Solar Cells Info

Daily Trust (Abuja), 4 July 2008
Source: AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200807040570.html

The cost of solar panels is very high so we decided to learn how to build solar panels plans of our own. In order to run our off rid home we would need about 3000 watts of production power and that would cost us in excess of N1.3million to buy new. Now I don’t know about you but that is a lot of money for this family.  Building our own seemed like a better option for us. All we had to do was figure out where to find the parts we needed and how to put them together. We had figured out how to build a wind generator before this, which turned out great so we figured we could do this too.

What did we need?
—  Readily available and easy to follow plans
—  Easy to understand how-to-build solar panels plans
—  Simple tools and a place to work

After some deliberations and quite a bit of research, we discovered a set of plans that provided us with all of the information we needed. Most of it dealt with how to install solar panels but there was a very good section on how to build our own too. There was even a section on where to find free solar panels when we got the five books together, in one called Renewable Energy Solutions.

We got right to it starting with a piece of plywood as a backer board on which to mount the individual cells. We chose to work in our workshop because there is soldering that needs to be done and we like working in a well ventilated area. Keep that in mind when you start.

I’m kind of a safety conscious person and always have been so we wear eye and hand protection when necessary too. Wires are soldered to the back of the cells, one for positive and one for negative. We found the cells at the source mentioned in the guide. Just a dab of solder and the wires are fished through holes in the plywood to the back.

Align the cells in rows so it’s easier to set up later. They are attached to the plywood with a bit of silicone caulking- not too much or you’ll have a mess on your hands. The positive lead wires you soldered earlier are all joined together to one main wire. The same is done with the negative leads. Get these main wires out to the outside of the board and then sandwich the whole back with another thin piece of plywood.