PART 1: $100 70w Solar Panel DIY project

After having good success with adding a small solar panel at my home I thought I would try to design and built one myself with the goal of having it near as good as a commercially purchased panel. No wood. No paint.

In PART 1 I cover project objectives and I go over the design alternatives.

Screen recording was done using the Debut video capture software. Video editing was done with Microsoft's Movie maker.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• solar panel
• solar energy
• diy
• how to
• engineering
• electricity
• sylgard
• eva

[wiboater4]

I have seen commercial solar panels for $1.84 per watt. Sunelec. sells them. Then you have to also consider the government rebates you get. Shipping is expensive though so that drives the price back up per watt. For me for 380 watts would have come out to about $ 2.36 per watt. with commercial panels.

[wiboater4]

You can save money on the aluminum if you go to a local steel, or aluminum supplier and buy it. I got 50 ft of 1.5X1.5X1/8 inch aluminum for $65. Tempered glass they will usually give you a little bit off if you order more than one. Otherwise look for an old storm door with tempered glass. Habitat for Humanity stores sell them for $3 to $5. You can fit 72 5x5 cells on them.