subject: Tips On Making Solar Panels At Home [print this page] You would be surprised at how easy and how much fun it is to build solar panels yourself. Thousands of people have already done this and more are learning the methods every day. The rising energy costs are making people more industrial than ever and DIY solar panels are just the beginning. You can build these panels with a lot of parts that are already lying around your house too.
There is so much power in the sun. It is amazing that we have not really pushed solar power more. It is clean, quiet, and will never run out until the sun stops burning. So it's safe to say that we have a very long time to benefit from this free power source. If more households started using solar power we would not even need to have power plants and huge electrical power lines going everywhere. For people who want to become energy independent, solar power is a great start.
If you are going to start your own solar panel project you need to know what materials to use and how much of them you want to buy. A local hardware store will have most of what you need as far as a structure to use for your solar panel and some glass to protect your solar cells. You can also buy some necessary tools for the project if you don't already have them.
The only part of your DIY solar panel that you should not buy at the local hardware store are the actual solar cells. Some stores will sell these but they are very expensive. Here is a tip. Just buy broken solar cells on ebay and then fix them with a soldering gun. This is a very easy fix that anyone can do. If you have already purchased a good solar panel building guide you will see exactly how to do this.
You should also be aware that one of the most important factors in building a solar panel is to make sure that the solar cells are connected in the right way so that the power is flowing in one direction. Not getting this right will ruin all that you are trying to do, so don't skip over the details of this important step.
Every household is different and need different amounts of power. You should determine how much power you and your family consume and then figure out how many solar panels you need to build to meet those needs. You can start making a 75 watt solar power and build up from there.
