Ok, so you want to make a solar panel? That is a very good idea! You can contribute to a better and cleaner  environment. And save quite some money doing so.
Everybody is talking about the environment, and that is not so surprising. I guess energy prices will rise over our heads within a few years from now. So it is a matter of consuming much less energy, or pay much more every month or produce a substantial part of the energy we need ourselfs. 

homemade solar panels

homemade solar panels

First golden tip!
Use a good manual to make a solar panel! Click here for the editor’s choice manual. You will save yourself a lot of trouble and probably also a lot of money too.

Why make a solar panel?
By using renewable solar energy you too contribute to a cleaner earth. And you can save a lot of money building a solar panel yourself compared to a commercial solar panel. And because solar panels usually do not ‘occur alone in the wild’, the savings are factors more.
A commercial 60-watt panel costs about $3 per watt, so about $180. Single cells costs $1 per watt. Then there is what is necessary for the cells to be assembled and to protect them against all kinds of external influences. But build a solar panel for much less than half the commercial price is easily possible. So you can easily save hundreds maybe thousends of dollars on building the solar panels yourself.

Where to begin?
You must first determine where you want to place the panel or panels. Because you build the solar panel yourself, you can, within certain limits, determine the dimensions of it. The best place is a sloped roof with a slope equal to the latitude position of the house. The roof should also face the south, 5 degrees to the west, with free view to the sun over the entire surface and during the entire day. (So, that’s said!) This is ideal for a fixed setting of the panels.
Now there are not many roofs that comply to all of  these requirements. So you should choose for an alternative placement. As long as it meets as many requirements as possible.

How to start?
The easiest and most efficient method is if you’ve already built a number of solar panels. And therefore know exactly how (not) to act. You’ll need to get some experience on what to do. It is not difficult but you need to know a little what you are doing. You can also use the experience of somebody else. Learning from the mistakes he has made. There are many people who maintain a site or a blog with their experiences. So you can search for those. You can also buy a book with descriptions and construction knowing about building solar panels. I believe that this is the simplest and most efficient way for this to address.
There are also some free tutorials, but my experience is that they do not include all aspects that you encounter in building, installing and using self-built solar energy systems.

Which guide to use?
Since there are a number of guides out there that help you to make solar power to use, you’ll have to choose one that is complete, informative and well written.
I’ve read a couple (not all) of the guides on building a solar panel. And I have come to the conclusion that the the Earth4Energy e-book presents a very useful guide. It is very clear, well written, easy to read and understand. I would recommend this manual. But of course it’s up to you.