Hello, welcome to these series of posts on how to build home made solar panels.

First you will need a few tools and a comfortable work space. You will be doing some wood work as well as electronic work so a nice comfortable workbench and chair are ideal.

Things you’ll need…

Cordless drill, soldering iron (small pen type), pliers, hammer, caulking gun and miscellaneous nuts and screws

This is a picture of the back of a solar cell, the building blocks of solar panels. Several of these small cells which are about the size of your hand go into the making of a solar panel. Mostly we use monocrystalline solar cells.

Back of solar panel

This picture shows you the component parts of a solar cell. They are small and very fragile until they are mounted.

Solar panel choices

Solar panels are probably the simplest form of renewable energy. There are no moving parts and there are installations in place with only minor maintenance for over 20 years.

How does thes sun make electricity?

Simply put, the cells inside of a solar panel convert the sun’s energy into electricity. Photo Voltaic cells are normally fabricated using special semiconductor materials that allow electrons, which are energized when the material is exposed to sunlight, to be freed from their atoms.

These cells are what you will have to obtain in order to build your own solar panels. Lots of people mistake solar cells for solar panels; just remember, that it takes many small solar cells to make one large solar panel, like putting together lego blocks or piling firewood in your backyard.

Once freed, the electrons can move through the material and carry an electric current. The current flows in one direction (like a battery), and thus the electricity generated is termed direct current (DC).

Just under the surface of a solar panel are small thin pieces of semiconductor material called cells. These cells, usually a series of cells aligned in rows, make up the panel.

The cells that make up the panel are made of silicon in most cases, and are treated with phosphorous or boron. As light strikes the cells it is captured by the semiconductor material. This is known as the photovoltaic effect.

In our next post more about the Photo Voltaic effect. Stay tuned.