Feb

When You Build A Solar Panel – What Are The Snags To Avoid?

Don’t be too quick to start to build a solar panel, because before you start; there are a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of. Once you know what you are doing it is a fairly straight forward process, building your own solar panel. What you need is the correct tools, the right products and a good training manual.

However, before all that it is important to understand what it is you want to end up with. 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.

Obviously, the main difference between building a 100 watt panel and a 1000 watt panel is the number of solar cells you need and the time to build it. The main reason for many people wanting to make their own solar electricity is that they can save on the cost of having to actually by them because they are very 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. The first port of call for me is eBay, sometimes you can get lucky and find someone who is selling a pile of solar cells at a very good price. The only problem with this is that if you can’t find the specific size and quantity of solar cells, what do you do then?

One very good option for you is to research businesses near to where you live and find the ones which use solar cells in the electrical products they use 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. One of the major users of solar cells are the road and traffic signs, often you see them on the side of the road, and often they will have the company’s contact details on them. These signs get damaged on a regular basis and have to be repaired.

If the solar panel is damaged they will throw the old panel away replace it with a new one. The good news is that it is normally very easy to repair a chipped or damaged solar cell, if you know how to build a solar panel, you can easily repair a solar cell.

The biggest challenge for most “solar panel builders” is finding a reliable, low cost source of solar cells so pick your telephone directory and start looking for those companies now.

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. Having worked on many projects, you can learn from my experience, if you don’t do it you will have a panel fit for nothing. You just end up with disorganized chaos. Know what you want and go and build it.

Different Types of Solar Panels