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When it comes to converting to solar power, and in particular when you plan to do it with DIY solar panels, I am sometimes asked if there are special considerations when performing a whole-home conversion. The answer is yes. If you plan to convert your home using diy solar electric panels, then there are a few things to discuss.

First, converting to solar power, special considerations before you make the conversion. A single solar panel may be built for $100-$150 or less. But, when converting an entire home, the project will likely end up costing a few thousand or more.

Of course a $3,000 home conversion is 1/10 of the cost of having a professional solar panel installer design and install your system, so that price isn’t bad. For many the costs will be recovered in the first year and the solar panels you build have a life expectancy of 30 years or more. If you take advantage of some of the government rebates that the top diy solar panel guides recommend, you can reduce that cost by half.
When taking on a project of this size through there are still a few considerations to make beforehand. Considering the details, When converting to solar power for your home, will help ensure your diy solar panels last for years to come.

It should be noted before we get started that many people (when taking on a DIY Solar Power project) usually decide to begin by first working to reduce their energy bill.

They start by building a few solar panels, and they don’t actually convert to solar power until later on. Over time they add to their system and with $100 – $200 put in each month they can finish converting to solar power over time. By working this way the cost of converting to solar power is spread out over a period of 6 month to a year and their isn’t a large outlay of cash required ahead of time.

Even if you choose this route to convert your home, there are still considerations to make ahead of time. Specifically there are two areas that need to be considered. We need to talk about energy needs, and the solar panels that you decide to build.

Solar Power for Your Home – Considering Energy Needs
Before you decide to convert your entire home to solar power you should first look at your energy requirements. There are simple things you can do to reduce your electricity needs beforehand that will reduce the overall cost of your solar energy solution.
Things like switching to LCD lighting, replacing old appliances, and adding a solar water heating system to your current electric hot water heater, will greatly reduce the amount of power you need. When you begin to look closely at your home many people can reduce their energy needs by 50% or more and it doesn’t have to cost a lot.
If you need help in this area, the top DIY guide to Solar and Wind Power, lays out the steps needed here quite well.

Solar Power For Your Home – The DIY Solar Panels
The next thing you need to consider is the solar panels than you build. The life expectancy of a solar cell is 30 – 40 years. Because of this you are going to want to choose materials that will allow you to build panels that will last just as long.

Instead of using painted plywood for a backing for your solar panels, consider using aluminum sheeting or exterior grade plywood. And, instead of framing your panel with 1 x 2, consider using square aluminum tubing. Simple ideas like this will reduce the amount of maintenance needed and extend the life of your solar energy system.

Building solar panels that will stand the test of time is particularly important when converting to solar power for your entire home. You won’t be doing yourself any favors by using cheaper materials and ending up having to rebuild the panels 5 years down the road.

The reality is that converting to solar power is easy. If you’re converting an entire home though, taking the time to consider the finer elements will help you make the most of your conversion. If you need help with any of this, one of the top DIY solar power guides can be a big help.

If You’d Like to Learn More About DIY Solar Panels, use the links at the top of this site to get video reviews of the top 5 guides to solar power. These are the guides that we found provided the best instruction on how to build solar panels the diy way!

By Wayne O Sullivan
How would you like to save money on your electric bills? Paying virtually nothing each month even? Or switching only part of your power system over from the grid, you can when you make solar power. Buying the panels or building them it’s your choice.
Many people do this and you can too. In order to make solar power your energy choice you can build your own solar panels if you so wish or you can buy them. Looking around to find the best deal will take some time. But don’t forget to always consult the experts out there before paying out money for your choice.
Wind and solar power are making a huge comeback, because the power prices are always rising. Companies charge you large amounts for supplying power that you can get for free. So why not switch over to solar or wind or both as a choice for your household electricity.
Solar power is an option that will have you choosing between three types of solar cells. Crystals in either the single or multi cell, and silicone are all that are available at present. You can even buy them out of recycled material if you wish.
However, did you know that these solar panels are seemingly very easy to make? Yes, and it doesn’t cost you that much money either to make solar power. But if you’re looking to run your full household off of solar energy, you may want to plan carefully first.
That’s where those expert advice comes in. How many solar panels will you need in order to run your whole house? Should you combine it with wind power? Of course you will also need to consider the wattage of the solar panels that are needed. Solar power isn’t something you can decide on and change to overnight. Some thought will need to be placed into the process, and compared with many choices. Find out which solar cell will best suit your needs and how many watts each panel should hold. There are many questions and routes you can take so be sure to get some advice first. Remember, the money you save going the D.I.Y route will be well worth your effort.
Finally, Is it better to not pay an electric bill by switching and to make solar power your choice? Or do you just like giving your hard earned cash to the power companies? Either way it’s your money. Making your own solar power is great way to save some cash and help the environment at the same time.
My Diysolarzone website has many helpful articles about constructing your very own wind or solar devices and I have reviewed the top 3 best selling guides available on the net which includes easy step-by-step tutorials with pictures and hours of video to help you easily construct solar panels or wind generators.

Living Off Grid with Solar Power
When it comes to living off grid, one way many seek to accomplish it is with solar power. Today I’m going to cover just how easy it is to go off grid by choosing to build your own solar panel system. With new techniques and kits becoming available it really is simple for anyone who chooses to convert their entire home to solar power and live off grid for good.

Really this is a three step process, so let’s cover each step individually to help you go off grid and build your own solar energy system.

Living off Grid Step 1 – Determine Your Requirements.
Your first step can actually be divided into two separate steps. First, it’s worth taking the time to reduce your energy needs before converting to solar power. This is as simple as looking at what you currently have and replacing things with more energy efficient models.

As an example, a 100 Watt incandescent bulb uses 100 Watts of energy for every hour you have it on. A newer LCD bulb has cleaner light and uses only 4.5 Watts of energy to produce the same amount of light. Simple changes like this will reduce your energy requirements and in turn reduce the cost of your overall system.

If you need help with this step, Canada’s Energuide is an excellent resource to learn about the energy requirements of different items, and comparing them to reduce energy. Also, the implementation guide that comes with Green Power Easy details the steps needed here very well. Find a link to their site at the end of this article.

Once you’ve reduced your energy requirements, you need to take the time to calculate how much energy you use on a daily basis. This is as simple as looking at everything in your home that requires electricity and then calculating the Watt-Hour requirements.

For example if you look at your lightbulbs:
That LCD 4.5Watt Bulb is on for 4 hours a day. It then uses 4.5 x 4 = 18 Watt Hours of Electricity each day.
Your fridge that is rated at 400 Watts (runs about 1/3 of the time) uses 400 x 8 = 3200 Watt hours of electricity every day (or 3.2 kW Hours) .

Continue this with every electrical appliance in your house until you have a complete list of what’s needed.

Living off Grid Step 2 – Build Solar Panels to Suit
Your next step is to build enough solar panels to suit your home’s needs. If you were building 100 Watt panels, then each one is capable of producing about 1.2 kilo Watt Hours of electricity every day. If in step one you determined that you needed 10 kilo Watt hours per day to run your home, you would then need 8 panels to run your home.

In this case, you want to produce more power than you actually use so you should build more. Using the above example I might choose to build 11 panels to ensure I have energy to spare and that I never reduce my battery bank to 0.

Building your own solar panels is surprisingly simple. A DIY guide to alternative energy can teach you everything you need to know.

Living off Grid Step 3 – Assembly Your Solar Power System
The last step to living off grid is to put together your final system. This will entail getting a charge controller (can be built yourself for about ¼ of the cost), setting up a battery bank, and then getting a power inverter and wiring everything into your home.

There are many choices out there to learn how to implement all of the steps we have just discussed. . We suggest the first step is to read some reviews of the top guides to DIY solar panels. These guides give you a more detailed idea of how to do it and will also give you inexpensive solutions to things like building a battery bank to store energy.

When it comes to getting solar panels for home use, it’s fair to say that there are many choices. We could talk about Kyocera solar panels, GE panels or Evergreen solar. It’s my admonition that your main choice shouldn’t be between solar panel brands though; it should be whether or not you want to save money by building them yourself.
With the right instruction, anyone can build a solar panel, and building solar panels for your home will save you thousands over the cost of buying them. To clarify this, let’s compare buying solar panels to building them yourself.
Building Solar Panels for Home Use will Save You Money

Buy Solar Panels For Home Use
To begin with let’s talk about buying solar panels. In 2009, the average cost of solar panels did actually fall a bit, but it’s still not enough.
According to Science Daily, the average cost per watt for solar panels installed ranged between $7.60 and $10.60 (depending on where you live). So for a 100 Watt solar panel you should expect to pay $760 – $1060 per panel. Considering that just 3 years prior the same panel was $1200 +, this is a step in the right direction, but we can still install a solar power system for a lot less.

Build Solar Panels For Home Use
Now let’s talk about building solar panels. If you choose the DIY yourself method to install your solar panels for home use, you can go green while saving green!
The average cost of a homemade solar panel is $1.25 – $2.50 per watt. To put this into perspective, instead of paying $1060 per panel (on the high end) you can expect to pay $250 or less (also on the high end). That’s a savings of over $800 per panel.
In this case it isn’t the brand you choose that varies the cost, but the parts themselves. Solar cells will cost you about $0.95 per watt, and then you have some choices to put the rest of the panel together. You could build a cheap solar panel for $125 – $150. Or you could use higher end backer boards and covers and spend $250 per panel.
Now here’s the best part. Building a solar panel isn’t difficult at all. Starting with the right instruction, most people can build a complete solar panel in less than an hour. In other words by simply putting in an hour of time you save yourself $800. For each panel you build, you’ll repeat this.
Solar Panels For Home Compared – Building to Buying
It’s when we talk about an entire solar energy system for your home that the advantage to building solar panels for home really becomes clear. If you decided to convert your whole home to solar energy (you don’t have to do this by the way, you could just install a few panels to reduce your energy bill) you might need 12 panels, maybe 15, or even 20. In this case you’d have to calculate your own energy need.
Let’s just assume for a moment that you needed 12. If you purchased those panels at $1000 per piece, that’s 12 x $1000 = $12,000 you would be spending on the solar panels. If you chose to build those solar panels instead, even if we calculate this on the high-end, you would be paying $250 x 12 = $3000. In other words you saved $9,000.
As long as you use an ISO certified DC converter, that homemade solar energy system can still be tied into the grid, and as such it still qualifies for the government rebates on green power. So you can still reduce that $3,000 by an additional 40% – 60% (depends on your state).
To sum it up, you can build solar panels for home use and save money. In fact, with the right instructional material, anyone can do it. To get you started, I recommend the #1 DIY Solar Guide (Green Power Easy), or the #2 DIY Solar Guide (Earth 4 Energy). Or if you’re not quite ready to get started, take a look at all of our reviews to see more info.

By Joseph Parish
As a survivalist I fully understand that in the event of a major crisis our usual power generating facilities may not be functioning as expected. In that sense, I am continually seeking out additional means by which I can create electrical power on my own. Having this ability to make my own electricity is not only beneficial at my normal home but would serve as a great advantage when it is functional at my distant emergency retreat as well.

The advantages of employing solar energy as a power source have some far reaching effects upon not only my abilities to be self sufficient but for the environment also. Practical solar equipment is relatively new at the market place and there is still much that we have to learn about this amazing way to make power. Regardless of its newness this astounding form of power generation is preordained to become our major energy source in future years. Several of the fundamental advantages of this type of power are:

•It is a very renewable energy resource. What this means is that we will never run out of this form of energy. Fossil fuels have a limited life span and sooner or later there will no longer be any oil to acquire as our reserves are completely depleted. Solar on the other hand, will be available as long as the sun in the sky shines down upon us.

•Solar power is a green form of energy. It is a non-polluting type of power source unlike oil. It emits no undesirable gases or odors and does not harm our environment in any manner. We will never experience a spill of any kind from solar power equipment.

•Best of all it is free. Once you have the necessary equipment firmly in place it will produce your needed electricity at no further expense on your part. With no moving parts of any kind the equipment if properly maintained can perhaps last you a lifetime.

For us survivalists these advantages can be seen in everyday products such as the cars we drive, our hot water heaters and light for our buildings. Since we often locate our emergency retreats in out of the way locations the use of solar power provides us with a bit of human comforts that we have come to expect.
I have been quite verbal at expressing the various advantages of solar power and now to be fair I would like to present you with a few of its disadvantages. The downfalls associated with these sunlight generating units are that they are still extremely costly. The expected performance is lower then we would want considering the financial investment necessary. We can only hope that the technology for this energy source continues to be improved resulting in an increase in quality while dropping the price considerably.

However, with that said, building your own solar panels is totally different story. You can easily build a solar panel for under $200 and recoupe your investment very quickly. It just takes a little DIY adventure and experience. Learn how to get started by reading about the top five DIY guides found on the web and when you are ready to start you can’t go wrong in choosing to use Green Power Easy.