A Quick and simple 101 Guide to Solar Power Production
Making a solar panel at home is pretty a challenging task and something that shouldn’t be experimented with without fully committing personally to a great deal of work. It might not be rocket science but it’s certainly a tricky and laborious process. If you are a person who thinks a hammer is nothing but an odd-shaped door stop, it might be to your advantage to leave the solar panel construction to professionals.
With that in mind, making your very own solar panels really can be considered a worthwhile home project through taking on such a project yourself you possibly can significantly cut your costs – by 50 to 80% – over the commercially ready solar panel.
Ever since the too high price of solar panels is within large part as a result of high cost of solar cells, you can achieve much of your cost reduction by buying damaged and used solar panels from sites for example eBay. Next, with your ingenuity and some handy DIY skills, the single thing between you and a working solar panel is time and effort.
In the meantime however, let’s take on a much more basic task making a single solar cell. This project is great fun and may show the basic as well as simple concept behind solar energy.
What You Will Need:
1. Copper sheeting.
2. A couple of alligator clip lead cables.
3. A sensitive micro-ammeter (you can get this at Radio Shack).
4. An electric stove or maybe a one burner hot plate should you have a gas stove. If you are purchasing a hot plate make sure it’s at least 1100 watts.
5. A large clear plastic bottle. Think 2 Liter Coke or Mineral Water bottles with all the top cut-off.
6. Just a few tablespoons of salt.
7. Water.
8. Sand paper, steel wool or perhaps a wire brush attachment for the electric drill.
9. Metal sheers.
The way it is done:
1. Cut a piece of copper sheeting at approximately the size of the stove burner. (Be sure to thoroughly clean the copper sheet making use of sandpaper or steel wool to get rid of any sulfide and/or light corrosion.
2. Heat the copper sheet on the burner (in the highest heat setting)
As the copper increases its’ temperature the color will turn black with a layer of cupric oxide. That is normal. Allow the copper “cook” for about a half-hour.
3. After around 30 minutes turn off the burner and let the copper cool. It’ll shrink – also quite common. The black cupric oxide will begin to flake and detach as both the oxides and copper dissolve. It may need approximately twenty minutes for the copper to cool down, at which point you simply must remove any excess cupric oxide black film left in the copper. You may scrub lightly with your hands under your tap.
Now cut another bit of copper at exactly the same size and dimensions as the “cooked” copper.
4. Place both copper sheets in the plastic bottle, bending them properly to fit and ensuring they do not touch.
5. Attach both the alligator clips to each sheet, connecting the positive lead (through the “Clean copper sheet”) to the positive terminal of the meter, and the negative lead (the “cooked” copper sheet) towards the negative terminal of the meter.
6. Mix your 2 tablespoons of salt together with some hot water. Stir until the salt is dissolved.
7. Carefully pour the salt water in to the plastic bottle being careful to prevent pouring onto the leads. A good guideline is to leave at least an inch amongst the water and the leads so you’re able to move around the device with relative ease.
A solar cell is a battery, so you can expect that even in the dark your meter will show just a few micro amps of current. Don’t be expecting that it’ll light a baseball field though, and it also would take acres these (literally) to power your home. I sincerely doubt there’d sufficient power generated from this to power the light bulb. Even so, as soon as you put this device in the sunlight you will see the meter jump to 30+ microamps of current – which may be enough to use your new solar cell as a light meter or light detector.
Setting up a home solar panel is an entirely different beast from this, however you now have a practical concept of how a single solar cell functions. To create a solar panel you will need to purchase a lot of prefabricated solar cells – second hand (as outlined above) if you wish to save money. Once you’ve the cells, you will require a water-tight and robust enclosure to keep the elements from damaging your solar cells. Solar cells are very delicate. The process of making the cells work within your panel enclosure is a simple process.
So that’s it, Solar Power 101. For unique interest, give this a try one day when you’re bored. There’s nothing more satisfying than creating power from nothing but sunlight.
