Contrary to popular belief, building a solar panel yourself is really not that hard, or expensive. In fact, you can have one up and running for just $200! All you need is a couple of materials from your hardware store and a good guide to walk you through it. Some of the materials which you will need are: plywood or plastic board, solar cells, UV protector, Flex-glass, silicone, tin wire, solder and solder iron or gun, nuts, bolts, rosin flux pen, and a junction box. You will also need a volt meter to test your solar panel, you can borrow one of these though.

The first thing you’ll be doing is making a template. This is basically making the foundation for the solar panel. This is like the planning stage of the project, where you make sure everything is going to fit correctly.

Then you will be cutting your materials to fit the template you just designed. This includes cutting out how many solar cells you are going to need to power whatever it is you are trying to power. If you want 200w of power then you would simply cut out 100 solar cells. During this step you will also be coating the wood or plastic with UV guard.

The you will be cutting the tab wire for the panel. This includes making sure they are the right length, and soldering them to the necessary places. The Power4Home guide will teach you how to do this in detail. Then you will be working with the solder gun flux pen. You will also be doing so some soldering in this step as well.

Next you will be attaching the solar cells in rows. If you are making a 50 cell panel then you would make 5 rows with 10 cells in each row. In this step you will also be attaching the cells to each other. Then you want to test it with the volt meter, to make sure you have done all of the previous steps correctly. After you have made sure everything is okay, then you will be using the silicone to the cell rows to the panel. Once you have done this, you’ll be pulling the wires through the junction box. Finally you will frame the solar panel to wrap up the job.

This was simply a vague description of the process of making a solar panel. If you would like an in depth guide that will tech you how to do it step by step, then I would recommend the Power4Home guide. It is packed with instructions, diagrams, and 3+ hours of instructional video. The guide is so easy to follow, even a small child could do it.