. This is probably the most important reason why you should consider building solar panels for your home. They do not put off any pollutants such as carbon dioxide, so you don't affect the Earth's atmosphere in a negative way. Instead, you will be doing your part to help save the Earth.

Solar panels can be put pretty much anywhere. They can be placed on a lot of places, and when you place them on your roof, you do not see them or even know they are there. If for any reason they can not be placed on the roof you can place them anywhere as long as there is enough sun and no obstacles in the way.

These are not the only reasons for using solar power for your home electricity supply. If you do a little research you will discover even more reasons. Did you know that you will get payed if you generate electricity with solar panels in your home?

Discover how you can build your own DIY solar panels, save a lot of money, help to save the planet and in the end get paid for it!

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Building Solar Panels To Make Electricity

Building solar panels are not expensive and neither are they difficult to build. Home buyers and realtors view home solar power systems or solar hot water heaters as a significant value-added improvement - similar to adding a deck or remodeling your kitchen. Plus unlike a deck or kitchen remodel, you also gain one-up on your power bills.

Solar panels often get an additional financial boost as well: many jurisdictions and utilities across the USA offer attractive financial incentives to drive down the upfront capital costs associated with a solar panel.

Here are some foolproof ways to estimate the cost of a solar panel and to figure out if a solar panel makes sense for you.

Calculate your home's electricity needs:

To get started, it's good to have a sense of how much electricity you use. You'll have a better point for comparison if you find out how many kilowatt hours (kWh) you use per day, per month, per year. Your utility bill should include that information.

Of course, the utility bill will also display your costs and many utilities include a graph that displays how your monthly energy use/cost varies throughout the year. That helps you estimate where your highest energy use is and at what time of year.

Size your system:

In general, solar panels sized between 1 to 5 kilowatts are usually sufficient to meet the electricity needs of most homes. One advantage of grid-tied systems is that you can use solar panels to supplement or offset some of your electricity needs; therefore you can size your system to match your budget and always add to the system later if needed.

Also as a side note, here's a rule of thumb to remember to help you estimate the physical space your solar system might need: one square foot yields 10 watts. So in bright sunlight, a square foot of a conventional photovoltaic panel will produce 10 watts of power. A 1000 watt system, for example, may need 100 - 200 square feet of area, depending on the type of solar module used.

Run the numbers:

Although the cost for solar panels will depend on the size of the system you intend to install, your electricity rate, the amount of kilowatt hours you expect to generate, and the state/local rebates/tax credits that may be available, the formulas for calculating the returns are pretty much the same

For those who appreciate having the formulas, use the ones listed below to do a quick ballpark estimate of how much solar panels might cost you.

Retail Price for Solar Panels

+ Building Permits

- $2,000 Federal Tax Credit

- State or Local Tax Credit or Rebate

- Utility Rebate or Other Incentive

= Net Investment

Kilowatts of electricity generated from solar energy per year

x Kilowatt hours used per year

= Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system

Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system

x Current Residential Electricity Rate

= Annual $ Saved

Yearly Excess Solar Energy Produced

x $$ credit applied per watt

= Annual Value from Net Metering

You may want to work with a solar power contractor to size and price the right system for you. As it is true with any major purchase, don't hesitate to ask for several bids from different contractors.

Many solar power providers will provide you with a comprehensive estimate. Helpful information to know includes:

• Total cost to make the system operational (labor cost for design and installation and equipment costs)
• Equipment (Make and Model)
• Warranty info
• Permit costs, if needed
• Tax, where applicable
• Federal tax credits
• State or local jurisdiction tax credits or rebates
• Utility rebates
• Expected Renewable Energy Certificates or Net metering credits
• Expected operation and maintenance costs
• Projected savings

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