How to build Solar panels yourself ?

I want to build Solar panels at home. Where do I find an Instruction ? Where do I get the materials ?

Hello Maria,

I asked the same question a few days ago and got a lot of helpfull answers.
In the end I decided (against the advice of most of the people) to buy an E-Book about this subject.

I bought it from http://www.selfmade-solarpanels.com .
I am not an adverstiser and I have nothing todo with that site, but I am very happy. I didnt started to build yet, but the videos and manuals look really proper and easy to follow. I don´t know if it is allowed to send a copy to someone else, maybe I can just write them a mail and ask them, if they agree i cann send you a copy of the videos and the pdf files.

Hope i could help you
Maria

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Solar and wind power systems brought from the market are generally expensive but there are guides and different online programs which give you the information that is required to get the same results at a tiny price. You need not have to build a 200 square meter solar panel to save lots of money on energy, a much smaller can be built by following online instructions. I used one from
http://www.easyenergysolution.info and it works flawlessly. good luck!

I have figured out a way to use broken solar cells pretty cheaply and very easy way to build small solar panels from small broken pieces of solar cells that i have not seen so far . You can make them at any volt you want though the amperage is not as great as full size cells obviously . Is anyone interested on knowing how to do this ?
Ill let you know when im finished with it Bill T. Linda and mick im not looking to buy anything but thank you anyway . This could be made for science projects in schools teaching solar or even made into kits for sale . An easy way of recycling at its best is all . Or it could just be for the back yard guy who knows .

I am

Hey Done it, the way you build a solar panel is to get enough solar cells to reach the voltage you want, then glue them down to a backing of some kind, wire them together and cover the completed array with glass or acrylic. The cells themself can be purchased, but you really can’t build the cell at home. The process requires some pretty high tech manufacturing resources. In my experience, it’s a better deal to take the time you might use building one and buying the cells, go make some money at a regular job, and save up to buy an already built panel. They are pretty easy to find and the cost has come down dramatically in the last 2 years as a result of the European Union cutting back on their solar mandates. You might find a 50 watt panel for example for under $200 if you look around. Getting enough cells and other parts to build that same panel would cost over $100, and then you run the risk that it might not work properly when it is done. The one you buy will have already been tested and certified, and is ready to hook up to the battery or charger controller as soon as you take it out of the box.

We live in a solar powered home today. Our home is small by many standards, only about 1200 square feet, and has efficient lighting and appliances. But we can run all our loads on a solar array of just 1600 watts. That array purchased today might cost around $5,000 USD, quite a bit less than we paid for it 10 years ago. The good news is our electric bill since we installed the array and other equipment has averaged less than $8 per month, and that our home has not been without electricity for even a minute in all that time. There are periodic power failures in our area, like most places. Generally we are not aware of them. The few times that we have been on utility power due to a shortage of solar power, and the power has gone out, we’ve always been able to cut back on usage a bit, put the batteries into reserve usage and wait for the solar array to catch up while it powers the home. It’s hard to put a price tag on something like that.

If you are really a hobbyist and want to build a small solar panel yourself, try googling, "Build a solar panel instructions." There are several out there, and once you have your cells, it isn’t hard work, it just takes time and parts, and some patience. If you want to learn more about solar power, I’ll list some places below you can check into. Good luck, and take care, Rudydoo

i painted glass but it keeps pealing off.what do i do to make it stick?

Check out this site for great directions: http://www.wikihow.com/Paint-on-Glass-and-Have-a-Smooth-Finished-Effect

Good Luck

i took some solar yard lights apart and put them together in a series. i was told if you take AMPS times VOLTS = WATTS. do you test it with ac volt or dc volts? I tested mine with dc volts and got 41 volts in good sun and had my meter set on Ma or milliamps and got .83 which i am asuming that is .83 of one amp now i took those and multiplied .83 times 41 volts to = 34.03 watts. Is this large enough to charge a car battery in a day? And doese it make a difference for amps on how fast it charges or watts. i also was looking around and found 30 watt panels but had higher amps. I am very interested in building solar panels but i realize i dont know what i need to do to make shur they are big enough. my panel is only 9inch by 10 inch. It seems weird that i am putting out 41 volts

A solar panel is a DC device, you so want DC voltage.

I don’t think your panel is big enough: milliAmps are THOUSANDTHS of an amp, not hundredths. So 83 mA = 83/1000 = 0.083A, ie your power is 3.403 watts rather than 34.03 watts.

To get a 30W output in good sunlight you’ll typically need a panel area that’s equivalent to about about 50cm x 50cm.

Car batteries are apparently about 1kWh:

http://mb-soft.com/public2/storing.html

So even if you had 30W, you’d need to run it for 1000/30 = 33 hours in good sunlight. So it won’t do a great job.

The reasons for the tiny output will probably be the small surface area (normally people cover whole roofs in solar panels and that way you get sensible power output), and because yard lights are cheap, so have cheap solar panels made from the cheapest amorphous silicon they can get their hands on – so they’re not very efficient either!

solar energy

If you want to know how solar panels are made look here

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=how+solar+panels+are+made&meta=&aq=4&oq=how+solar

If you want to know how they are manufactured, look here

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=how+solar+panels+are+manufactured&meta=&aq=2&oq=how+solar+panels+ar

If you want to know how they are installed, look here

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=how+solar+panels+are+installed&meta=&aq=4&oq=how+solar+panels+are+

Rated, here

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=how+solar+panels+are+rated&meta=&aq=3&oq=how+solar+panels+are

Hope this properly answers your question

Get a coil of 10mm copper pipe from a plumbers’ merchant. Do not uncoil it and build a squat ‘cold-frame’ to enclose it. Paint the coil with black paint. Plumb one end to a small reservoir (and water supply) and the other to radiators(?) inside the greenhouse. The coil will heat up inside the frame and hot water will create convection flow in the coil. But a pump will improve the flow if you can get one driven by solar/wind power.

I don’t know how hard it is to build solar panels or something that could actually be used to help as an alternatvie energy source for my home? Any ideas??

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn’t happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

The fallowing steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their homes on solar power safely, reducing their monthly utility bills or even selling power back the the electrical companies. The entire guide is available at www agua-luna com. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need
A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.
Two alligator clip leads.
A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.
An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won’t work — mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.
A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.
Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.
Tap water.
Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.
Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don’t have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.
Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.
As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.
As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.
The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.
When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.
After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.
As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.
The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.
When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.
Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it has the smoothest, cleanest surface.
Attach the two alligator clip leads, one to the new copper plate, and one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the lead from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the lead from the cuprous oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter.
Now mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt is dissolved. Then carefully pour the saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates — you should leave about an inch of plate above the water, so you can move the solar cell around without getting the clip leads wet.
now place in the sun with the magnefied on top.
The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, and will usually show a few microamps of current.
That’s it it’s that simple. If you’d a more detailed process and some pics (ouldn’t put them here) it’s available along with some other DIY alternative energy projects at www agua-luna com

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin
Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World… Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY… All With Just One Click of A Mouse…For more info Visit:

www AGUA-LUNA com
Stop Global Warming!!!

I’m keen on building a home solar panel as that’s the way for present and future energy needs.

A solar panel with 12V electric output costs between $100-250 in the market. You can easily build your own homemade solar panel for $100 with parts you can get from the local hardware store. (The same applies to homemade wind power as well)