However this can be quite a daunting journey. You have to know many details and speak to many people in order to sieve out the best option for you.

Below are a few tips that can help you cut through the fog and gain some clarity:

1. Determine your budget

It is no surprise that solar panels are rather costly. A complete system for the average household may cost at least $20,000. However this should not deter you from installing PV panels. You can always start with a partial system that costs $12,000, and then put up more panels when you have the budget.

Different brands carry different price tags. Therefore it is important for you to know how much money you can spare for your solar setup. With this information, you (or a solar professional) can work out a plan that benefits you most in the long run.

2. Check if it is worth it

There are different numbers you must find out in order to know if using solar panels electricity is worth it in the first place. The most important of these is the solar intensity at your area.

If the sunshine is not strong enough, your payback period will be extraordinarily long. This means you may only get back the full return of your investment after more than 20 years instead of just 12 or 15 years. Or you may never get it back at all. Careful calculation is necessary to avoid errors in judgment.

The payback period is also determined by your solar panel’s efficiency. Needless to say, the more efficient your hardware is, the faster your payback period. However high efficiency solar panels (that are also of high quality) can be quite expensive. Thus you must have a basic understanding of various solar product and they can benefit you before signing on the dotted line.

3. Work out a plan

With many factors that determine whether installing solar panels at home is a worthwhile pursuit, it is wise to have a plan.

The first step of any good plan is to do a site survey. There are many instruments that can help you with this. A typical tool that many people use is the Solar Pathfinder.

After the site survey is done, you have to find out your energy consumption through different seasons in order to size your solar power system. Then you’ll need to devise a strategy to effectively utilize solar energy in every part of your house.

If all these seems confusing to you, your best bet is to call up a solar professional. Instead of spending time to find out about these details, a professional can educate you, devise an implementation strategy for you and help you coordinate different tasks with various contractors.

Before long, you can be using solar panels electricity for your everyday needs.

Continue Reading:

1. Do-It-Yourself Solar Panels – Electricity Conversion From Sunlight
2. 7 Tips You Can Use When Buying Solar Panels
3. Homemade Solar Panels — Common Mistakes to Take Note Of When Building And Installing Photovoltaic (PV) Panels

Do-It-Yourself Solar Panels Electricity

As you may have realized by now, the (semiconductor) material used is largely responsible for the efficiency of energy conversion — from sunlight to electricity. As scientists discover better semiconductors and better production techniques, photovoltaic cells become cheaper to produce. And as the demand for solar panels increase, economies of scale drives the price of solar cells to the value we know today.

Recently, many hobbyists are getting interested in building for themselves homemade solar panels. This further reduces the cost of introducing a solar power generator into their house. In fact, most of them are able to gather materials from used and broken solar panels to construct fully working (restored) panels at a tenth of the original cost.

However, before you commit to a do-it-yourself solar panel project, you need to consider what you’ll be using it for. Beginners tend to build smaller panels to power their garage lights or garden sprinklers. More experienced enthusiasts often challenge themselves to generate all their household energy needs with several pieces of homemade solar panels installed on rooftops.

If your aspiration is to build a grid-tied or off-grid system for your home, you’ll need to determine the size of your solar energy system needed. Then you’ll know the type and quantity of batteries to buy and what inverters to use. You’ll also need to cater sufficient space in your home to house these electrical items safely.

As many of the DIY solar panels are built from used solar generators, their efficiency may not be as good as off-the-shelf panels fitted with new photovoltaic cells. Therefore it is important to keep the efficiency as high as possible.

This can be achieved by keeping the solar panels as cool as possible. Because efficiency drops as the temperature of photovoltaic cell rises. If your solar panels are installed on the rooftop, you need to ensure sufficient gap between the roof and panels so cool air can pass through to bring away excess heat from the solar panels.

Another way to ensure maximum electricity production is to locate your solar panels at a place with the most sunshine throughout the year. This means the panels should be tilted toward the south (if you’re living in the northern hemisphere) and there should be as little shading as possible.

If your location allows you to generate sufficient energy for your household needs, you’re in luck. With your own set of do-it-yourself solar panels, electricity cost will no longer be a concern as long as the sun is shining for you. You’ll also enjoy shorter payback periods than similar commercial models because DIY solar panels are cheaper.

Continue Reading:

1. About
2. Homemade Solar Panels
3. Solar Panel Efficiency — How Does Dirt on Your Solar Panels Affect The Amount Of Electricity Produced?

There are many energy storage methods commonly used. You’ll see a few here:

1. Thermal mass systems.

This storage method stores solar energy in the form of heat. (This is more applicable for solar heating systems.) Popular mediums include water, earth and stone. These are materials with high specific heat capacities. Well-designed systems allow you to lower peak energy demand and reduce your average heating (or cooling) requirement.

2. Batteries.

Rechargeable batteries are commonly used to store excess electricity generated by solar panels. This is especially important for off-grid power systems. The main issue with this method is with efficiency. Much electrical energy is lost during the charging or discharging cycle.

Electrical charges (in rechargeable batteries) are also dissipated through time. Thus efficiency drops drastically if energy is not consumed within a reasonable amount of time.

3. The power grid.

For grid-tied systems, excess energy is simply sent to the transmission. You are credited for your contribution and this offsets the electricity provided by the grid. Essentially, using the grid can be a simple way to store excess energy produced by PV panels, especially if you are living in urban areas where space is a limitation.

4. Pumped water storage.

This method is best implemented on large-scale solar generators. Excess energy is used to pump water from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. Energy is recovered by releasing the water through a hydroelectric power generator.

Inefficiencies, however, occur when pumping water and generating electricity. If the higher elevation storage reservoir is not covered, evaporation also contributes to the inefficiency.

Some methods are more suitable than others for your home or office. Thus it is advisable for you to consider how you want to implement each (or all) of them by looking at your solar generator system and energy consumption pattern as a whole.

Continue Reading:

1. Home Solar Power – Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Photovoltaic Generators to Power Your Home
2. Home Solar Power — Different Ways of Harnessing Energy From The Sun To Reduce Energy Bills
3. What Are Solar Heaters, How They Work And What They Are Used For

Let’s consider the advantages:

1. Solar energy is everlasting. The sun will shine everyday, at least for the next few million years. Unlike fossil fuel, there is no fear that solar energy will one day run out. If the sun is no longer present, life on Earth ceases anyway. Thus solar power is a very dependable source of energy.

2. Solar energy does not cause air pollution. Burning coal or oil, on the other hand, causes fumes and toxic gases to be released into the atmosphere. Large volumes of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) cause global warming, which is now a topic that concerns every nation in the world. This is due to the devastating effects of global warming.

3. Solar energy does not cause noise pollution. If you are living away from the power grid and have a diesel generator running 24 hours a day, you may be aware of the deep humming noise that never goes away. Those super-silent models provides you temporary relieve before you’re aware of the deep droning noise only after a few days. In contrast, solar panels make no noise at all – not even a little.

4. Solar panels and solar water heaters are maintenance free. They have no moving parts and do not require you to oil their joints. Once installed, they continue to harvest energy from the sun without complaints. All you have to do is give it a spray of water every now and then. This is to make sure dirt and leaves do not stay on the surface to make your solar generators less effective. Try using this method to maintain a diesel generator and you’ll soon have to send it to the mechanic for a complete overhaul.

The main disadvantage about using solar energy is the cost. Also, solar energy is absent at night. However, there are ways to get around these obstacles:

1. You can start by using a solar water heater. You can save a lot on energy bills simply by letting the sun heat up your water instead of using electricity.

2. You can spend time to make a DIY solar panel to begin with if budget is really your concern. Homemade solar panels may not be as pretty but they are at least as functional as commercial ones.

3. During the day, energy gathered from the sun can be stored in battery banks. At night, these storage units provide your house with electricity.

Even though solar energy may seem quite expensive right now, the cost of electricity generated from fossil fuel may one day overtake solar energy costs. Then if you have already installed solar panels and solar heaters on your roof, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of the world pays for their energy needs through their nose.

Continue Reading:

1. Build Amazing Home Solar Power Systems Used by Families Who Don’t Want to Pay For Their Utilities
2. Home Solar Power — Different Ways of Harnessing Energy From The Sun To Reduce Energy Bills
3. What You Need to Know about Solar Water Heaters

After you know where most of your household energy goes to, you are now ready to plan for your system size. For grid-tied system (without batteries and charge controllers), you only need to make sure the inverter you use is large enough to handle the power generated by the solar panels.

If you are thinking of scaling up your system in the future, you can get a bigger inverter so there’s room to handle more power. You can also get an inverter that fits the power output of your current solar panel, and then add another inverter when you bring in more solar panels. Between these two options, it’ll be more cost effective to have a larger specification if you know your plans beforehand.

For solar power generators with batteries, you’ll need a little more planning…

For a start, we’ll look at how to determine the size of your solar array. Here are the steps to do it:

1. Compute the average Watt-Hours (usage) per day

2. Find out the Average Daily Solar Radiation figure for your location

3. Calculate the number of watts you have to generate per hour of solar exposure (divide #1 by #2)

4. With the solar module you have in mind, multiply its power rating by a factor of 0.7. If you are using a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) charge controller, you’ll multiply it by a factor of 0.8 instead.

5. Finally, you get the number of modules needed when you divide #3 (energy you need) by #4 (energy generated by your solar panels)

After you arrive at the number of solar modules you need, you’ll also know how much space is needed on your roof. If there isn’t enough space, choose a more efficient photovoltaic module and do the calculations again. Going over this a few times, you will be able to find the solar module that’s most suitable for you and at the right price.

Continue Reading:

1. Solar Energy Panels For Big “Toys”
2. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 1
3. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 3

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Why do people want to buy a used solar panel? The answer is obvious. Consumers choose to use solar energy for two main reasons – to cut down on energy bills and to preserve the environment. Therefore they want to spend the least money on the panel that gives them the most power output. The best candidates for this criteria are pre-owned photovoltaic panels. It is also environmentally friendly to reuse (or recycle) photovoltaic panels as much as possible.

Pre-owned solar power generators maintain up to 90% of their efficiency as when they were new. This is true even though the panels may be more than 10 years old. This often means you’ll get more wattage output for a lower price tag.

The only disadvantage is that new panels have better aesthetics, are lighter and take up less space. This is due to improved product design and better materials used. Also, the lifespan of used solar panels will obviously not be as long as brand new ones.

Pre-owned panels can be bought on eBay or from an agent. The source of these panels comes mainly from corporations that want to replace their panels with newer, more efficient ones. Others come from residential buildings. Whatever the source is, you’ll have to perform simple checks to make sure you’re not buying a lemon.

Most importantly, you need to be convinced that the used panel you buy is worth the price you pay for. Having this in mind, the cost per watt (for a used panel) has to be at least 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than brand new panels. Otherwise you’ve paid too much. This is a helpful guideline that can help you differentiate between the good buys and the bad ones.

You’ll also need to visually inspect them to see if there are any loose connections or rusted parts that need to be replaced. Remember to check the bypass diode as they are frequently burnt. This is often the reason photovoltaic panels are discarded. Simple faults like this can be immediately rectified with new components and a simple soldering iron.

While shopping, you may also have observed that some used solar cells have turned brown. This is because older cells contain a plastic substrate that becomes tinted after years of exposure to sunlight. However, electricity output is in no way reduced because of this.

If you want to buy used solar panels, the tips above can help you save a lot of money by buying the right panel that can serve you for years.

Continue Reading:

1. Used Solar Panels – How To Use Them To Build Cheap DIY Solar Panels
2. How To Find Used Solar Panels
3. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 2

In many people’s mind, homemade solar panels are often perceived as cheap, fragile or makeshift. This is understandable. Without big brand names behind our handicraft, do-it-yourself solar panels are often misunderstood as temporary setups that may break before the week is over.

What people fail to notice is that photovoltaic cells found inside our solar panels are actually reliable units of solar generators manufactured by corporations that adopt world-class production processes.

The DIY hobbyist simply puts different components together so they form a system that generates enough electrical power to run electrical appliances. The reliability of the system lies largely on the photovoltaic cells.

Although it requires a little knowledge on how to use simple tools and constructing simple electrical circuits, building a homemade solar panel is really one of the simplest DIY projects around.

To build a DIY solar panel, the hobbyist builds a shallow, wooden box that provides structural support to house all the necessary components. He then place the solar cells onto a substrate made of masonite or acrylic before attaching it to the base of the shallow box. After that, he prepares a piece of glass or plexiglass to cover up the box. This provides protection from outdoor elements that can harm the components. If necessary, an inverter is used to convert direct current into alternating current so household appliances can use the electricity.

Those of us who aspire to build a simple homemade solar panel can do so within a weekend even if we have no prior experience making one. This is provided we have basic DIY skills to fabricate simple parts as described above to house the components in.

There are, however, a few pitfalls that can cause our homemade solar panel project to come to a screeching halt. Therefore it is useful to get advice and supervision from other hobbyists who are more experienced. Alternatively, you can also get a reliable guide to show you the steps and pitfalls to building homemade solar panels.

Continue Reading:

1. About
2. Insider Solar Power Generator Review: 3 Most Common Mistakes Hobbyists Make on Their First DIY Solar Panel Project
3. Build Amazing Home Solar Power Systems Used by Families Who Don’t Want to Pay For Their Utilities