When you build a solar panel, there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration before you actually start. Once you know what you are doing it is a fairly straight forward process, building your own solar panel. What you need is the correct tools, the right products and a good training manual.
But before even those basic steps, it is more important to have a clear picture of what your solar panel is going to end up looking like and where you are going to use it. Decide how big your dream is. Do want to start a solar farm, building 2000 watt panels and feed electricity back to the national grid or do you want to build 500 watt panels for running specific appliances in your home or do just want a small one; to build a solar panel for re-charging your digital camera batteries?
The only difference between making 500 watt solar panel and 100W solar panel is the quantity of solar cells you require and the time you have available to spend on the project. Most of us, who build our own solar panels to generate electricity for our homes, do it so that we can drastically reduce the expense of actually fitting solar panels as they can be prohibitively expensive.
Now you know how large you solar panel is going to be, we now have to find a ready source of solar cells. Now you don’t want to pay a lot of money for them. Auction sites can be a good place to find low cost solar cells and other stuff, you have to do your due diligence and check out the seller thoroughly, making sure you don’t get ripped off. However, this process is a bit hit and miss and only about 50% of the time can you find something that you are looking for.
The best option is to contact companies in your local area who use solar panels to power remote pieces of electrical equipment. Find these organizations, contact them and start building rapport. Explain your project goals and the tight budget you are working to, so when they do get damaged solar cells, they will contact you to take them away. One of the major users of solar cells are the road and traffic signs, often you see them on the side of the road, and often they will have the company’s contact details on them. Traffic signs often get broken by manhandling or cars driving into them.
If the solar panel is damaged they will throw the old panel away replace it with a new one. The good news is that it is normally very easy to repair a chipped or damaged solar cell, if you know how to build a solar panel, you can easily repair a solar cell.
The biggest challenge for most “solar panel builders” is finding a reliable, low cost source of solar cells so pick your telephone directory and start looking for those companies now.
Remeber what I said earlier, know what outcome you want to end up with, have a clear picture even sketch it out on a piece of paper. Having worked on many projects, you can learn from my experience, if you don’t do it you will have a panel fit for nothing. You just end up with disorganized chaos. Know what you want and go and build it.
Different Types of Solar Panels
- Satellite Grade Solar Cells
- Thin Film Solar Panels – cadmium telluride
- Monocrystalline Solar Panels
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi,im looking for solar panel kits (diy).