Solar Energy

DIY Solar Panels - Build Your Own Homemade Solar Panels & Save the Environment Now

2010-05-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

Are Homemade Solar Panels Possible, Economical, and Useful?

With energy prices rising steadily over the last few decades and no reason to think they'll fall anytime soon, many homeowners are exploring the option of powering their homes with renewable, or "green", power systems. The two most common home green energy systems are wind turbines and solar panels. Of these two, solar energy panels have emerged as the most popular, due to their solid-state nature - meaning that with fewer moving parts, they require less maintenance over the years.

Unfortunately, installing a solar power system in your home can be prohibitively expensive. Having pre-made solar power panels professionally installed costs at least $3000 - and the price tag only rises quickly from there. To reduce this huge cost, many homeowners are exploring the possibility of building and installing their own homemade solar panels. You may be one of them.

If so, you probably have a lot of questions. Can the average person really build a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solar power system in their garage or basement? If they could, would it really be significantly cheaper than having it professionally installed? And finally, would homemade solar panels provide enough electricity to be worth all the time and effort? This article will seek to answer these questions.

What Are the Benefits of a Home Solar Power System?

o You can reduce or even eliminate your power bill.
o If you generate surplus electricity, you can sell it to your local power company.
o You can increase the property value of your home.
o You can get tax deductions for using eco-friendly home power systems.
o You no longer have to worry about power outages.
o You help protect the environment - solar energy produces no greenhouse gasses.

What Are the Benefits of Building Homemade Solar Panels?

o Money. Over half of a contractor's installation fee is time and labor. If you provide this yourself, you can drastically reduce the cost of building and installing your own home solar power system.

o Time. You can build your homemade solar panels in stages, adding new panels and producing more electricity at your own pace.

o Education. By building a home solar power system yourself, you'll learn how solar electrical technology works. You'll be able to perform your own maintenance and repairs, further reducing your costs.

Where Can I Find the Materials to Build a Homemade Solar Panel?

Almost all the materials you'll need to build a DIY solar panel (such as copper wire, plywood, glass, silicone, etc.) can be found at either your local hardware store (such as Home Depot) or electronics store (such as Radio Shack). The same goes for the tools and equipment you'll need to build your homemade solar panels. Any tool you don't already have in your garage or basement (such as a voltage meter), you can buy at your local hardware or electronics store.

The lone exception to this rule is the photovoltaic solar cells that you'll need to build together into DIY solar power panels. Unless you live in a very large city with a specialized solar hardware store, you'll probably need to order these online or you can make it on your own.

Where Should I Place My Homemade Solar Panels?

The two most common places to put DIY solar panels are either on the roof of your house, or on the ground in your yard.

The roof has emerged as the most popular location for two reasons. First, in order to convert sunlight into electricity, solar energy panels need a direct line-of-sight between them and the sun. Trees, other buildings, or any other obstacle that provides shade or otherwise gets in the way will block the sun from your homemade solar panels. The easiest way to solve this problem is to raise the solar power panels up higher than the obstacles. To do that, of course, you should place the DIY solar panels on the roof.

Second, solar energy panels are big, and take up a lot of space. Furthermore, you will probably need more than one to power your entire home. If you mount your homemade solar panels on the ground, you may quickly fill your entire yard. Mounting DIY solar panels in the roof instead has the advantage of keeping them out of the way and freeing up your yard.

Ground-mounted solar power panels, however, do have one big advantage: accessibility. It is much easier and safer to walk out into your yard than on the roof of your house to perform maintenance and repairs to your homemade solar panels. If you live in a part of the country where there are few trees, such as the Great Plains or the Southwest, and if you own enough property (like a farm) to mount several DIY solar panels and have room to spare, perhaps ground-mounted solar energy panels are the way to go.

What Direction Should I Point My Homemade Solar Panels?

Placing your DIY solar panels perfectly flat, facing straight up, is the best option. This way, no matter where the sun is in the sky or at what angle, sunlight is still hitting the solar panel somewhere. Unfortunately, however, many homes have angled roofs instead of flat, making the "pointing straight up" option impractical. In this case, mount your DIY solar panels on the south-facing side of your roof to collect the most sunlight. In the continental United States, the sun is in the southern part of the sky for the most part.

How Can I Build Homemade Solar Panels?

The answer to that question goes way beyond the scope of this brief article. What we can do, however, is point you in the right direction. The easiest and most efficient route for you to go is to buy a step-by-step instruction manual on how to build DIY solar panels from one of the many websites that sell them. These are usually $50 or less, and well worth the money.

Not all instruction manuals for DIY solar power panels are equal, however. Here are some things to look for when shopping online for a good instruction manual:

o Clear, Step-by-Step Instructions (instead of just overviews)
o Simple, Plain English (instead of confusing technical terms and slang)
o Multiple, Clear Illustrations (instead of just text)
o Demonstration Videos (although not necessary, they are very, very helpful)
o Shopping Tips (for solar cells, deep-cycles batteries, and other hard-to-find items)
o Good Reviews (from past customers)
o Price (more than $60 is too much)

If you can find a high-quality manual, you will start enjoying the benefits of DIY solar panels within 2 weeks, because the manual should be able to teach you to build homemade solar energy panels in just a weekend.

If you've enjoyed all the exciting information you read here about Homemade Solar Panels, you'll love everything else you find at DIY Solar Panels.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Evans_D._Smith

Click Here To Check Out The Top 5 Do It Yourself Solar Guides Product Reviews

Home Solar Energy Guide

2010-04-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

All The Components You Need For Your Complete Solar Power Solution

If you have not yet started your solar energy conversion project yet, then this is a great article that will explain the entire process for you step by step.

When beginning a solar energy do it yourself (DIY) home conversions project, one question many people have before they start is: What will I need to complete the conversion?

Of course before you start with anything, you should get a good DIY solar guide, and you’ll be walked step by step through the process of setting up your solar energy solution. Aside from that though, let’s cover the basics of what you’ll need to go solar!

There are 7 main components you’ll need when wiring up a solar energy solution for your home. It should be noted here that we’re talking about converting a home, and not just creating portable solar energy solution (in which case you’ll only need 4 components).

Before you install your home energy solution, you’ll need the following components. These are listed in the order they will be wired into your solar energy system.

1. Solar Panels – In most DIY applications these will be built by you. You order discount photovoltaic cells, and assemble those into 50W, 75W, or 100W Panels.

2. Array DC Disconnect – This simple device is basically just a switch. It allows you to cut the DC power from your solar panels should system maintenance be required. If you shop around you’ll likely pay less than $25 for this component.

3. Charge Controller – Most home systems will be built with a battery backup. The charge controller ensures that a consistent amount of power is sent to the batteries, and that the batteries don’t discharge at night. Again, if you shop around for this component, it won’t be a large expense.

4. Deep Cycle Batteries – To store the power from your solar panels, you will need deep cycle batteries. If you find reconditioned batteries, these can be obtained for fairly cheap. Better yet, you can get old batteries for free and recondition them yourself.

5. System Meter – This component is actually optional, but it is suggested so that you have a clear way to see how much power is being fed into your home from the solar panels.

6. Converter – Since your solar panels produce DC power, and your home runs on AC power, the converter makes the solar energy usable by your home. A 1500W converter likely won’t cost you more than $50.

7. Backup Power – Most systems will also include some sort of backup power. In an off grid application this would generally be a generator. In a city or town, the power grid itself provides the backup.

From there the system gets wired into your home breaker box. At this stage, unless you are qualified, you might consider getting a qualified electrician to install the system. At any rate, you now have an idea of what will be needed to get your home running on solar energy.

If you haven’t done so yet, you should also consider downloading a copy of one of the top guides to teach solar panel DIY. Doing so will ensure you have all of the information you need to get the conversion finished right – the first time!

Currently one of the best DIY guides available at a reasonable price that does an excellent job of explaining and walking you through the entire process is a company by the name of Green Power Easy. below is a short video that shows you an insides look at what you get when you purchase a DIY Guide through Green Power Easy

Converting your home now to reduce or completely eliminate your current electric bill really is a great way to save money while at the same time helping to reduce the need for less efficient sources of energy which are depleting our natural resources and contributing to global warming.

Click here to See The Top 5 DIY Solar Energy Product Reviews

Click on the link below to learn more and see how you can get your copy today

Green Power Easy DIY Guide

Solar Energy Advantages

2010-04-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Watch and see how quick and easy it can be to install your own solar panels and reduce your electric bill

Here is a list of some of the many solar energy advantages that you can enjoy as a result of using solar energy :

· Solar energy can be used to heat water, dry clothes, heat swimming pools, power attic fans, power small appliances, produce light for both indoors and outdoors, and even to power cars, among other things.

· Solar energy is a renewable resource

· Solar energy will not pollute our air with carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases and bad emissions.

· When you use solar energy, you are making you and your home independent. You do not need to depend on foreign or other sources of energy which can raise their costs quickly.

· energy from the sun is free.

· Solar energy systems require very little maintenance and will last for a long time.

To learn how you can start enjoying all of these benefits

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