PV Gap

Dolores Said:

Does anyone have experience with resendital wind generators ?( or Diy solar panels)?

We Answered:

As so often, it depends what you want to do with it...
It all has to do with efficiency or conversion loss (depends whether you are an optimist or pessimist).
And your location also plays an important role.
Wind turbines are only useful if they are mounted approx. 30 - 50 feet above ground, and there are not many trees and buildings around. And to make it wothwhile, they have to be somewhat bigger than what typical DYI stores sell. This gets you into another problem: In some residential areas, you may actually need a planning permission for it!
If you only want to get "cheap" hot water, then go for heat panels on your roof. Cold water is pumped up, heats up, and is forced back down into a tank with a heat exchanger. The electricity bill for the pump is lower than for the heating element in a conventional water heater.
If you use electric solar panels, use the following rough formula: For every 5 Watt of power, you need about one square foot of panel (at today's technology). You see, even if you'd cover your entire roof with that stuff, you won't get enough power to run your entire residence. And try to avoid using things like an inverter (not "inventor", ha-ha), because it reduces your efficiency, and often doesn't give a pure sinewave as output, thus screwing-up some of your electronics in the house. Start with running a few lights on 12 Volt DC instead of 110 or 220 Volt AC, or small fridges meant for RVs, and things like that.
In any case, expect your initial investment cost only to amortised after 10 - 15 years! But you feel good......

Katrina Said:

DIY Solar panels for home?

We Answered:

Most of the test on solar cells with MONO AND POLY is the volts most poly is around .50 to .55 volts and on test mono is around .58 to .60 volts per sell most of the time the amps seem to be the same
so per size you get a little more watts from mono but for DIY SOLAR PANELS i would go with poly
this is a link of the solar panel i have Made with two sheets of Glass

https://sites.google.com/site/earthforsolar/glass-frame-diy-panel


If you need solar cells we sell them on www.solarcells101.com

Thanks David

Karen Said:

DIY solar panels for Gride tie?

We Answered:

Congratulations on your solar panel. It takes a lot of work to construct one.

Tying to the electric grid requires permission from your power company, and conformance to local building codes. This generally means compliance with the National Electrical Code (NEC), meaning your panels must be UL (or similar rating from another standard) listed, for fire and electrical safety reasons. Homemade panels won't qualify, unfortunately.

I really would discourage you from trying to do a jungle installation without permission, as the power distribution in a house is nothing to be trifled with. That would also likely void your homeowner's insurance, and give the bank a reason to call your mortgage, if you have these.

Dave Said:

Are these reliable plans for DIY solar panels?

We Answered:

I watched the video and they are selling you information you can get for free somewhere else. Check out 'Backwoods Home Magazine". They have a web-site and offer back issues on all their magazines for $5.00. They also offer instruction manuals on everything including solar energy and panel making. They have to cover their printing and mailing costs. If you want something absolutely free go to the library and do a search. You can check the books out or make copies there.

Beatrice Said:

DIY Solar panels? From scratch?

We Answered:

Instead of trying to make your own solar panels from old parts that may or may not work I would suggest you look for applications where solar panels are presently used on a temporary basis and then not recycled. Consider some place where a battery needs to be kept charged while being shipped and then not afterwords.

Alternatively you should be looking for overstocked or out of date units. None of this may be easy to find. You will be paying in effort what you don't pay out of your pocket.

If you can't come up with any possibilities then send me an email.

Angela Said:

How to create your own DIY Solar Panels?

We Answered:

You should try the ebook available at http://www.greenpowerguides.info . I was able to build my own solar heater and a solar battery charger for less than $50 after reading the book. Give it a try. There are many detailed tutorials in the ebook which will help you create many solar products.