DIY Solar Panel Kits

Just looking at this kit on Amazon http://rds.yahoo.com/**https%3a//www.amazon.com/dp/B000CIADLG?tag=35mmslidescan-21 and not sure if it would work on a boat. Do you think these panels can withstand damp conditions and possibly seawater?

Amorphous panels are slightly more shade tolerant than silicon panels, so sailboaters do like to use them (hard to find shade free with the sails), but as Roderick said, they do lose some power over a number of years, then tend to settle into the lower power.

We sell a ton of Kyocera Polycrystalline panels to boaters, http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar-Panels/51-to-99-Watt-Solar-Panels/Kyocera-KC65T-65W-12V-Solar-Panel-with-J-Box/p724/, one 65W panel may be easier to install than four 15W panels. I don’t like to talk badly about other people’s products, but their charge controller is well known to not be good quality, I’ve replaced a lot of them for customers, so plan on adding another $50 to the kit.

I have seen DIY software which explains everything for novices. Specifically, how to build your own solar panels and tie them into your home electrical system for about $100 in parts.

Has anyone tried doing this? Was it easy?

The local codes in most areas in the US won’t allow you to install a homemade solar panel on your house, it needs to be UL listed. Don’t believe all of those bogus sites that promise you can power your house for $200, you can’t. Also, besides the solar panel, you also need an approved inverter to convert the DC power from the solar panels to AC that your appliances need.

Factory built solar panels are generally guarantied for 20 - 25 years, with a life expectancy of twice that. You will never get that life from a homemade panel.

To save money on a solar installation, you may be able to install at least part of it yourself, but the equipment needs to be UL listed or equivalent.

You can see an example of a very small grid-tied electric system here. You can see that the solar panel is just one component. http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Grid-Tied-Systems/Alt-E-Designed-Grid-Tie-Packages/AltE-Grid-Tied-Package-Micro1/p5642/ The output of this system will be very small, but it is a staring point.

You should consider solar water heating as a way to save on your energy bills. Heating your water accounts for about 25% of your energy use. If you can cut that by 75%, you will save a lot of money. Depending on where you are and how many are in your household, it may cost about $5000 for a do-it-yourself installation. There are tax incentives available that could potentially pay for as much as half of the system. These systems can pay for them selves in as little as 4 - 5 years.

I have just made my first dolar panel 120 watts, charges my 27TMX Trojan battery perfectly. Now I am thinking to build more solar panels for a grid tie installation at my house, maybe 15 panels would do it, is this safe?

Congratulations on your solar panel. It takes a lot of work to construct one.

Tying to the electric grid requires permission from your power company, and conformance to local building codes. This generally means compliance with the National Electrical Code (NEC), meaning your panels must be UL (or similar rating from another standard) listed, for fire and electrical safety reasons. Homemade panels won’t qualify, unfortunately.

I really would discourage you from trying to do a jungle installation without permission, as the power distribution in a house is nothing to be trifled with. That would also likely void your homeowner’s insurance, and give the bank a reason to call your mortgage, if you have these.

So I’ve finally decided I want to try and build my own solar panels to power some high energy consuming appliances in my house. If possible I’ll like to make my own solar panels or wind turbine to help contribute to a green environment. This will be a comletely home made solar power to generate electricity and help cut down my energy bills.

So basically what I’m looking for is a product that will guide me through the process of making my own solar panels or wind turbine to generate power for my home. It should have easy to follow intructions. Any personal recommemdations will be very much appreciated.

hi, i have search a link that it think can help you.. just check it out and feel free to ask again..

Windmills are very affordable and easy to make.

Wind power is very popular nowadays. People have come to realize that utilizing this type of power is no different than using the conventional ones. Windmills as they are commonly known, are as efficient as solar power when it comes to power generation. They are very affordable and eco-friendly. You can even build one yourself. Wind Power is slowly changing the power trend today. Most homes are already switching to this kind of power generators and even some businesses are contemplating with the idea of running their business using windmills as the source of power. How convenient it is to consume electricity which is generated for free.

I can’t seem to remember the title of this game since it was made around the time Star Craft came about (give-or-take 1-2 years), but I do remember how it looked. It had 3 races - blue humans, red humans, and black aliens (yeah, something close to Star Craft). There are numerous land (and air?) units to battle, but the strongest of all are the robots each race can build. Now (and this is the cool part), you can choose what kind of parts your robot can have - a normal arm or one with a katana; a normal head or with mortar/missiles shooting out, etc. (I think it came with it’s own research for some of them). And if any robots get destroyed, there’s a chance parts would fall out of them that can be picked up by the working drones (gravity rays) and brought back to the building platform where the robots are made. That part can be used for the next robot AND if it’s a new part than it’ll be left on the data base for future creations. Another thing, you can build solar panels to take and use the sun’s rays as energy. Well, that’s about as much as I can remember

if this was a board game, ask at www.boardgamegeek.com, and if it was a video game ask in the video game category. someone there may know the game.

Hi!
I actually asked the same question a while ago.
Someone showed me http://www.buildsolarpowerkits.com and there is some good info there about building your own solar power system. I actually built a solar power system just recently and it is so nice to be a bit more self sustaining.
My props go to the website.

good luck!

DIY, Cleaner ENERGY- Solar construction

It’s not that easy. Making electricity from light requires high quality crystals. All you can hope to do is convert the light to heat and try to convert that heat into electricity. It’s not practical for the typical do it yourself project.

I have seen a lot of DIY information on making your own solar panels. I have even purchased a couple of them. However, they have not been very helpful in the fact that they either call for buying tons of broken peices and putting them together, or buying each cell and building the frame, and wiring it together. I have a 14′X60′ Mobile home with the flat roof on it. It is in full sunlight 3/4 of every day. I am looking for an inexpensive way to build my own solar panel using the entire roof. I am not looking for the most efficient, because I have plenty of size to work with. I do not have a lot of electrical needs. I am on some medical machines though, if it werent for them I would probably just let the electric go and buy a propane fridge and stove and call it good. I do not want to spend a bunch of money on books either so please no advertisements on where to buy books on this subject. I have very little resources in the way of money or else I would just pay the electric bill, my electric company is 1/4 renewable energy anyway. So if anyone knows of a way to build this, or knows where I can get a book or website for free. please let me know. Thank you,
I have most of what I need. I have the inverter, the regulator and the wiring, what I do not have is the know how on how they built the first ones. I have seen some info. on the web. But not enough to even get me started. I am looking for how they made them back in the 50’s and 60’s when it took massive amounts of space. Because space I have, money I do not. Back then the parts would have costed a lot, but I am betting the parts are pretty cheap by todays standards since they would not be used for solar panels. They came up with the crystals sometime in the 60’s if my memory serves me. I am looking for instructions for the ones before that. I know I can not get more than an 8% yeild, but since I have the room to use, why not use it, if I can get the parts cheap enough to make it doable?

Other than the suggestion of buying surplus/used units that people are removing to get better efficiency - and I would think cities/towns might be more reliable in this area unless you make contact with a reliable club or group in your area (shipping being a factor)
The simple fact is that you are talking a huge area and the cost of solar cells has not come down that much and the labor in assembling the bits and pieces is still fairly high. The high early cost was the very costly equipment and its problems in making pure silicon disks - and there is no way you can do that part economically.

Especially something not to noisy and prefferably smallish and mounts on your roof. I am 2stories up.

As so often, it depends what you want to do with it…
It all has to do with efficiency or conversion loss (depends whether you are an optimist or pessimist).
And your location also plays an important role.
Wind turbines are only useful if they are mounted approx. 30 - 50 feet above ground, and there are not many trees and buildings around. And to make it wothwhile, they have to be somewhat bigger than what typical DYI stores sell. This gets you into another problem: In some residential areas, you may actually need a planning permission for it!
If you only want to get "cheap" hot water, then go for heat panels on your roof. Cold water is pumped up, heats up, and is forced back down into a tank with a heat exchanger. The electricity bill for the pump is lower than for the heating element in a conventional water heater.
If you use electric solar panels, use the following rough formula: For every 5 Watt of power, you need about one square foot of panel (at today’s technology). You see, even if you’d cover your entire roof with that stuff, you won’t get enough power to run your entire residence. And try to avoid using things like an inverter (not "inventor", ha-ha), because it reduces your efficiency, and often doesn’t give a pure sinewave as output, thus screwing-up some of your electronics in the house. Start with running a few lights on 12 Volt DC instead of 110 or 220 Volt AC, or small fridges meant for RVs, and things like that.
In any case, expect your initial investment cost only to amortised after 10 - 15 years! But you feel good……

I have seen a lot of DIY information on making your own solar panels. I have even purchased a couple of them. However, they have not been very helpful in the fact that they either call for buying tons of broken peices and putting them together, or buying each cell and building the frame, and wiring it together. I have a 14′X60′ Mobile home with the flat roof on it. It is in full sunlight 3/4 of every day. I am looking for an inexpensive way to build my own solar panel using the entire roof. I am not looking for the most efficient, because I have plenty of size to work with. I do not have a lot of electrical needs. I am on some medical machines though, if it werent for them I would probably just let the electric go and buy a propane fridge and stove and call it good. I do not want to spend a bunch of money on books either so please no advertisements on where to buy books on this subject. I have very little resources in the way of money or else I would just pay the electric bill, my electric company is 1/4 renewable energy anyway. So if anyone knows of a way to build this, or knows where I can get a book or website for free. please let me know. Thank you,
I guess I should have put this in to begin with. I already have the regulators, the inverter and the batteries. I use to have a wind and solar hybrid power plant in Montana when I was 6 miles from the nearest utility pole. I moved to Oregon, and I still have the wind generator, which does little good where I live, it would sit up there for days before I got enough wind to produce enough electricity to run a light bulb for a few minutes. What I do not have is the solar panels. I know the new ones use crystals and a lot of things you can not get readily, what I do not know is how they made the older ones before the crystals, back in the 50’s when all this started out. They were only 6 to 8% efficient. (in most cases less) but the materials for them must be available somewhere relatively cheap, and since I have a large area to put it in. I would rather try to save a few dollars, and use the entire roof. I also have the wiring I would need as well I just need to find out how it was done

Instead of trying to make your own solar panels from old parts that may or may not work I would suggest you look for applications where solar panels are presently used on a temporary basis and then not recycled. Consider some place where a battery needs to be kept charged while being shipped and then not afterwords.

Alternatively you should be looking for overstocked or out of date units. None of this may be easy to find. You will be paying in effort what you don’t pay out of your pocket.

If you can’t come up with any possibilities then send me an email.