How to Build a Simple Solar Panel
From HomeSolarDIY.com
There are many things to learn and factors to take into account when beginning the process of building a home solar power system. The key here is to learn. Read, get a little background. This will always save time and money no matter what you’re endeavor.
The scope of this article is designed to perhaps take you a step or two into the process and won’t attempt to lay out in detail everything involved. The solar panel of course is the heart of any system, converting sunlight directly to electricity. A single panel will generate 70 to 100 watts of power depending on the number of individual photovoltaic cell are used. The panel we describe here
is of this size range, 2’ by 4’, which will house up to 48 cells.
Again we won’t go into the details of the entire system, one panel will do little if you are contemplating feeding power to your home to save money and energy overall. Many panels must be constructed and so the following design criteria was used when I came up with this particular design:
- The panel must be easy to build
- The panel must be durable. The cells can produce power for years and years and the panel housing must also.
- The panel must be reproducible. You will need to build many panels over time and you must be able to get the same materials today, next week and next year. Other How To information I’ve seen on the internet tout how cheaply you can build a panel and would lead you to believe you can do it with odds and ends laying around the house. Wrong! All material used come from Home Depot or your local building center.
- The panel must be of clean, professional looking construction. You don’t want the panel array on your house to look homemade. (and also take a little pride in your workmanship!)
To begin, the panel consists of a very shallow plywood box covered with plexiglass and bordered with extruded aluminum angle. Specifically:
- Use 3/8” CDX plywood. Have the guys at the building center cut the plywood down the middle both ways giving you four 2’x4’ pieces, slightly smaller than 24”x48” which is fine.
- For the edging either rip some ¾” X ¾” strips from pine 1x2 or just buy ¾”x ¾” molding.
- Use .22o 2’x4’ acrylic plexiglass for the cover.
- Use 3 pieces of 1’x1’x1/8”x4’ extruded aluminum for the flashing over the plexiglass.
- For the sealant use PL polyurethane Window, Door and Siding Sealant
To start the panel housing, use small brads to nail and glue the ¾” stock around the perimeter of the plywood. (Pick the best side of the plywood to be up) Next paint the box with a good exterior grade paint, two coats. For best appearance we used dark blue (it’s up to you).
When the paint is dry place the plexiglass on the perimeter molding and space it evenly at the edges. Cut one piece of the aluminum in half. Run a liberal bead of sealant across the acrylic on one end and set the 2’ piece of angle in the sealant. Squeezeout is good. Use a piece of scrap lumber say a 1x2 to clamp the aluminum in place. Do the same with both 4’ side pieces, on top of the 2’piece in place. Same with the final 2’ aluminum over the two side pieces. Clamp all and let set for a few days. When this sealant is set up, it’ll be like the flashing is welded to the acrylic. The beauty of this simple design is that you’ve created a “lid” that can be removed easily for whatever reason. Remove the lid now and run some more sealant into the corners on the underside.
When the cells are installed and tested simply put the lid back on and use a pair of #6x3/4” screws on the long sides to hold in place, and your solar panel is complete.
Tabbing, installing and wiring the cells together in to panel box is a whole different subject. If you want complete details on an entire entry level power system and how to install it go to HomeSolarDiy.com