How to Make Solar Power Panels

Solar electricity is an environmentally-friendly way to cut costs around the house. Some intrepid DIY fans, want to do everything themselves, while others may have ambitious plans that cannot be met with off-the-shelf solar cells. Plans like these require assembling a homemade solar panel. Using factory-built solar cells, plexiglass, and a handful of common materials, a working solar panel can be built in 1 or 2 days.

Things You'll Need

• At least 36 mono-crystal solar cells
• Paper
• Pen
• 3/8 inch thick plywood
• Sawhorses
• Hand saw
• Hammer
• Nails
• Scrap lumber
• Drill
• Masonite peg board
• Primer
• Paint
• Brush
• Wood glue
• Screws
• Washers
• Screwdriver
• Soldering gun
• Silicon caulk
• Copper electrical wiring
• Wire nuts
• Electrical plug
• Plexiglass cutting tool
• Plexiglass plate

Instructions

1. 

   Buy enough sets of 3 inch by 6 inch mono-crystal solar cells to have at least 36 of them. You need a 36 panel of these cells to generate 60 watts, or enough to power the typical light bulb.

2. Take your paper and pen and draw up a plan for the panel. The panel is merely the backing board for how your cells are laid out. There should also be some space between the cells. You could do a 6 X 6 arrangement with one inch of spacing, which would be 42 inches long and 25 inches wide. Use any arrangement you wish that works out evenly.

3. Lay the plywood out on a pair of sawhorses, and use the hand saw to cut the plywood to the desired size and shape.

4. Use the saw to cut your scrap lumber into four borders for the panel, which should be nailed into a box around the sides of the plywood. The border should be raised from the surface of the plywood by at least 1.5 inches. If you do not have scrap lumber that is the right size to use for all of these pieces, heavy wooden molding will do just as well.

5. Drill several holes around the sides of your borders, so that they open into the interior of the panel. These holes will serve as vents.

6. Use the handsaw to cut a piece or pieces of masonite peg board to fit the inside of the panel. Any non-conductive material that is suitable as a substrate can be used as a substitute for peg board. Attach this with glue, plus screws and washers in the corners, where there won't be any contact with the solar cells or wiring.

7. Take your brush and prime and paint the panel box, and then let it dry. This will protect the woodwork from the elements. The solar cells should last for at least 20 years, so your panel should too.

8. Using your previously prepared plan, draw out a grid onto the pegboard, representing where each cell should go.

9. Lay the cells into the panel upside down, and solder them together into strings with a soldering gun. Each of these cells will have a solder tab and a solder point on the back, making the assembly straight-forward. Be gentle, and beware of breaking the fragile cells. How many are in a string depends on your panel design. A 6 x 6 panel could have strings of 6. Use your best judgment.

10. Place a silver-dollar sized dab of silicon caulking in the center of each cell, and then fix each string of cells into its assigned location on the panel.

11. Use copper electrical wiring to interconnect the cells. Each cell should have a pair wires extending from them. Match the positive and negative leads together, and splice them using wire nuts. The wiring can be attached to the panel using more silicon caulk.

12. Drill a hole through the back of the panel to run the unified wiring out of the panel as exterior leads. Use silicon caulk to seal up this hole once this is done.

13. Using a screwdriver, install the positive and negative exterior leads to a standard utility plug. These have screw connectors: bare wire is wrapped around a screw, which is then tightened to fasten the wire into place.

14. Use a plexiglass cutting to cut a sheet of plexiglass to fit over-top the panel. Drill matching holes through the plexiglass and panel borders, and fasten the plexiglass to the exterior front of the panel using screws.

Resources

• Homemade Solar Panels
• Virtual Secrets: Build a Solar Panel