From the operators of www.GreenLivingRocks.com — providing education regarding how to make a homemade solar panel, solar panels for sale, and solar hot water heaters.

One of the reasons that building your own pv (photovoltaic panels has become so popular is that there are really very few components involved. A regular solar panel consists of just a few basic parts, namely an enclosure, solar cells, a substrate and wiring. Here’s an outline of what’s involved.

Solar panel container or enclosure
This is what most people see when they think of a solar panel. It’s the clear glass top, the frame and the backing that the photovoltaic cells are mounted on. The case can be hefty enough to need a custom built metal rack for mounting on a rooftop, or small enough to be a plastic box that can be placed almost invisibly near an outdoor floodlight. It needs to be resistant to ultra violet (UV) rays so that it does not weaken with constant exposure to sunlight. And the glass (usually Plexiglas) needs to be robust enough to withstand harsh weather, including hail and wind storms that could crash tree branches and other debris into it.

Substrate
This is the piece of wood, peg board or other material that the solar cells are mounted on inside of the enclosure. It also needs to be UV-resistant to endure prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.

Photovoltaic cells
The solar cells are similar to the silicon chips that power most computers. They combine the silicon, metals and other materials in a way that captures direct sunlight and converts it into electricity. The electricity can either be instantly used by direct current devices (DC) like LED lights, or stored in DC batteries and changed into alternating current (AC) to power conventional appliances like refrigerators, TVs and other electrical equipment in homes and businesses.

Tabbed and untabbed solar cells
When building your own solar powered panels, you can save money by buying untabbed solar cells and soldering the tabs on the cells yourself. This can be a good choice if you have more time than money, but it’s a tedious job. You can save time by buying tabbed solar cells which will cut your soldering time by one-half to two-thirds.

Photovoltaic cell wiring
Once the solar cells are mounted on the substrate, they are wired to each other in a series so that they can create electricity. Copper wire is added to connect the solar cells to storage batteries for using the electricity later, or to connect directly to the device that the photovoltaic panel is powering like an attic fan or a solar powered toy.

Blocking diode

The blocking diode is a tiny component that prevents electricity that is stored in a battery from draining backward into the pv (photovoltaic) panel. Bigger photovoltaic systems use a charge controller for the same effect.