First you will need a base to place the solar cells on in order to make a panel. You need enough solar cells (about 80) to layout a fairly large surface area. You will notice that there are two distinct sides to a solar cell.

The front looks kind of a blue color while the back looks very much like the back of a mirror. It is essential that you set up the cells with the blue or upper surface facing toward the sun.

Each solar cell will create not much more than one half a volt DC usually. The voltage remains the same. As the size of the cells increase, depending on what you get, the current or amperage will increase.

You can place the solar cells out on the floor before you begin, like a deck of cards. Leave a space between each cell of about one quarter inch. Arrange the cells in rows until you have a shape that is pleasing to you. You want to make the finished panels slightly narrower in the width so they are easier to handle, but you can do as you like.

Once you have the cells laid out in the pattern you want, measure the outside dimensions of the rows. You need to know how big to make the backing board. You will attach the solar panels to this board so you need to know how big it is.

With 80 cells you should end up with a panel that produces approximately 100 watts of power.

You can use some plywood or any kind of strong lumber. The nice thing about the plywood is that you don’t have to join it together. After getting the outside measurements we assess what glass we will have to cover the upper portion of the panel. You can put 2 inch spacers on top with a ventilation space around the panels as well.

The glass will usually need a support in the middle too so leave room for that as well.

Let’s say that the layout of the cells added up to a size of 24 inches wide and 40 inches high including the spaces between the cells. If we wanted a 2 inch spacer in the middle and all the way around the outside to support the glass then our plywood should be cut to 30 inches by 46 inches. In this way we could fit the cells on the plywood and still have support for the glass.

Before you begin to put the cells down on the plywood we first treat the plywood with an epoxy sealer that is designed for UV protection. It sinks right into the wood and protects it long term from the weather.

The holes in the dividers will have the wires from the cells meeting and joining to form the circuitry of the panel. The holes also allow a certain amount of ventilation too. Make sure you put at least 3 coats of the epoxy on everything as it will be exposed to some rough weather at times.

Get any kind of soldering gun with at least 25 watt and use silver bearing solder for soldering purposes, which you will need in the next step.

In our next post: connecting the cells together…

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Filed Under: Alternative Energy Sources , Solar Power Tagged with Deck Of Cards, Distinct Sides, Finished Panels, Large Surface Area, Lumber, Measurements, Mirror, Nice Thing, Plywood, Quarter Inch, Solar Cell, Solar Cells, Solar Panel, Solar Panels, Spacers, Upper Portion, Upper Surface, Ventilation, Volt Dc, Watts

This post is the third of a series of posts describing how to build a home made wind generator.

Check the first post on How To Build The Blades

Check the second post on What Materials To Use To Build The Blades

OK, Let’s get into how to cut the blades

Using a 4” to 12” sewer PVC pipe, you will cut it quartering the pipe, and then you will cut out one blade, and use it as a template for cutting out the others. That will leave you with 4 blades (3 plus one spare).We are going to build a 3 blade assembly. You can use a jigsaw to cut the pipe. See the figure below

Cutting the line with a jigsaw

The first step in cutting out the blades is to mark the pattern on the pipe with a marker. A tape measure and a large piece of project cardboard or Bristol board works great for transferring your pattern.

Notice that the centerline is slightly offset when cutting the first blade. This is to catch the wind more effectively. This first blade will be used as a template for the two other blades. See the figure below.

Notice that this example design pattern is set for a 10 inch pipe; in this way a 4 feet long blade will be on one side 7” wide and on the other 5”. If you use smaller or larger pipe diameter, just add or subtract one half inch of width for every 2 inches of pipe diameter as in the table below.

Pipe Diameter	Blade width at hub	Blade width at tip
4″	5.5″	3.5″
6″	6″	4″
8″	6.5″	4.5″
10″	7″	5″
12″	7.5″	5.5″

You can then do a little extra smoothing and shaping using a belt sander, palm sander or just sand paper on the cut edges to try to make them smoother. Smooth the sharp corners at the tip of the blades as well. This will serve to make the air flow better, thereby creating a better airfoil.

Wooden blades

Wood is also a recommended material to make blades and cedar is a nice wood. The Eastern White Cedar and Western Red Cedar have the same characteristics of lightness, super strength, flexibility and superb outdoor weathering capabilities.

For the building of your homemade wind generator blades you will want to find planed, finished lumber as thin as you can, preferably only one inch in thickness.

If you can’t find one inch lumber, ask at the lumber yard if they will cut it down to that size for you. The lumber piece should be 6 inches wide and 4 feet long for a single blade.

Use a jigsaw with a wood blade of fine teeth. Make each blade the same by copying the pattern 3 times.

Just put a small spacer piece on the leading side of each blade to tilt the blade in the direction of the wind. A slight tilt of 10 degrees is fine. Use a small piece of wood or angled metal to achieve the results you want to make that blade spin.

In our next post we will be discussing on how to build de hub that holds the blades together.

If you need a complete blueprint on how to build a home made wind generator CLICK HERE

If not, that´s Ok, just keep on checking our series of posts to get the whole picture to start your own project.

Filed Under: Alternative Energy Sources , Wind Power Tagged with Air Flow, Belt Sander, Blade Width, Bristol Board, Building A Home, Capabilities, Cardboard, Centerline, Cutting Blade, Flexibility, Hub, Inch Pipe, Jigsaw, Lumber, Marker, Outdoor Weathering, Palm Sander, Pipe Diameter, Pvc Pipe, Sand Paper, Sharp, Style Text, Table Style, Tape Measure, Wind Generator, Wind Generator Blades