Make Solar Panels Quickly, Easily And Cheaply

I really wanted to make solar panels as cheaply as possible so decided that I´d make the entire solar panel myself. How many solar cells you get and how big they are, will depend on what size panel you want to make. To cut costs this website explains how to get very cheap, but usable cells second hand. You'll then have to check each cell individual to ensure it's working efficiently. Luckily for me, I only had to discard a few when I was making my first panel.

If you want to seriously cut down on time when making solar panels this website has some great ideas on where to get cheap panels. Sure, it´ll cost a little more than buying all the parts separately but if you want to get it done double quick, this is the way to go.

but nothing too taxing.

Basically you´re building a shallow box to house your cells. This, in essence, is what a solar panel is; solar cells in a shallow box. The size of your box will depend on how many cells, and what size, you have. My first panel was a relatively small one of 20 inches by 20 inches, so this wasn't a huge job when I knew exactly what it was I had to do.

Visit this website to find out exactly how to make solar panel boxes and what you'll need to coat your wooden box with to protect it from the elements.

The purpose of this when you make solar panels is to cover your cells and to protect them from rain, haiI, snow and other elements.

I spent a fair bit of time putting this clear front on my solar panel and making sure it was sealed according to the instructions. It's not a difficult job but one you need to get done perfectly as any moisture entering your solar panel will have disastrous effects. I strongly advise you to take some time to make sure it fits snugly and is effectively sealed when you make solar panels.

All the electricity you create when you make solar panels must be stored somewhere. Otherwise every time the sun went behind a cloud, your computer, or stereo, or whatever would turn off!

This is why we use a battery or batteries and run everything of this. It also means that a cloudy day needn't mean you have no solar power! So you don't run your electrical appliances directly from the solar panel, but from this battery.

I managed to cannibalize mine from an old bit of machinery but if you can´t do this there are still other cheap options.

Click here to find out exactly what kind and size of battery you will need when you make solar panels, and where to get it. No, a car battery won't do unfortunately!

The electricity we harness when we make solar panels is all DC ,and annoyingly, most household electrics don't use this kind of electricity. They use AC power, so when making solar panels we have to remember to purchase and fit a inverter to convert the DC power of your panel to AC. This means we can run everything in our house from our solar power!