I can just picture you shaking your head and asking yourself, why on earth would you want to build your own solar panel ? Great question.
I can give you several reasons for wanting to make your own solar panel, but two will suffice for now. Firstly, the cost of electricity has become unreasonably expensive and shows no signs of reversing the trend. The second reason is that I want to be prepared for the day when there will be a total blackout in the country.
Ok, I’ll admit that it’s a bit far fetched to imagine a national blackout, but what about a blackout in your town? Do you not think it is possible that an entire town could have no electricity for a whole week. Stranger things have happened, and in these days of terrorist threats, nothing can be ruled out. I sure don’t want to sound alarmist, but I just want to reiterate that I think it’s a very good idea to learn how to build your own solar panel.
Making homemade solar cells is not as difficult as it seems; it is a whole lot of fun to build. You certainly won’t need to be a NASA Engineer to be able to build your own solar panel. The one thing you will need, however, is lots of commitment and perseverance. Are you ready to make solar panel?
Let’s build then:
Ok pop over to your local DIY retailer and get yourself the following items: sandpaper, an electric drill, sheet metal shears, two alligator clip leads, copper flashing and a micro-ammeter that can read up to 50 micro amperes. You will also need some water, an electric stove and a large plastic bottle with a wide mouth.
To build your own solar panel, you will start of by cleaning a piece of copper flashing with some of the sandpaper you bought. Then cut the flashing into a square or rectangular shape using the metal shears. Cut off the top of the bottle to form an improvised bucket, and put water inside it.
The sheet of copper needs to be a size that will fit on to the electric stove, because the next thing to do is put the copper sheet on to the stove (which should be already switched on), and leave it for about half an hour. Let it cool down for another half-hour.
There will be a black coating covering the copper sheet, carefully scrape it off gently under running water. Cut out a second sheet of copper the same size and shape as the first one, and bend it to fit inside the bottle. Do the same with the first sheet of copper.
With the alligator lead, you will then need to connect the first sheet of copper to the negative terminal of the micro-ammeter, while the second sheet is connected to the positive terminal.
Next add salt to the water and make sure all particles dissolve. Be careful that the water doesn’t dip the alligator clips, because they need to be dry.
Place the sheets in the bottle out in the sun and you will observe a gradual increase in charge as the panels generate electrical energy from the sun.
You have just built your first solar panel, and as you have seen it is not that difficult to build your own solar panel. This is just a small experimental panel, though, to prepare you for bigger jobs ahead.
You might consider the following as a useful resource: Make Your Own Solar Panel
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