Do it Yourself Solar System - Solar Power Made Easy, and Much Cheaper Too!

Ever looked into purchasing a solar power systemIf you answered yes to the above questions,
for your home? Ever searched the internet forthen you are well on your way to building your
those "do it yourself solar system" kits, just toown solar power system for your home.
find a solar dealer that put together a packageThere are many do it yourself solar system
that costs about $10,000, ships you the materials,designs on the market today, all of which are
and you are on your own?designed to take the guesswork out of building
That is a daunting task even for the most handysolar panels, installing the solar panels, and wiring
of do it yoursefer's, as you do not receive anythe solar panel systems into your home for a
type plan or considerations to build such afraction of the cost of purchasing ready-made
system, let alone be cost effective.solar panels, and having someone come to your
There are definitely some things to consider fromhome to install them.
a do it yourself standpoint before consideringI made my first attempt at building a solar panel,
installing a do it yourself solar system.and it was much easier than I anticipated. Once I
- Are you willing to climb on your roof to installordered my materials (the solar cells) and picked
solar panels? Spending time on your roof is partup a little bit of parts from my local hardware
of the process of building a solar power system.store, the construction was very simple. First I
The hardest part is actually getting up there. Oncemeasured the size and arrangement of the solar
you can get over that, the installation of the solarcells. From there, I got my dimensions to build the
panel is a breeze. It is as simple as connecting theframe to mount the solar cells. Next the frame
brackets to a support beam in the roof, andwas actually constructed. The next step, which
connecting the solar panels to the brackets.was the toughest (and at the same time, was still
- Do you have an open view to the south oneasy), was soldering the solar cells together. This
your roof for maximum solar exposure? In orderwas about as tricky as using a hot glue gun and
for photovoltaic cells to produce the mostmaking a relatively straight line. Once I got the
electricity for your home, they must face thesolar cells all pieced together, I added them to the
southern sky. If you have large trees blocking theframe and secured them. After that, the solar
way, then alternatives can be considered, such ascells were wired together, and the cover to the
building a solar stand that has an unobstructedframe was added. Voila! A solar panel. I tested it,
view of the southern sky for maximumand it was generating the necessary wattage (18
exposure.volts) and was working fine.
- Are you willing to save money by building yourAll of this took me about 6 hours to do, since it
own solar panels? This is a no-brainer, as the costwas my first one, and a cost of about $100. This
of building a solar panel can be done for aboutdefinitely did not take very long, and once the
$100, if you shop around properly, and purchasesolar cell is connected into my house wiring, it will
bulk lots of solar cells off of the internet. I oncetake maybe two months of generating electricity
found a bulk lot of 72 solar cells for about $80.for the solar panel to pay for itself. Not too bad!
That's more than enough solar cells to start yourI was shocked, but I realized that a do it yourself
do it yourself solar system, and this price pales insolar system is definitely within anyone's reach, as
comparison to the hundreds, even thousands ofI am not the most "handyman" of people to begin
dollars a manufactured panel costs.with. I'll soon be building my second solar panel to
- Can you follow step by step directions andadd to my do it yourself solar system, and be on
videos?my way to making a huge dent in my electric bill.