We knew that learning how to make solar panels was the only solution as soon as we saw the price of the new ones we were looking at for our off grid home. That was over 15 years ago now, and after a ton of research and more practice than we would care to admit to, we now think that we can show you how to make solar panels.

The first thing to remember is that solar cells are very brittle.

Here is a picture of Jane checking a recent order of solar cells very carefully. They are paper thin and even the slightest drop will crack or break them. As soon as they are set in place and the simple soldering is done with the backer board in place they are much more stable.

We have been experimenting with using glass as our backer material, but for now, if you are a beginner, you should use plywood, usually one quarter inch thick will work fine. This allows you to set the solar cells in place much more easily when you are just learning how to make solar panels.

The cells can be secured to the wood more easily and the wiring fed through the back too making for a much less complicated process.

The first thing we do after inspecting the solar cells is test them in the sunlight to see how much voltage the cell puts out in full sun.

Do you see that Jane is holding one cell upside down, that back silvery side you touch the red (positive)lead of your digital volt meter to it. The front side you touch the negative (black) lead to it.

These simple monocrystalline cells are about 5 inches square and put out about half a volt each.

When we first started to learn how to make solar panels we would buy these solar cells in lots of 20 or so, now we try and contact the seller (usually on ebay) to see if they will sell them in lots of 100 or more. This substantially reduces the price of your solar panels, and we have consistently produced our solar energy at about $1.50 per watt, or about $150 for a 100 watt output solar panel.

We explain in great detail buying of the cells on ebay in the “How to Make Solar Panels Book”, this is very important as the main part of the panels is these cells and the price you buy them at will determine how successful you are at making your own.

The next consideration in learning how to make solar panels is actually your renewable system voltage. You need to match your solar panel size with your system voltage. This can be a little tricky for some folks, so we will explain further.

Remember each cell was about one half of a volt? If your system voltage is 12 volts then you will want to put together your panels so they come in just slightly above this level for charging of the batteries. 28 cells in a 4 wide by 7 long configuration works well and produces about 14 volts.

Each separate panel is then wired together in series to keep producing 14 volts, but this ups the current going to the batteries and your charging power.

You can see from this diagram how a series connection is easily done with a combiner board. When you are learning how to make solar panels this can be an easy way to keep everything sorted out. We also try and keep the wiring color coded for ease of identification.

When you come to wiring the cells together you will also notice that solar cells are very good conductors of heat and it is a bit tricky to get them soldered together properly. We cover the fine (but learnable) art of soldering in much more detail in “How to Make Solar Panels Book”

To get started you will need

• A small work surface to practice how to make solar panels
• Soldering iron, usually the pen type is needed
• An order of solar cells
• Tabbing wire or copper wire
• Backer board
• Digital volt meter for checking your cells and connections

It is not really a complicated process but it does take some time to learn. The results of having your own solar panels at a small fraction of the price of new is well worth the effort to learn how to make solar panels.

Are you ready to get started? Follow this link to find out more about this exciting option to produce your own renewable energy right at home, a great family project, and quite a bit of fun too.

How to Make Solar Panels Guide Book

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