| Creating Solar Panels 101 |
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| Environment - Environment |
| Written by Brian Bradley |
| Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:40 |
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Solar energy has been used for centuries - and today, solar power is not merely used to heat water, but also to power household lights, telephones, TVs, refrigerators, and even air conditioners, and various other consumer appliances, thereby reducing electricity bills to a large extent. Are you keen on constructing your own solar panel? If so, consider yourself blessed as it is no way a complicated thing to do, irrespective of the fact that you may be a layman in this aspect.
Solar energy has been used for centuries - and today, solar power is not merely used to heat water, but also to power household lights, telephones, TVs, refrigerators, and even air conditioners, and various other consumer appliances, thereby reducing electricity bills to a large extent. Are you keen on constructing your own solar panel? If so, consider yourself blessed as it is no way a complicated thing to do, irrespective of the fact that you may be a layman in this aspect. The tasks to follow to create a solar panel are like building any other project or item. You need to buy or gather the base materials for construction. Then you need to put the panel together in the proper order. There are six basic procedures to follow to create the solar panel dependent on the number of solar panels you desire to produce and the amount of power you seek to generate. Have you any idea of the initial investment that would go into building your own solar panels? You can construct one which would dramatically curtail your electricity consumption charges to under $200, subject to the fact that you carry out your job to perfection. Let us presume that you are interested in discontinuing your electricity usage that is you want to entirely depend on solar power for household needs, in that case, the construction of the panel will need more investment, requiring a minimum of 4-5 solar panels having reliable source of sunlight and other atmospheric factors. Here are the 10 steps you need to create your own solar panel: Stage 1: Arrive at your power production requirement and thereby the number of panel it would warrant. Studies reveal that a daily normal domestic requirement in America ranges from 10,000 Watts to 30,000 Watts. Your requirement is based on the number of gadgets you employ and whether that includes air conditioners, etc. In case you have no idea, you may glance at your electricity bill to arrive at your approximate monthly power usage. A conventional solar cell generates around 2 Watts of power, implying that you may require approximately 5,000 to 15,000 separate solar cells to ensure total power supply to your residence, meaning you would need around 5-15 separate solar panels and not beyond that. If you do not contemplate depending entirely on solar energy for your domestic need and you are looking to just reduce your utility charges to half, you may consider that too and yet build you DIY solar panels, which would worth the time and energy you spend on it. Step 2: After you have reviewed your past energy usage and figured out how many solar cells you will need to construct the solar panels, you can purchase the basic cells by outright purchase or bidding on Ebay. The search terms to enter are chipped or broken solar cells. These cells are exceedingly inexpensive. They usually perform well and function almost the same as perfectly new cells. You may also be able to obtain the cells from your local hardware or big box home store, however, eBay is usually the cheapest and easiest method to obtain the cells. Step 3: Once you have obtained the basic cells as the central part of your solar panels, you can purchase or gather the other materials necessary to complete the project. The following list sets forth what you need to obtain to build the solar panel: 1. Thin plywood (Local hardware store) 2. Flexi-glass about 0.5 inches thick (hardware store). 3. Tin-coated tabbing wire (look on eBay). 4. Silicone (for sealing up holes). 5. Solder iron (for connecting the cells). 6. Rosin flux pen (for connecting your cells). 7. UV Protector (to avoid damaging your new solar panel). 8. Volt meter. If you have your cells in hand, and gathered all of the additional materials, you can begin constructing your first solar panel. Phase 4: At the outset, prepare the plywood by sawing it to correct dimensions, tidy it and see to it that all the cells that you have purchased are accommodated neatly on it. Then, apply adequate coatings of UV protector on the wood to save it from harsh sun rays. Stage 5: Next, you will need to join the solar cells uniformly in a row. This is by no means easy, and it is difficult to elucidate them here, however, the simple procedures are: Look for the tabs behind all your cells and leave a minute quantity of iron soldering on them. Now, you will need to connect all the cells together with the help of tabbing wire, in an alternate manner, that front of one joined to the back of another cell, in order to complete the circuit. Step 6: Take the completed rows and use the silicone to attach them to the plywood. In order to later connect the cells to a battery or power, you need to fasten wires to each row of solar cells. Then drill a hole in on the reverse side of the plywood so you can string the wiring from the solar cells to connect the completed panel to the battery or power storage or electrical system. Phase 7: Fix the flexi-glass to the edges of your plywood sheet and adequately cover the cells, by applying silicone again. Phase 8: Plug all open gaps or holes (around those through which the positive and negatives cables are passing through, or at any other place) by applying silicone. Step 9: Using a drill again, create an additional hole at the bottom of the plywood piece as a breathing space to relieve and prevent moisture building up inside the solar panel. Step 10: You are almost done! Take the wires from the solar panel and set the unit next to or near your panel junction box. That box connects to your charge controller and to your solar batteries. Check with an electrician, your local hardware store or big box retailer to verify that you maintain the correct volts and amps for your wiring. They should be knowledgeable on this area if you describe and show them your system set up. To begin generating energy, move the solar panels into the sun. Attach a voltmeter to see if it registers output and how much power you're generating. About the Author: Brian Bradley is a Associate Editor to DIY Clean Energy, the internet's leading resource to solar panels for the home as well as how to create solar panel. He writes often about how to go off the grid and turn your house green. |