Building Your Own Solar Panel

power bills have been constantly rising for many years but it has now reached the stage where power is now a major element in the household budget. The increasing cost of power in conjunction with the environmental problems created by burning fossil fuels, is encouraging more people to think about the environment and explore the possibility of creating their own renewable power source.
Building your own solar panels or a wind generator is very tempting but how feasible is it? Can a home made solar panel or home made wind generator really result in a noticeable change to a normal household power bill? Or are they just fanciful dreams and marketing hype?
There are lots of variables that affect the answers to these questions. The impact will depend on where you live and the extent that you wish to go with your DIY power system.
One of the primary factors that impacts the viability of home made solar panels will be the exposure that your house has to the sun. It is obvious that a cave deep in the depth of a forest is not going to gain much from a solar panel! So check the travel of the sun over your house, how many hours of direct sun does your house get? The encouraging news is that most homes should not have any trouble in getting enough solar power to produce electricity from a home made solar panel.
The same logic is true when thinking about a home made wind generator; you will need wind to turn it! In most places the wind cannot be trusted as the only source of power--it simply fills in the spaces left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind normally blows.
The amount of power that can be generated from a DIY power set up will depend upon the size and nature of the devices being used.
Solar panels which generate electricity are also known as 'photovoltaic cells' or 'solar pv modules' The amount of electricity that you can expect to extract from a solar panel is calculated by surface size and weight and usually will lie between 5 and 50 watts, although multiple cells can easily be linked together. Any excess electricity that is generated can be stored in batteries for release at a later time.
The power that can be generated from a home built wind generator is obtained from the square of the blade diameter (double the diameter and you get 4 times the power) and the cube of the wind speed (double the wind speed and you get 8 times the power). Although you can't order the wind speed, you can define the blade diameter. Typical domestic wind turbines will have a diameter of around 6-8 feet and a typical domestic power system would be capable of generating 1 - 6 kilowatts with a wind speed of about 6-10miles per hour.
A home renewable energy power station consisting of a home made wind generator and solar panel is not only achievable but very practical. With a bit of research it is possible to find plans for building DIY wind generators and solar panels and these do not require any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the components are readily obtained from local sources and the whole production process shouldn't take more than a few days.
Can a DIY home power system save you money, yes it certainly can. Either you can power electric items in your house directly from the free renewable electricity, or if you are able to link your home built power system to the power grid then you can offer your electricity to your power company.
Home generation of electricity is not only a reality; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all homes will have a renewable energy source in the future.

By: Roger Titley

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Visit www.my-ecopower.com and check out the plans that I used to construct my own low cost, easy to build domestic power station.