Solar Panels for Your Home

Solar panels are a cost effective, simple and environmentally responsible home addition to anyone trying to be a bit greener these days. Here are some Instructables that will help you build your very own home solar array from new or broken panels, provide you with some great ideas for solar trackers and collectors, and get you started on your first home solar panel project.

D.I.Y. Solar Setup. by Rob Patterson

Portable Sun Tracking Solar Panel With A Windup Clock Drive by shastalore

Home Made Solar Panel by Home Build Solar System

How to MAKE PV Solar Panels by VIRON

How To Build A Solar Panel by hastyhost

Solar PV tracker by bwitmer

Solar Power System by Mr. Chicken

Build a 60 Watt Solar Panel by mdavis19

DIY Solar Panel by giladlotan

Rain or Shine Solar Charger by blondietheblond

Small Solar Panel by kinz1jg

Adapt a clock today! Cheap trackers boost solar panel and… by gaiatechnician

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Aug 23, 2011. 7:53 PMwkhan5 says:

my home is Solar Panel 1200 w is pakistani prices in home

Jul 22, 2010. 9:29 AMftworavens1 says:

Why hasn't any one come up with solar powered yard equipment? If anyone has an idea contact me

Jul 17, 2011. 6:24 PMTechPaul says:

I have seen co-generated power for garden lighting, solar and wind. Very small scale as it is only for LED lighting

Nov 29, 2010. 8:13 PMhintss says:

seeing as how you're an instructables member...check instructables

Jul 25, 2010. 3:32 PMbassbindevil says:

Because it wouldn't make sense to dedicate several hundred bucks worth of PV panels to a single purpose. There's nothing stopping you from buying cordless yard equipment, and running the chargers from a PV panel. Or charging the batteries directly, with an appropriate charge controller thingy.

Jun 23, 2010. 2:33 PMdeadshock says:

It's nt so much that energy will run out, until it becomes too expensive to use in it's current form (oil/coal/gas/nuclear) then there is no impitus on business or government to make solar/ hydrothermal etc viable. It will be more likely that water will become scarce and countries with large reserves will start exporting more or worst case scenario, there will be water wars for it as a scarce resource. If it's something you find ridiculous, imagine someone saying 50 year ago that we would be having the Gulf Oil Wars.

Dec 2, 2010. 11:22 AMzogworth says:

you mean 50 years ago when there was the suez crisis?

Jul 9, 2011. 1:44 PMGrey_Wolfe says:

I honestly laughed. You're right though, it's been too expensive for the consumer for awhile. Fact is, it will only see a pushed change when the oil/coal/gas/nuclear sources are no longer profitable to the big boys who own governments. I'm not a conspiricist, that's just the economics of the situation.

Mar 26, 2011. 12:03 AM

elrodqfudp says:

Using solar or wind farms to power the grid presents problems that small scale home installations do not have.

The home units do not have to transmit the power very far so they avoid the losses associated with using transformers to first step up the voltage then stepping it down again at the point of use. These transformers have to be filled with a liquid, they use to use PCBs, to help keep them cool and the ones at the substation have fans installed to get ride of the heat that they generate.

You can find many people like myself living on a sailboat very comfortably on solar power and wind power. We try to keep the decks shaded and use fans instead of A/C in the summer. We also keep our boats well insulated in the winter evenings. You would be quite surprised at what a good solar collectors the windows and hatches can be during a cold day. We use very little supplemental heat.

Jul 9, 2011. 1:41 PMGrey_Wolfe says:

California has been using wind energy since the 80's to provide electricy and more recently they've begun to use solar and other renewables.

In 2009 renewables produced almost 12% of that electricity. There were over 38 million people in Cali in '09.

There are difficulties in the set up. But it definitely can be done. :)

May 7, 2011. 9:44 PM

drewgrey says:

I plan to install a small system soon to power my outdoor lighting and emergency lights. What I look forward to is for panel technology to reach the tipping point where it makes sense to make a big commitment. Imagine roof tiles that are solar panels and are structural and insulated. Replace the plywood, insulation, roofing paper, roofing and current solar panel with a single roof panel . Hey , while we're at it lets use the computer industry as the model instead of the automotive industry. This is because the licensing and standards used in the computer industry breads the perfect blend of competition and standardization.

Mar 17, 2011. 11:12 AMblackhawk says:

With the NIMBY (not in my back yard) and environmentalists who sue every project, there is not a chance we will ever power the US with solar. A wind farm near me has been scuttled because folks don't want to see wind towers in the distance and sued to stop the project. Even at 3 miles away. The environmentalists filed lawsuits to stop large scale solar arrays in California and Arizona. Nobody wants ugly solar panel farms or wind farms anywhere near them. Even in the middle of the desert. It would take an area over half the size of Arizona to produce enough power from solar panels just to meet today's needs. This will increase exponentially. How much power did we use just 20 years ago. Less than 30% of what we use now. Solar panel efficiency has been stagnant since the mid 80s when I first put them to use. At less than 14% efficiency, and that's optimistic, solar panels in a recent study are a wash when they compare the amount of energy required to build them and the amount they produce in their lifetime. The silica has to be mined, transported, heated to make the elements. Huge energy usage to make something that breaks even and cost 4 times what fossil fuels do per megawatt to produce power. I have used them since 1986 and still do, but solar powering the US won't happen in the next 20 or even 50 years. Even if the politicians spend us into oblivion which they have tried to do the last few years.

Jul 29, 2010. 12:32 PM

theque says:

At this time, solar panels may not be efficient enough to power the world, but the more money that is invested in to solar power research, the more efficient they will become, and thus a more feasible option.

Jan 1, 2011. 11:23 PMsuperant10000 says:

http://windconcernsontario.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/050824_anlageoben_menschen.jpg
6 months on from your comment, and solar panels are being used all over. They can be found in a variety of places ranging from lit traffic signs, in San Antonio, Texas or in areas where it would be unreasonable to run a bunch of wires to.
I think that it's important that the areas geography is taken well into effect, such as the weather conditions. There may not always be sun in places like Colorado, but there is a bloody great river there, so they made a hydroelectric dam to produce electricity. And out to sea where the wind has nothing in it's paths, wind farms are being created. We're a long way from being green, but with new techs such as bio-fuel, we can really cut down on our use of fossil fuels.

Aug 2, 2010. 6:48 AMrahmat naveed says:

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May 26, 2010. 2:51 AMGrey_Wolfe says:

Solar power as the primary energy source is very reasonable in the near future. We simply need to get the costs down and the politicians on board.

http://davidrmacaulay.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c89e853ef0120a551fb9b970b-popup

^ A possible estimate of the global land space required to power everything in 2030. Given the amount of energy a square kilometer absorbes per day, this looks pretty feasible.

Jun 22, 2010. 8:52 PMStarrsWife says:

As we are in a money based economy, we will NEVER get the politicians on board, unfortunately..... (www.thezeitgeistmovement.com) however in a resource based economy we could do SOOO much more :) Check out the Venus Project... its a whole new way to think of living..... www.thevenusproject.com

Jun 22, 2010. 2:11 AMbertzie says:

Not to mention that there's a lot of inhospitable land that we could use. The Mojave desert comes to mind.

Jun 28, 2010. 4:28 PMBig Bear says:

The Mojave as well as other inhospitable land, which is a matter of personal opinion, have ecosystems that would be destroyed if covered with solar panels. The danger here is that in a attempt to be ecologically friendly you actually end up destroying some ecosystems. In addition to these lands being virtually unused they are also far away for populated areas that actually require the energy. A great deal of power is lost in transmission. There is land that has already been rendered useless to the ecosystem that can accommodate solar collectors. My favorite is to build a structure over highways and streets. This will not make more land unproductive on an enviromental basis and perhaps cool the roadways so there is not as many blowouts from big rigs. In addition it could cause a lot more jobs for people to clean the panels. These are just some ideas that could have multiple benefits without making more land space useless except for making electricity.

Jul 17, 2011. 6:25 PMTechPaul says:

you forgot parking lots.

Dec 9, 2010. 9:59 AMDadlyEdly says:

I've thought of this, and the big issue with putting these solar panels over highways seems to be access to them--that is that highways are seldom closed. This may seem related, but it seems to me at least, that it would be better to put solar panels over parking lots, at least to begin with. They have the advantage of being close to the point where the power will be used. In addition, putting the panels over a parking lot wouldn't cause a significant environmental impact, and would keep the cars under them cooler, so the drivers would have to use less air conditioning (which, I believe, reduces gas mileage.) The inititive to start this kind of project would be smaller than the highway proposal, and would require less government involvement. Off-hours at the parking lot would allow access to the panels and inverters for repairs or maintenance. This might be either a plus or minus, depending on how you view this, but you could also use the structure holding the panels to display banners or other advertisements, which would subsidize the panels. That seems a two-fer to me.

Feb 6, 2011. 4:09 PMBig Bear says:

I like the ad idea. It maximizes the space and could cover some unattractive aspects. When I proposed placing panels over roadways I had envisioned a superstructure that would carry the panels and allow for grating walk ways so the panels could be accessed at any time. This would allow foe crews to clean or make repairs as needed at night.

Aug 12, 2010. 8:20 PMajohnson153 says:

I love the idea. I also saw an article in Popular Science about making solar panels that are strong enough to withstand use as highway. Meaning that the thousands of miles of highway in the US could potentially be transformed into one giant solar collector. The article talked about the tech used in these solar panels and it said that even though it would cost quite a bit more than asphalt it would also last about ten times as long. In addition they are also working on developing solar panels that convert not just the sun's light but also the heat generated from it into power, which will also increase power output. I don't know about where you live but here in GA using the heat to power homes seems like a pretty smart decision given that it consistently gets into the 90's on any given summer day.

Jun 29, 2010. 1:59 AMbertzie says:

Who said anything about ecologically friendly? I'm stalking about long-term sustainability. If we want to be ecologically friendly, we should start by killing all humans.

Sep 1, 2010. 4:27 PMBig Bear says:

That is a complete contradiction. Long-term sustainability and killing humans. What would the sustainability be for?

Sep 1, 2010. 8:27 PMbertzie says:

Protecting the world from humans. It's the only ecological thing to do.

Dec 5, 2010. 12:09 PMrumplesnitz says:

I understand your sentiment, but we are supposed to be the stewards, not the problem.

Dec 5, 2010. 2:09 PMbertzie says:

According to whom?

Dec 5, 2010. 9:23 PMrumplesnitz says:

According to the fact that we are sentient beings and can recognize the relationship between cause and effect.

Dec 9, 2010. 6:42 AMrumplesnitz says:

God made us that way on purpose and expects us to hedge and protect this garden He created for us.

Nov 29, 2010. 8:16 PMhintss says:

and the only logical one. the T-Shirt that says "despite the high cost of living, it continues to remain quite popular..."

Jun 22, 2010. 11:49 AMTaylorTech says:

Not to mention that there would be lost space to simply have acess to the solar panels, minus lost energy during distibution, minus the kilometers one must travel just to maintain them. In the end you would need something the size of Quebec made ONLY from solar panels to power the world, and it would only work during the day, and it would cost trillions of dollars for something that Hydroelectricity and Nuclear could do with a mere billion. Don't forget, that there may not even be enough valuable silicon in the world to make all of those cells, and the effects on the local environment from destroying so much land would be much much worse. And then what do we do in 2050 with 10 billion on earth? I hate to say it, but solar is simply a noverlty item. Great for camping, and power little doo-dads here and there, but for 100%, even 5% deployment, it wouldn't be worth it. Nuclear is clean. Hydro is clean. It's what powers all of Canada and we're doing fine, and have some of the lowest energy costs in the first world.

Jun 22, 2010. 3:13 PMbertzie says:

Until they have a foolproof way to store nuclear waste, it's not clean.

Mar 22, 2011. 8:17 AMmleach-1 says:

Unfortunately, thanks to the great president Carter, it is illegal to process nuclear "waste" into electricity and render it inert. So the argument of too much waste, is not a storage issue,. but a political one to allow for the processing of the "waste" into electricity.

Dec 5, 2010. 12:06 PMrumplesnitz says:

Everything has a cost, there is no foolproof anything, only more or less bad, except to trust in God for our salvation.

Jun 22, 2010. 4:49 PMTaylorTech says:

In Canada, it's encased in concrete that has to protect against something like 10Mw earthquakes, and can't be stored on fault lines. Either way, it only powers 15~20% of my country. 61% is still hydro, and the rest is all small scale stuff in the North. Nowadays they're recycling the waste anyways and getting an extra 40% out of it.

Dec 5, 2010. 12:13 PMrumplesnitz says:

Then only problems there is, where the next fault line turns up. Might not be our problem today, but it will be our progeny's at some point.

Jun 22, 2010. 2:03 PMkikiclint says:

Not all solar must be silicone, and the mojave desert would be great for thermal electric solar(heat storage allows for night power too). The real reason why we should invest now is because we have the other energy sources available to implement solar and other renewables. I personally think that if we get above 10 or 12 billion people, were screwed anyways. We would overtax the earth. Oil, coal, hydro, and nuclear wont cut it. cheap energy has allowed us to travel and populate the world in ways not possible before mass shipping. Once fuel gets too expensive to ship food, every major city will be a useless ghost town, since concentrated populations don't provide their own food. With a good portion of energy coming from renewables, we won't have to face as horrible of a future. As for hydro, most of the worlds tappable rivers are being used, and Nuclear only has a limited supply of useable fuel as well, at least until we can mine other planets(and we still don't know how to get rid of the waste safely). Solar can work, it just has to be implemented effectively.

Jun 22, 2010. 5:05 PMTaylorTech says:

I actually wrote a quickj essay on how Canada is pretty much ready for everything a while back. Not totally related but you might find it interesting. Check it out on my blog. http://taylorsblog.ca/?p=26 Here's another little peice that the Russell Villager (newspaper) published after the provincial government "invested" in green energy. http://taylorsblog.ca/?p=62 Sorry about the going on about Canada. I'm a patriot, but I don't want to sound like one of hose jerks parading all over the place about how their country is the best. I am however convinced we have secured our future. I do believe that Canada has all of the elements required to survive independantly; now and in the future. In a majour resource crisis, we will simply tax certain exports so that we get rich, and keep the right amount of our resources with ourselves. As for food, 94% of Saskatchewan has been converted to farmland. Most of that is being exported right now anyways. As for silicon-free solar, I do beleive there is an Ottawa firm (probably amoung others) developping that, however, correct me if I'm wrong, we are still years away from having the design completed, and even then, there is limit to the amount of energy we can extract from a square meter of land.

Mar 4, 2010. 10:11 PMshameed says:

hi, sir

how i become ur member

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