Before you actually begin to build a solar panel, bear in mind that there are a few potential problems to keep an eye on. Building a solar panel is a relatively easy process if you have good instructions to follow, know where to get the individual products from and have the right equipment.
That is not the first step though. The first step is to decide how many solar panels you are going to build and what you are going to do with the electricity they generate. There are many things you can do when you build a solar panel, you can build a small one for charging up re-chargeable batteries, or you can build larger 200, 300 or 400 watt panels to run home appliances and store excess electricity in a battery bank, or you can build 1000 watt panels and start a little business feeding electricity back to the grid.
The process is exactly the same when building a low wattage yield solar and a high wattage panel, besides time and space, the only other thing you need is more solar cells. The main reason for many people wanting to make their own solar electricity is that they can save on the cost of having to actually by them because they are very expensive.
Having decided the size of panel or panels you are going to produce, the next part of the process and the critical part is to establish where you can acquire low cost if not free solar cells. EBay is always a good place to start when wanting to buy anything on the cheap, the only downside is that you can’t always get the exact thing you are after. So what if you can’t find what you need on ebay and other auction sites, what do you do next?
The best option is to contact companies in your local area who use solar panels to power remote pieces of electrical equipment. Contact these companies and make yourself known to them, tell them what you want to do so at a later date should they have any broken cells they want to dispose of, they will contact you. A big user of solar cells are the companies who repair roads or make street signs for roads. These signs get damaged on a regular basis and have to be repaired.
They don’t fix the solar panel if it is broken or chipped, they will fit a new one and chuck the old one in the skip. The good news is that it is normally very easy to repair a chipped or damaged solar cell, if you know how to build a solar panel, you can easily repair a solar cell.
This is the biggest pitfall you have to overcome, so go and find some local companies who are throwing away their solar cells and recycling them.
Remeber what I said earlier, know what outcome you want to end up with, have a clear picture even sketch it out on a piece of paper. Having worked on many projects, you can learn from my experience, if you don’t do it you will have a panel fit for nothing. You will make life very hard for yourself and will probably be disappointed. Stick a picture on the wall and go and build it.
Different Types of Solar Panels
- Thin Film Solar Panels – copper indium diselenide
- Polycrystalline Solar Panels – String Ribbon Silicon
- Polycrystalline Solar Panels – Cast Polysilicon
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