Hey guys, I have been doing some research lately on PV solar cells. Seems pretty simple to create your own panels as long as you have patience and the time to get it done. I found a company that sells these 2watt cells for around .54cents a watt. Keep in mind they are off spec and produce less than optimal results, but they are uber cheap... The cool thing is you can virtually make the system as large or small as you like. They sell bundles of up to 15,000 cells, so in theory that would be close to 30,000 watt system, or 30Kw, a typical household's daily power consumption. Just wire the cells in series and enclose them in a protective case and presto your own solar panel. check out these links

http://greenpowerscience.com/

http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=32

Anyone who has played around with creating their own solar panels please post your experience for others to benefit from. I would like to try to make my own panels within the next year.. maybe as a winter project. Cheers to keeping it green in more way than one

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50 views and not one comment... stop being soo shy people.. Solar Panels... who's got them???

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Ok, well I guess I will just turn this thread into a library of info, since no1 is talking. I will post all the links that I visit pertaining to this subject. Jump in at any time.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/1/5/51211/79555

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...anels-ebay.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnOe4DZSpQ

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http://www.technologyreview.com/read...solar&id=20476

http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2240

+++++++Global List of Manufacturer's+++++++++
http://www.solarbuzz.com/solarindex/...ufacturers.htm

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell

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man i would love to jump in and help if i had any idea about it. i live in southern CA where the sun shines every day and i'm in NEED of some solar panels. so far i havent looked too deep into it because i thought it would cost around 10k-20k for a decent setup.

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Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind

I thought so too.. the most expensive components are the power inverters and the panels themselves. If I can find a way to house these cells so that they are resistant to the weather I think it could be a good way to cut down costs for the system. You could gradually add panels over time if cost was an issue. The 2nd link for sunelec will give you a list of everything you need depending on your power requirements. Check it out when you have the time, it is pretty interesting stuff.

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man this would be awesome. Thanks for the info

I'm not that optimistic regarding actual output as you said, but could still help some guerillas..

id love to walk a path of green energy but find the cost beyond prohibative , im waiting now for the end of the year as i figure winter time will be the best point to try to invest in a system

for the sysem iteslf i tintend to use both solar and wind running a small as i can find upto 500w turbine , the reason is simply about housing , i will be lashing this to the top of my shed and it was never designed to take loads from the side , i may even use a concrete fence post if despirate , the solar ellement will consist of a panel around 100w running down to leasure batteries with the usual inverter to run 240v , due to the length of the shed i can and will extend the size of the set up as funds become avaiable by adding more and more panels , the power created will be used to run a small grow in the shed all going to plan or if not just to run the shed itself i would hope if nothing else to manage to keep moms in there under floros or clf`s , its just my luck to buy a house without a single south facing roof out of the 3 roofs this house has so cant create energy to help run the house , it would be a major untaking to run a serious amount of panels off the shed roof to then run lines into the house from this