In these days of recession and rising power costs, many homeowners are taking a serous look at the possibility of installing a solar power system in their home to cut down on their power bill. Unfortunately, the cost of having such a system professionally installed in prohibitively high. A third option has recent popped up on the internet, however: Do-It-Yourself home built solar power kits. Such websites promise that you can build your own home solar panels for a faction of the cost of a professional installation.
Are their claims serious, or scams? Can you really build solar panels at home using solar power kits? Where can you find the materials and the tools? How long will it take? Is it safe? This article will try to answer your questions.
The Solar Power Kits
Be very careful when buying solar power kits online. As with any product, there is a wide range of quality. Some solar power kits are thrown together at the last minute to make a quick buck. Such kits, although cheap, are usually limited to text instructions filled with technical jargon and confusing illustrations (if they have any at all). Better, higher-quality (although more expensive) solar power kits feature clear step by step instructions for building solar panels, written in plain English, with lots of quality illustrations, blueprints, and schematics, and sometimes even DVD videos demonstrating the more complicated steps.
Before choosing and buying a solar power kit, research your purchase thoroughly online. Check consumer review websites and see what past customers have to say about the product.
The Materials
Believe it or not, almost all of the materials need to construct solar panels can be found at your local home improvement stores (like Home Depot) or electronics stores (like Radio Shack). The deep-cycle batteries for the battery banks may require a bit of searching, and if you live in a small town you may need to make a shopping excursion to a larger city, but they can still be found at a competitive price.
The only materials not easily obtained are the solar cells themselves. These, however, can be ordered off the internet easily and rather cheaply. The price of solar cells has come down dramatically in the last ten years as demand has increased, and today you can buy 36-square-inch solar cells for between six to ten dollars apiece.
The Tools
Once again, all the tools needed to build and install home solar panels are easily found at your local hardware and electronics stores. Purchasing specialized tools (like a voltage meter and a soldering gun) may add to the cost of the project, but you'll almost certainly use them again.
The Time
Websites selling solar power kits promise that you can build it in once weekend. This is a very optimistic estimate, to say the least. Unless you are an experienced tradesmen with a fully-stocked garage workshop, it will probably take longer than two days. Even if the project requires a month of weekends, however, most people find this time commitment acceptable.
Is It Safe?
Whenever you're working with electricity, there is always the possibility of injury from electrical shock. Worse, improper or faulty wiring could burn your house down. Be careful and take every precaution.
You can probably build solar panels and connect the battery banks, voltage regulator, and DC inverter safely, as the amounts of electricity involved at that point are miniscule. The real danger comes, however, when you attempt to connect the solar power system to your home's electrical grid. The amount of electricity in play then is more than enough to shock or start fires.
The safest course of action would be to hire a licensed electrician to connect your solar power kits to your home's electrical grid. Depended on where you live, it might even be required by law. Have the electrician inspect the wiring in the other parts of your solar panels as well, just to be safe.
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