When you build a solar panel, there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration before you actually start. 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. Most of us, who build our own solar panels to generate electricity for our homes, do it so that we can drastically reduce the expense of actually fitting solar panels as they can be prohibitively expensive.
So once you have decided what size of solar panel you are going to build, the next step is to determine where you can get a cheap supply of 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?
A cheap or even a free source of solar cells is from local businesses who either manufacture products or utilize solar cells on a day to day basis. Find these organizations, contact them and start building rapport. Explain your project goals and the tight budget you are working to, so when they do get damaged solar cells, they will contact you to take them away. The best source of these solar cells are the businesses who put out traffic signs, for example, when repairs are being carried out to roads. The Companies name and telephone number can often be found attached to it somewhere. 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. If you have a good training manual which shows you how to build a solar panel, it won’t take much for you to repair a damaged one.
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. From my experience, if you don’t have this, you build an odd panel for this and an odd panel for that. You will make life very hard for yourself and will probably be disappointed. At the beginning and end of each break ask yourself “is this panel going to turn out how I initially intended?
Different Types of Solar Panels
- Polycrystalline Solar Panels – String Ribbon Silicon
- Satellite Grade Solar Cells
- Thin Film Solar Panels – copper indium diselenide
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