How to Build Solar Panels Cheaply

Commercial solar panels are expensive. In the long run they are worth the price, but in the short term they can be out of many people's price ranges. Here is a plan for making solar panels out of copper plates. They are not powerful enough to run your whole house, but they can be combined to power small lights or appliances.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic food container
• Copper sheeting
• Gloves
• Soap
• Water
• Paper towel
• Electric stove
• Tape
• Glue
• Salt
• Alligator clip connectors
• Electronic multimeter

Instructions

1. Get a shallow, wide plastic food container such as a plastic container. Cut out a sheet of thin copper plating slightly smaller than the container.

2. Put on rubber gloves and gently clean the copper plate with soap and water to remove dirt and oil. Dry the plate with a paper towel. Then, cut the copper plate in half. Don't worry if it isn't exactly symmetrical or if both sides are precisely equal--it will work anyway.

3. Put one of the copper plates on an electric stove burner. Turn the heat all the way up and watch the plate. It will first develop a multicolored pattern then slowly darken as the burner heats up. Once the plate is completely covered in a black coating, leave it for another half hour with the burner on high.

   Put one copper panel on an electric burner and turn the heat all the way up. The solar panel will first have be covered with multicolored patches, then it will build up a black coating. Once the panel is completely coated, let it cook for another half an hour.

4. Turn off the burner and let the plate cool for about 20 minutes without touching or moving it. Most of the black coating will pop off as it cools. Once the plate has finished cooling, hold it under running water and gently rub your fingers against it to peel off the rest of the black coating. Don't scrub it or bend it.

5. Place both plates in the plastic container and attach them to opposite walls of the container with glue or tape. Each one should be attached so that its edge is at least a few inches up the wall of the container and its other edge sits at the bottom.

   Place copper sheets in a plastic container. Tape or glue the sheets to opposite walls so that one end of each sheet is sitting on the bottom of the container and the other end is angled up. The sheets should not touch.

6. Mix 1 tsp. of salt into enough water to fill the food container about halfway. Pour the water in without getting the top of either panel wet.

7. Attach a connector with an alligator clip at each end to each of the plates above the water line. The clip attached to the plate you heated will give a negative charge, while the other one will give a positive charge. You can attach them to a multimeter to measure the voltage or current.

Tips & Warnings

• You can attach multiple solar panels together in series to increase the voltage. Connect the baked end of one to the unbaked end of the next in a continuous chain.