How to Make Your own Solar Panels

make your own solar panels
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you are looking at residential solar power, you may be wondering how you are going to afford it all. Solar panels can be pretty expensive and getting them set up can be even more expensive if you have someone else doing it for you. This is why doing it yourself can save some money. Here is how you start.

Choose your panels

There are three different types of solar cells you can use. They go from expensive to cheap, with the expensive line of cells being the crystal cells that are much stronger and durable to the cheaper end that is extremely fragile. Your goal is to join all of the cells together to make your own solar panels. This enables you to increase the amount of electricity you are going to generate.

Flux pen and tab wires

The flux pen smells like rubbing alcohol and is what enables you to sadder the tab wires on to the cells. You will be soldering both the front and back so they are secure. If you are doing this yourself to save money then you will most likely be using the cheaper kind of cells. These are very fragile so it is important to be very careful.

Amount needed

You will need 2 cells connected together in order to produce one volt. If you are looking to charge a 12 volt battery, you need to have at least 36 cells together. Since the cells are fragile you will need to make sure that you have a good glass casing that will cover and protect them from damage.

Electrical hook ups

As soon as you have all of the panels together you will need to make sure that the charges are coming from the right sides. You will also need to double check all of the wiring for the proper polarity. It shouldn’t be coming back. If it does then it will be sucking from your batteries and not just charging them like you want.

Hours

Building a solar panel system and hooking it up can take hours upon hours of your time. If you just don’t have the time or patience to make it happen, there are reasonably priced installers out there that set up solar energy for homes all of the time. This is a matter of finding out whether you can afford to spend time on certain things or not. If you can then it can be a great learning opportunity for you and your family.

Getting electric solar panels is easier than ever and it is the best way to decrease your carbon footprint on the environment. Little by little you will be able to make a substantial difference in communities especially as you help sell people on the idea of solar power systems for homes
. Not only does it make them more independent but it is also much more reliable in the end. Make sure your home energy system is set up for sustainable energy this month! If you plan on expanding your system eventually it will become more cost efficient to purchase  panels of something similar in value and have them installed.