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It is becoming more common knowledge now that broken, chipped or otherwise damaged solar cells can potentially be used to make a homemade solar cell capable of producing electricity. Basic electrical wiring of several of these panels together has the potential to boost voltage so it can charge a few batteries in a bank, and at least partially power an appliance or two (when connected to a power inverter, of course.)

To many homeowners and do it yourselfers, this is a dream – a really cool project that isn’t too expensive and can reduce electric bills. The more electricity you can produce, after all, the less demand there is for it from the power grid. This lowers your bill. Or, if you are really adventurous, you can even get an electrician to connect your system to your house, and thus produce power that is fed into the grid. In theory, if you produced enough excess power, your meter will actually reverse and you will see credits on your energy bill!

Whoa! Hold on. Nothing we talked about here is illegal, but its time for a reality check. First of all, depending on your energy usage and demands, you would need to produce a lot of power to have an excess in the first place. And based on the solar panels available today, it is highly unlikely you will produce enough power to become a part time energy supplier.

But, it is entirely possible to produce just enough power to reduce your energy bills by $10 or $20 bucks per month.

You can go about this a couple ways, in regards to solar power. You can either build the solar panel array yourself using old broken solar cells and wiring them together yourself, or buying relatively cheap larger solar cells from a wholesaler and wiring them together.

I am currently writing another more detailed article on how to wire together broken solar cells to make a working panel, but the basic concept is this. Gather broken chips or cells of approximately the same size. I’d also recommend taking a multimeter or voltmeter and measure the approximate power output. The reason you want to do this is because when you wire solar panels in series, the power produced will only be as large as the lowest power cell. In other words it makes no sense to group a cell that gives off 200mv with one that produces 65mv, because the 200mv will fall to the 65mv level.

Once you wire and solder the cells together, you connect the cells to a bus, or larger gauge wire that collects the power. Now you just seal the cells (which are placed on wood, or another material), place plexiglass over the cells, seal the unit that that’s it. Connect the two bus leads to another array for increase your power, then to a battery.

You can also add a charge switch or charge controller which avoids letting the battery become overcharged, a diode which prevents power from flowing to the panels at night, a power inverter so the battery power can be converted to A/C, etc.

Building a panel out of new or slightly used solar cells that are whole involves the same basic process, except there is less soldering and electrical construction. The cells are already whole and probably wired. Plus, if you buy or obtain several cells that are rated the same, you can be confident connecting them in series without a serious drop in power.

The process of enclosing them, sealing it, and connecting it is the same. So, which is better? Which gives you more power? And which is more cost effective?

Well, you can generally get broken solar cells relatively cheap or even free if you know where to look. (Call your local highway department, hint-hint). Whole solar cells you will almost always have to pay for, and they can get pricey. However, you may find that more than a few cells in your bargain bag of solar cells do not produce any power at all and are worthless. And each one will produce sometimes wildly different power amounts.

Whole solar panels will almost always give you more power than broken or chipped ones, piece by piece. Five whole solar panels even at 9×9 inches will give you more power generation capability than five chipped pieces.

If you don’t mind doing quite a bit of work yourself, discarding cells that don’t work, and soldering cells together, then the DIY method of building a solar panel out of chipped cells may be for you. You can build the panel as big as you want and get the most bang for your buck.

The whole panel method is easier, requires less work, but still lets you make your own enclosure. However, it is definitely more expensive. Let’s talk costs. Whole panels around 9×9 inches may run you $6-$10 each. By contrast you may be able to score 20 or 30 2″x2″ or 3″x3″ chipped panels for around $25, which is a little over a buck each.

The power each produces will vary on how many cells you connect, and what each cell can produce. (Also, don’t forget the brighter the light source is, the more power is produced.)

Look for future articles on building practical solar panels, experiments, and how much raw power can be generated from each soon.

A solar cell is a device which changes sunlight into electricity. A more technical term for a solar cell is a photovoltaic cell. The term “photo” derives from the Greek word for “light,” and the term “voltaic” comes from the word “volt” which means “electrical force.” A “cell” is a small receptacle or container containing electrodes which generate power. Thus, a photovoltaic cell is a container that creates electric force, through light. Whereas a solar cell can generate electricity from any light source, its intended use is the collection of solar energy from the sun.

How a Solar Cell Works

The solar cell works as follows: Photons (which are particles of light in sun rays) hit the surface of the solar cell and are absorbed a semiconductor, such as silicon. These photons (bits of sunlight) knock electrons loose from the atoms inside the semiconductor. The photons then push the electrons along, leaving a “gap” in the atom. Another electron is then pulled from an adjacent atom to fill the gap. And so an electrical flow is generated.

The simplicity of this is that one atom has an extra electron, and the other atom is missing one. This is referred to as a “difference in potential.” Nature, wanting to remain balanced, tries to even things out by pulling another electron from the neighboring atom. A solar panel is comprised of a group of solar cells which are linked together to produce the desired amount of electrical energy. A group of solar cells linked together can also be referred to as a “module.” Thus the terms “solar panel,” and “solar module,” are synonymous to each other, and essentially mean the exact same thing. “Solar panel” is the more common term, and “solar module” is the technical term.

solar panel

One can use solar panels individually or one can link several together in order to generate more electricity. When a group of solar panels are linked together, it is called a “solar array”. The more solar panels are included in a solar array, the more power they produce. Solar Power is a clean and virtually unlimited source of energy. I say “virtually unlimited” because the sun itself won’t last forever. But we won’t have to worry about that for the next few billion years. Since solar power is a clean energy source which has been around for decades, one might wonder why its not used more. The answer to this lies partially in the cost of producing solar panels, as well as in the efficiency of the solar panels.

We are currently in the second generation of solar panel technology and verging on the third. A lot has changed since the first generation. Solar panels a are becoming a viable source of clean energy. The solar cells of earlier times were relatively large and bulky compared to our current models. In view of the amount of energy and material required to produce them, and the amount of energy they actually produced, it was more costly to use solar energy than to use fossil fuels. The only exception was in places where little or no fossil fuels were available, such as in space.

With the second-generation solar cells, we attempted to tackle this exact problem. We attempted improve manufacturing techniques so as to reduce the costs, materials and energy needed for the production of solar cells. Recently, major advances have been made in the production of solar cells, which have reduced production costs. One contribution in this area was the development of techniques to coat glass or ceramic materials with very thin layers of semi-conductive substances. This made it possible to produce solar panels using only a fraction of the semi-conductive material that was required earlier.

Solar panel

The production of solar panels using this second-generation technology is referred to as “Thin Film Technology.” Third-generation solar energy technologies are currently being researched and developed. The objective is to improve the power of solar cells even further (while keeping production costs to a minimum) in which case thirty to sixty percent of the sunlight hitting the panels will be converted into electricity. (Currently, solar panels convert only about twenty percent.) But regardless of third generation solar technology, the second-generation solar cell is efficient enough to make solar technology viable – and a host of new solar-powered products have hit the consumer market.

Solar-powered calculators have been in use for a while now, we’ve all seen them. We have even seen a few other novelty devices. But only in the last few years have solar devices come into serious and practical use. The last two years in particular have seen a virtual explosion of solar devices hitting the market. Solar flashlights (I’ve often wandered what use they were), solar-powered radios, and, recently, solar battery chargers.

One can also now find a wide range of portable solar chargers and panels, which are lightweight and easy to transport, yet capable of providing a decent amount of power in even the most remote locations. Solar chargers are becoming a standard part of wilderness survival kits and emergency preparedness kits. All of this is a result of the developments in solar cell technology, and the coming of the Solar Age.