How to MAKE PV Solar Panels

I’ve wanted to acquire some solar panels for a very long time. I just couldn’t free up enough money to purchase a “Ready Made” panel. Or maybe it just wasn’t a high enough priority for me!

Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200

Anyway, I’ve got a bunch of little projects that I thought would be really useful around my little farm if I could use an “off grid” power source. (that’s a fancy way of saying “Solar Panel”)

Well I found out it’s not very difficult to build my own solar panel! It might not look quite as polished as a store bought panel, but as long as it puts out a usable voltage, who cares?

Here are the steps to assemble a real working solar panel.

Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200

· Acquire the parts to be assembled.

a. Solar Cells.
b. Plywood backing.
c. Boards for frame.
d. Plexiglas for front (cover)
e. Tabbing wire.
f. Solder.
g. Soldering iron.
h. Rosin flux pen.
i. Silicone.

· Determine size and configuration of solar panel.
· Solder solar cells together using tabbing wire. Neg to Pos…
· Build frame with boards and attach to plywood backing.
· Glue connected solar cells to plywood using silicone.
· Run Negative and Positive lead wires out the back of panel.
· Attach Plexiglas front to frame with screws.

Believe it or not, that’s all there is to it! I know I kinda glossed over it pretty quick and didn’t go over every little detail, but I just wanted to give you an overview so you could see that it’s not that hard to do!

Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200