can I easily build my own solar panels for my home?
Is it really possible for me living in Denver to build and install and setup my own solar panel to help make electricity for my home?
It’s possible, but not as easy or cost-effective as the sites selling information suggest.
You can build your own solar panels from individual cells or broken cells. Possibly you would end up with a panel that costs less than a commercial one, but it would not have the UL safety certification, and thus would not legally be allowed to be connected to the grid in any place that I know. So you would have to go with charging a battery, and that alone doubles the cost of the system. It could be a fun and educational thing to do, but would not be a money saver.
You could also build a solar water heater - plans and videos abound on the web. However, Denver gets hard freezes in winter, so you would need to drain your home built system during those months. There are solar water heaters designed to take sustained freezing temperatures, but unless you’re an engineer, that type would be really hard to make.
The site http://www.nlcpr.com/Deceptions6.php has something to say about various scams, including solar.
I honestly don’t know but I have done lots of internet searches and there are several site where you can buy the plans to do this for around $49 and in the blurb it says that the hardware is very cheap to buy too. These are american based sites saying that all the hardware is easily available so why not give it a try though it could all be a con - $49 dollars might be worth a try
References :
Comment by not always confused — July 16, 2009 @ 12:03 am
Go to:
http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q=solar+panel&limit%3Atype%3Aid=on&type%3Aid=on&type%3Auser=on&type%3Acomment=on&type%3Agroup=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&sort=none.
I think you will find this useful.
Regards,
Nic
References :
http://www.instructables.com
Comment by Nicknight2000 — July 16, 2009 @ 12:36 am
Yes it possible and with the right guidance - could be fun project.
I recommend you on "Earth4Energy" guide that contain step by step instructions + great videos (it’s the most popular DIY solar panels guide)
You can read review on this e-book here:
http://recomended-prods.com/earth4energy/review
References :
http://recomended-prods.com/green_energy
Comment by Green N — July 16, 2009 @ 12:57 am
It’s possible, but not as easy or cost-effective as the sites selling information suggest.
You can build your own solar panels from individual cells or broken cells. Possibly you would end up with a panel that costs less than a commercial one, but it would not have the UL safety certification, and thus would not legally be allowed to be connected to the grid in any place that I know. So you would have to go with charging a battery, and that alone doubles the cost of the system. It could be a fun and educational thing to do, but would not be a money saver.
You could also build a solar water heater - plans and videos abound on the web. However, Denver gets hard freezes in winter, so you would need to drain your home built system during those months. There are solar water heaters designed to take sustained freezing temperatures, but unless you’re an engineer, that type would be really hard to make.
The site http://www.nlcpr.com/Deceptions6.php has something to say about various scams, including solar.
References :
Comment by roderick_young — July 16, 2009 @ 1:22 am
Sure you can build your own solar panels, people do it all the time, especially with the efficiency of PV technology accelerating. How much you spend on a system depends on how much work you are willing to do for yourself, and how much and how efficiently you consume power.
You can go all the way from high-end prefab installs that will run about $50 grand to fill the energy needs for an average 3/2 suburban home. You can buy kits and install them yourself, that cuts your price down quite a lot. You can purchase the components and put together a system yourself really cheaply. You can save even more money if you buy stuff used.
You could actually build solar photovoltaic panels yourself, but it is a serious pain in the behind, you will need to use copper sheets and some highschool chemistry and do a lot of experimenting, and even if you do it right you definitly won’t be able to replicate the power output available in manufactured silicone photovoltaic cells. So I say don’t even bother.
To get an idea of what a PV system for your local area might put out, use the PV-WATTS calculator at the government Renewable Resource Data Center. To learn how to build home solar energy systems, there’s a lot of good free information online.
References :
PV-WATTS calculator at http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/version1/
Solar DIY info at http://www.HomePowerCheap.com
Comment by ToddB — July 16, 2009 @ 1:50 am