Build Your Own Solar Power Panels - Make at Home Do it Yourself Electricity
Building solar panels you need to use common hand tools and inexpensive and easy to acquire materials to build a solar panel that rivals commercial panels in power.
To start building your solar panels you need to purchase Solar Cells and this information is readily available on the internet.
Solar cells are obviously the most important part and the best place is to search eBay for your solar cells.
It is a good idea to get complete cells for your first project, complete solar cells refer to the tabbing wire already soldered onto the cells. You pay extra but save time when you start to build.
A common sale from ebay is around 73 of 3 X 6 mono-crystalline solar cells but it only takes a total of 36 - 3 X 6 mono-crystalline solar cells wired in series to make a panel.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
How to connect or use Solar Power Panels?
My family moved into a house that came with solar power panels but they are not connected and don't really understand how to even begin.-
ANSWER:
You will need help with this. Panels may or may not be 24 volt. If you can find a name tag, you can find out from the manufacturer's web site. Some folks hook them all in parallel. Mine are in series, to create 480 volts. the reason for going to higher voltage is to reduce power loss in the wiring. Even then, I used a wire size larger than recommended.The frames want to be interconnected, and wired to ground. The live conductors connect through disconnect switches to an inverter. The inverter is sized to the output of the panels. Where the utility allows net metering, the inverters are connected through a disconnect switch to the grid, which of course also feeds the house. Assuming you are on the grid, you will not need batteries. If outages severely impact you, you can have batteries. Counting against them is that they are costly, and use part of the power you generate, just to keep them charged. If you have batteries, it is usually best to rewire circuits so noncritical circuits are disconnected during outages. Leaving perhaps minimal lighting, fridge, freezer and critical medical circuits.
Learn all you can from the Internet (try solar panels), and from the green search box above.
Be sure to see if your state has a rebate program, and the conditions which it requires.
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QUESTION:
What brands of solar power panels I can trust?
I am very interested in installing solar panels at my home, so I wanted to check other people's experiences and recommendations. Thank you!!-
ANSWER:
Stay away from the cheap Chinese made panels. They only last about 5 yrs. and don't produce the watts they are rated for.Otherwise, any of the major name brands are about equal quality. Just decide which composition type you prefer for the cell itself.
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QUESTION:
How Many batteries and solar panels would it take to power an RV?
I want to Make my RV green, But i also want it to be able to power a laptop an xbox360 and an HDTV all at the same time (not while driving). So i really need some high powered solar panels and batteries, also what can i do to cut down on energy cost.-
ANSWER:
First of all, because you want to run your 110 volt systems off your batteries you will need to make sure you have a big enough inverter (2500 or bigger). You will need to disconnect your existing converter because you can't have both connected at the same time. It is very important you find someone well qualified to install the inverter because it requires major electrical reconfiguring of your 110 and 12 volt systems.Preferable, you should get 3, 95 watt (or larger) solar panels and a good digital controller, as well as 6 to 8, deep cycle 6 volt batteries.
Keep in mind, regardless of what system you decide to install it is going to require that you understand battery management. You need to understand that you can easily drain your batteries faster than you solar panels can charge them. And if your batteries get drained it takes 3 full days to completely recharge them.
If you have more questions you can check out my website.
Solar Panels Page...
http://www.money-saving-rv-repair.com/rv-solar-panels.htmlBatteries Page...
http://www.money-saving-rv-repair.com/rv-batteries.htmlIf all your questions still aren't answered I have a Q&A feature similar to this one where you can ask me your question directly and its totally free.
http://www.money-saving-rv-repair.com/rv-question.html
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QUESTION:
What are the drawbacks to using wind turbines or solar panels for providing all power to a home?
What are the drawbacks to using wind turbines or solar panels for providing all power to a home?A. The wind and sun are not constant, so there would be times when no electricity would be generated.
B. The wind and sun are constant, so there would be plenty of electricity for the home.
C. Wind and solar power are inefficient and too expensive to use and maintain.
D. Wind and solar power are efficient, but they are not able to produce enough electricity for a single home.-
ANSWER:
again trying to help..again thnx 4 the previous.........
nothing else............but A.
NO COMMENTS ON THE OTHER OPTIONS....
except these there is another drawback.......its when your brother breaks the solar panel after quarrel with you......then no electricity will b produced.............hope this funny answer u liked........its just to make yahhooooooooooo answer FUNNNNN............
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QUESTION:
How many solar power panels would i need to power my whole house?
my power bill is bout 0 a month
i was looking at this ad in the paper and these solar panels was 190W each, i forgot the price but just wondering how many 190W panels would i need-
ANSWER:
Rough figure;
Estimate Your energy use: 0 2 25Cents/KWH = 2000 KWH/Mo.Estimate panels requ'd @ 150W/Pnl. & 20 'Good sun' days/Mo., and 6 good sun Hr.s/day
you'd about 120 panels, and appropriate storage batteries & inverter.
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