The Basics of Solar Panel Construction

The Basics of Solar Panel Construction

by Brian Bradley

Instructions that are readily available for constructing solar panels often lead one to believe it is much more difficult than it really is.

The process is actually *easier* than you think – and if you do it properly, solar panel construction is quite straightforward.

I will give you a brief overview and show you how simple the process is:

1. Firstly, you have to make it clear in your mind that whether you are at all interested to create a solar panel of your own because they are easily obtainable from your neighbors or from hardware shops or even from the highway patrol. Therefore, make sure that you actually need to create your own solar panels first.

2. If you want to do it anyway, here’s the quick-start guide:

First of all, you might be enthusiastic to replace your electric bills with your own DIY solar panels; but my suggestion to you is that don’t venture this at your first project.

You should start from a small project in the beginning and then expand on your work. Try to make a 40 or 50-cell solar panel at first phase, observe how it works and then follow through towards the bigger one accordingly.

Lets get started with your first solar panel project:

To begin with, get the needed supplies together. You need 40 or 50 solar cells, which can probably be obtained on Ebay, some plywood (You can have it precut if necessary.)You also need solder, a rosin flux pen, and tabbing wire.

Next, place the solar cells face-down in series, and apply a tiny amount of solder on every tab.

After that, you are required to wire these cells together in such a way that if wire passes from the back of one cell the other end of the wire should pass to the front of another cell. In this manner you need to connect all the cells.

Then, connect each row of solar cells together in parallel form, and attach the cells to the wood using silicone.

And in the end, at the bottom of the plywood, drill holes to pass the positive and negative wires from the solar cells. These wires are then to be connected to the inverter at first and then to the power box on your house.

This last step is rather important and sometimes can be a little daunting. You might want to solicit the help of an expert for this one the first time. An electrician or the electric company can provide assistance.

This is a very quick overview, but you get the basic idea from this article. Making your own solar panels is not difficult; the most tedious part of this whole process is wiring the solar cells together, and youll get better at it each time you do it.

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Posted in Alternative energy on Jun 15th, 2009, 8:53 am by Brian Bradley   

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