DIY Solar Power House

The past 20 to 30 years has seen vast changes made to the way solar energy is produced. As a result, the simplicity of such a system has come within the grasp of every day people.

Advantages of Building Your Own Solar Panels

Building your own solar panels has several advantages. Amongst others, they are lightweight and therefore easily transported, but they also require no special technical knowledge to build. Since you built the system, you know exactly how it works meaning that repair and maintenance are a breeze. This is an excellent asset if you live in remote locations where repair people are sparse.

Needless to say, hiring a professional for the job would be the simplest way to get your solar power system installed. But let’s face it, that’s expensive and also seems counter the essence of the whole eco-friendly movement which prides itself on self-reliance and personal responsibility. While building your own solar panels is easy enough to do, make sure you follow these steps.

For example, photovoltaic (aka PV) cells are easy enough to acquire and inexpensive, but in order to meet your energy requirements, make sure to avoid the grade B or wax-dipped variety. You may also need to avoid certain materials made in countries like China, which is infamous for producing sub-standard items.

Building Your Own Solar Panels Is Easy

Otherwise, both tools and materials are easy to access. In fact, most people already have the tools (a saw, hammer, screwdriver, paintbrush and a soldering iron) in their garage. Materials such as a wooden board, black paint, glue and screws round out the items needed for building your own solar panels.

PV cells can be easily sourced from your own neighborhood if you know where to look. Sometimes, you can even find them from old projects that someone has dismantled. If you go this route, make sure they are not warped. Just make sure to purchase the tabbed variety. Untabbed are cheaper, but you will end up spending more time and money to tab them yourself!

Before starting the project, make sure you have some plastic sheeting to cover the housing lid and blocking diodes to keep the current flowing in one direction.

Arrange the PV cells on the wooden board in rows of six. Glue them together and keep the tabs facing up. Next connect the tabs down the line. This is where the diodes must be applied to keep the electricity from “leaking out” when there isn’t enough sun to feed the cells.

Next, create a housing for the connected solar cells, sealing it with a silicone filler. Seal this with a piece of plastic sheeting and then apply black paint. The paint will serve to absorb heat. Your panel is now ready to be mounted.

Building your own solar panels can be a little disappointing at first if you don’t have the right amount or intensity of the sun. Rest assured that this also affects professionally built systems, so don’t think for a minute that your efforts are inadequate. You can easily put your mind at ease by auditing your energy consumption before and after your solar panel installation.