Solar panels for your home are a great way to cut the cost of a high electric bill. If you have been thinking of going to solar power you have found that having the panels installed is very expensive, $35,000 and up. Common people (not rich) have found that you can build them yourself much cheaper. All you need is the right information to get started.
History of solar panels
Photovoltaic technology was first introduced in 1839. However, the first solar panel was not invented until 1883 by Charles Fritz. Fritz used a thin layer of gold to cover the semiconductor selenium to form the junction. This cell was only one percent effective. The solar panel cells we use today were invented in 1954.
Solar applications
You must first choose if you want to power you entire house with solar panels for your home or just a few major appliances. Some people use solar energy for heat and air or hot water only. Depending on what you decide to run with your solar power will determine how many kilowatts your panels will have to produce.
The next decision you must make is whether you will be on the grid or not. This simply means whether or not you will stay connected to a power company. If you stay connected to the power company, you will still have an electric bill it will just be drastically reduced. However, you will not have to purchase storage devices or have reduced power on cloudy days and at night.
Off grid means, you will be totally self sufficient, the only power you will have is what you generate yourself. This can be very freeing until you realize that the only place you can really achieve this is the extreme southwest United States.
Solar cells
A solar cell is a device that changes sunlight into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. You can build your own cell with many complicated steps. You will have to use things like Titanium Dioxide, electrolytes and metals. The result will work but the power produced will be very small. Your best bet is to purchase the latest cell technology and assemble the rest of the solar panel.
Building your first panel
First create your box or panel, the size and configuration will be largely determined by the above figures, if you only need one panel to power your air in the summer the size will be much different from what you need for an entire home. Basically, it should be solid wood bottom, 1.5 inch rails for the side and possible the middle of a large panel.
Once you have determined the size and number of panels you will need you must build an array. This is simply several solar cells linked together with tabs. You must be very careful with your solar cells as they are rather fragile.
Place them upside down on a ready made pattern or jig, quarter-inch plywood is sufficient, and solder the tabs to each cell (cells commonly come with the tabs you need). Once the tabs are in place, you can solder each tab to the next cell, creating a panel of cells. Flip them carefully for placement in the solar panel.
The biggest problem with homemade solar panels is moisture getting inside the unit and degrading connections or cells. To prevent this you can use a layer of foam tape available at any hardware store around the edges, and then affix your Plexiglas over this with a screw every six inches.
This is a very basic outline for the procedure. To be completely successful you may need battery storage and regulators as well as an assessment of the best placement for your panels. You will also need to add a junction box and some other key components, but this is a basic outline for creating solar panels for your home.
There is a revolution taking place when it comes to creating and using power, and it is important to understand this revolution so that you may be a part of it. Currently, most of the nation's power comes from coal and natural gas powered plants, as well as oil and other imported methods of creating electricity and power. However, the solar panel revolution has begun, bringing new and green ways of providing power to the masses.
Solar panels have been around for many years. At first, they were the work of science fiction writers who believed that the sun was a very valuable resource. As time went on, solar panel technology was developed in small ways, such as solar powered calculators, and other small trinkets that could run on solar power. As these small items began to become more and more successful, the same technology was applied to larger solar panels, which could, in theory, power entire homes, and buildings.
Today, solar panels are almost a common sight in any major city, and are becoming more and more common even in smaller towns. Many times, a family or business owner will install a couple of solar panels on their home or business, which will allow that building to gather and use solar energy. When only a few panels are used, the solar power is often used alongside other, more traditional methods of gathering power. However, when many solar panels are used, much more power can be produced, and a building can run entirely on solar power.
Solar panels are made of a material that draws in solar energy – but more importantly, is able to gather it and harness it. Everything on the Earth that is in the path of the sun can draw in solar energy, because the sun's rays hit everything that is not covered by something else. However, solar panels have photovoltaic modules, which use solar cells in order to covert the sunlight into electricity that can then be used to power a building.
It takes many photovoltaic modules and solar cells to covert enough of the light into electricity in order to power a home or building. Therefore, solar panels are usually very large, sometimes covering entire roofs of buildings in order to gather enough of the energy to be converted into power for the building to use. Most of the time, the conversion of light into power takes place right in the solar panels themselves, so the energy can be immediately used by the building in question.
One of the major questions that is always brought to light regarding a solar panel is whether a person using one can get electricity after the sun has set. In fact, solar electricity is just like electricity that comes from another source. It is created during the daytime when the sun is out, and it is used at that time. However, much more power and energy is created than could be used during the day, so the excess energy and power is stored within the panels for use all around the clock. Therefore, as long as your building has the proper size of solar panel, it can have electricity all through the day and night.
Depending on the amount of space used for solar panels, it might be possible for you to go entirely off the grid, meaning that you won't even be using any of the electricity that your city offers to you. Not only will this mean no electric bills from the city, but it also will mean that you can safely say you are doing your part to help the planet by not using electricity that is made in a harmful way. Also, if you are able to make more than enough power for your own home or business, there is a possibility that you can even sell the excess electricity that you make back to the electric company, so you could even turn a profit simply by using solar panels on your home or business.
Solar panels are easy to install, as well. All you need is the solar panel itself, along with the right materials to get it up and running. Because they can be purchased in an affordable way, you and everyone else like you can start to use solar panels to produce your own electricity. It is excellent for the environment and great for your pocketbook as well.
