YAHOO! QUESTION: I am confused over this issue.
There are multiple companies selling information on how to make cheap solar panels for homes, but I do not know which one is the best.
I hear mixed reviews some saying these homemade ones are just as good as the professional and others saying they will not produce the same power or will break easy or not be legal to hook to the grid and other various things.
I also am not sure if you really can make them for cheap because I think you might still need to buy energy converters or other ect.
So I hope someone here can give me an objective answers from real knowledge or experience and give reasons and not just answers so that I can see for myself thanks!!!
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Well if you are doing a direct comparison (i.e. power output per panel), homemade solar panels for homes are not as good as professional one’s, the materials used to make the panels themselves absorb much more energy over its surface area in a professionally made panel.
Having said that you can get good benefits from homemade solar panels, once you have made one you only need to make another to increase the amount of power produced. The homemade solar panel is allot cheaper to purchase, you could make 20 homemade panels for the price of one production panel.
as for converters / storage, the DIY guides around the place show you how to assemble / source them cheaply
There is a review on the following site http://solarpowerdiy.info/
My hubby is a DIY nut and he has assembled and implemented two of these now, we use the energy produced more to supplement our power usage, he estimates we will save around 40% (we are pretty conservative with our energy usage though)
When you ask, will they break easy, that probably is more dependant on the workmanship of the handyman putting it together.
hope that helps 
7 responses to Making your own solar panels for homes
Home made solar panels can be cheap to make, and as long as you use quality materials, will not break any easier that factory made. The power they produce depends on several factors, including, but not limited to, the angle they are mounted to. Yes, you will need inverters to hook it to the grid, as well as electrical permits, inspection, and any other requirements for your area. The most expensive aspect of any alternative energy system are the inverter, charge controllers and battery bank. I would recommend shopping around for the components, you can get deals from time to time. Try starting small so as to not have a huge outlay of cash right off the bat.
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if you think you can make a panel more efficiently than Kyocera or Panasonic or Siemens, you can probably make a car…from scratch……easier than Ford.
As the other guy said, you need to take the electricity made by the panels and use or store it somehow. That means an inverter to charge batteries, then another in inverter to run household appliances, or to send back to the power company.
Oh yeah…batteries…..
I’m putting in an 8,000 watt system. I just spent two years ( off and on) researching.
Take this number to the bank. It takes $5.00 to make one Watt of electricity. or $500.00 for a panel inverter etc to run one 100 watt light bulb.
Now you see why there aren’t solar panels on every roof?
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The reason solar panels are expensive has to do with labor cost, cost to mass produce and store them, and the fact that the manufacturer, dealer and owner has to make a large profit because they don’t sell all that fast.
If you build a do it yourself solar panel, the cost will be much cheaper that if you purchase one. The cost of build one yourself is about 200 dollars. You can add to the solar panels whenever you want to and the more you add, the less dependent you will become with your utility company, it is safe for our environment, and it will save you money within months as opposed to years if you purchase solar panels.
The downside will be installing the panels on top of the roof. If you have a lot of land, you can install them at ground level. So the bottom line is yes you will save money if you have the time to build one at a time.
References :
http://usa4energy.com/energy-tips/do-it-yourself-solar-and-wind-energy-kits/
The following steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their homes on solar power, reducing their monthly utility bills or even selling power back the electrical companies. The entire guide is available at http://www.agua-luna.com/diy_guides.html. It’s pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to email us directly at info@agua-luna.com we can walk you threw the process.
Materials you will need…
A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.
Two alligator clip leads.
A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 & 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.
An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won’t work — mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.
A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.
Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.
Tap water.
Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.
Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.
The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don’t have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.
Next, place the cleaned & dried copper sheet on the burner & turn the burner to its highest setting.
As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, & reds will cover the copper.
As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, & purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.
The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.
When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.
After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.
As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.
The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.
When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.
Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it has the smoothest, cleanest surface.
Attach the two alligator clip leads, one to the new copper plate, & one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the lead from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the lead from the cuprous oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter.
Now mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt is dissolved. Then carefully pour the saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates — you should leave about an inch of plate above the water, so you can move the solar cell around without getting the clip leads wet.
now place in the sun with the magnified on top.
The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, & will usually show a few microamps of current.
That’s it it’s that simple. If you’d a more detailed process & some pics (couldn’t put them here) it’s available along with some other DIY alternative energy projects at www agua-luna com
Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the
References :
Well if you are doing a direct comparison (i.e. power output per panel), homemade solar panels are not as good as professional one’s, the materials used to make the panels themselves absorb much more energy over its surface area in a professionally made panel.
Having said that you can get good benefits from home made solar panels, once you have made one you only need to make another to increase the amount of power produced. The home made solar panel is allot cheaper to purchase, you could make 20 home made panels for the price of one production panel.
as for converters / storage, the DIY guides around the place show you how to assemble / source them cheaply
There is a review on the following site http://solarpowerdiy.info/
My hubby is a DIY nut and he has assembled and implemented two of these now, we use the energy produced more to supplement our power usage, he estimates we will save around 40% (we are pretty conservative with our energy usage though)
When you ask, will they break easy, that probably is more dependant on the workmanship of the handyman putting it together.
hope that helps
References :
http://solarpowerdiy.info/
Here is my reasoning. If it were easy to do, and/or financially worth it to make your own panels, then wouldn’t there be a YouTube of someone proudly displaying their work? And wouldn’t you personally know someone who did it (not just someone who claims they did on the internet)?
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Great discussion guys. There is no reason why you shouldn’t build your own. Following the soldering directions etc. it is quite simple. You may need to find qualified help to teach you how to build a quality bracket and frame system to keep water out of the panel and make it durable enough to stand up to hail storms. That should be easy enough.
.-= Renewable Ray´s last blog ..Start Up Banks on Dye Solar Panels =-.
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