How To Build A Solar Panel

For those of you considering renewable energy for your home the option of learning how to build a solar panel should be considered.
The main reason of course is price, compared to a cost of perhaps $3 per watt for manufactured solar panels you can build your own for under $1 per watt. When you factor in that you will need 3000 watts of power production at least to run your home that is a minimum savings of over $6000 - right in your pocket. That is a substantial sum to any family considering this option, money that could be better spent for other purposes, inverters, wiring, batteries or any number of items for your household energy system.

Saving money has become a bit of an obsession for us here at AlphaSolar, but saving a couple bucks at the expense of hundreds of hours of work is not something we usually consider. But, that is not the case here.
Let's examine some of the main point before getting started.
you will need good plans for how to build a solar panel

• any spare room or garage is suitable for a work space
• find a good helper
• a good workbench or sheet of plywood works best for a work area
• only simple tools and easy to find parts are needed

Let's get started.
The first item you will need to find are solar cells. We have always used ones that are not tabbed, but recently pretabbed solar cells are coming onto the market thus saving a ton of time.
Next you will need a backer board made of plywood or plexiglass (the plexiglass is also used to cover the front)
Wiring is done with simple soldering. And don't worry it is a very simple process to learn. A pencil type soldering iron with a holder is very inexpensive and works best.
The process is easy to learn and we now have it down to almost an hour of actual construction time to build one panel.
Throughout the process we took video of each step with narration. It all accompanies the detailed plans we have prepared.
It will take you longer to read how to do this and watch the videos than it will to actually learn how to build a solar panel.
Once you understand the process you can keep producing more and more panels for your home. It makes a great project for saturdays, one panel per week and you will soon have enough to power your home.
You can learn more about this process by signing up for our newsletter below. We will direct you to where you can order the detailed plans and video in the newsletter. Remember to confirm your email address after you sign up. Learning how to build a solar panel is not difficult once you have the right set of plans.

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