This is how you calculate it…

Step One – Find Our Home Much Power You Use

In order to calculate this, you need to get your annual power bill and divide by 12 months in order to get your monthly average kilowatt hour (kWh) use.  Remember that in winter you are going to use more than in summer for some areas and so your usage is going to fluctuate.  If you only have a monthly bill, then you can use that and round it up if you think that you are going to use more later in the year.

Now you will want to divide your monthly usage by 30 for an average daily power usage amount.  If your monthly usage is 840kWh, then your daily will be 28kWh per day.

If you want to produce enough energy to cut your power bill in half, then divide this amount by 2 and that is what you will want your panels to produce every day ie 14kWh per day.

Click Here to go to the Diy Instruction Manual Download

.

.

Step Two – Calculate How Many Panels and What Watts You’ll Need

You will need to find out how many hours of direct sunlight you get in order to calculate this amount.  You can find this out by checking out the solar insolation map.  Once you know how many hours you will receive, you will then devide the number of daily kWh you need by this number.

Lets say for example that you live in California and have 5-6 hours of direct sunlight a day.  Taking an average of 5.5, you now divide your 14kWh by 5.5 and you get 2.54

53 Solar Panel Home

In order to compensate for any loss of energy through wiring, batteries and your inverter, multiply the amount you have by between 1.15 and 1.25

2.54 x 1.25 = 3.18kWh or 3180Watts per day

This means we need solar panels with the capacity to produce at least 3180 Watts of power.

Step Three – Calculate the Costs of Your Solar Panels to Produce This Energy

Let’s take a look at how much it would cost to buy these panels and then how much it will cost to build these panels.  To buy panels in the US, the cost is around $4.90 per Watt.

If you need to produce 3180 watts at $4.90 = $15,582

If you are going to build your own your costs per Watt are around $1.66 which means that your cost for generating 3180 watts of energy is $5,278.80.

This still sounds like an awful lot of money, until you take into consideration all the tax brakes you’re going to get.

Step Four – Offsetting Your Tax and Getting Incentives.

Renewable energy tax incentives went into effect on 1^st January, 2009.  This means that in California, you would receive a tax rebate of around 20% as well as a federal tax rebate of 40% of the rest of the costs.

In our example that means that if you build your own panels, you would be receiving tax credits and rebates in the amount of

$5,278.80 -20% = $1,056.76

$4,222.04 -40% = $1,688.82

Leaving a cost of $2,533.22

This is of course a very rough example of how to calculate your solar panel costs, and should only be used as a rough estimate, but it is possible to see how the savings mount up and when taking into consideration other factors such as offers given by individual power companies as well as sourcing cheaper components, you can easily cut your costs even further.

Click Here to go to the Diy Instruction Manual Download

.

.

Solar Cells Cost the Most

When you are building your solar cell array, you will want to have as many solar cells in it as possible because the more cells you have, the more energy it will produce.  Solar cells, however, are the most expensive components of your panel construction and finding cheap solar cells is an art.  If you know how the cells work, then you’ll know that even ‘broken’ or ‘misshaped’ cells will work just as well.  They don’t however look very pretty, so if you decide to use ‘broken cells’ you might not want your panels facing the road.

The best places to find second hand and broken cells is through online auction sites such as Ebay and others.

You can also approach companies that manufacture solar panels to see if they have any broken cells they are willing to sell off in bulk or alternatively you can research for broken panels that are being sold privately in the classifieds.

With a growing market of people building their own panels, it is not easy to find cheap solar cells, but the advantage of such a huge interest in the market is that the cost of buying solar cells at the hardware stores is coming down.

Cheap Solar Panels Through Incentives

Although incentives don’t make the cost of building your solar panels any less, they will allow you to reclaim on tax and in some areas you can actually get rebates and incentives that will cut the cost of your solar panels down by up to 80%.

The best places to look for this information are through the www.dsireusa.org site.  Other sites of interest are Energy Star and the IRS Goverment Site.  All these sites explain exactly what the government if prepared to offer by also look at your local council for incentive plans that are based in your area.

Cost of Solar Panels:-

• Your instruction manual = $50

There are cheaper manuals available, but this is an investment that is worth the money.  The best are not always the most expensive either, but the average price is around this price.  At this price, you should also have included a set of instructions on how to build a wind turbine.  (I’ll talk a bit more about that some other time).

• Your Components = $200

If you live near a big city with a well stocked hardware store, then you’ll find everything you need in one place, for those living a little more remotely, you may have to look online for some of the components, but they are all easily available and shouldn’t cost you more than around two hundred dollars.

• Storage Batteries = $0.00 – $50.00

This is one of those hidden costs that they don’t all mention.  If you are going to grid-tie your system then you don’t need batteries to store your power, but if you are going off grid, then you need a battery bank and the more energy you produce, the bigger your bank will have to be.  Now you can find batteries for free which will work relatively well, but unless you know a little about batteries, you may just opt to buy good second hand ones or even new ones.  Keep this in mind then calculating your overall costs of building your solar system for your home.

• Equipment to Get The Job Done = $0.00 – $20.00

Another hidden cost that you might not have thought about.  If you don’t have paintbrushes for the painting job and a small toolkit with hammer then these are things you’ll need to get.  Even a amatuer do it yourself enthusiast should have the tools needed, but if you don’t, then you’ll want to get this included in your budget.

• Running Costs = Minimal.

Solar panels don’t require much attention, but you will want to protect them in order to ensure that they work for years to come.  A little cleaning from time to time will do the trick and making sure that you locate them in a safe area that is not prone to falling branches or fruit will prevent any unneccessary damage.

The overall costs of building your first solar panel should be no more than a maximum $320, but most people are able to build their first for $250 or less.  After your first is built, you no longer have the cost of the instruction manual to consider and the rest of your solar panels should cost you less than $200.  If you want to know ways to reduce your costs even further, read my article on Cheap Solar Panels

My Biggest Tip on Seeing If Diy Solar Panels Are For You

This is my biggest tip, because no matter how much you research, until you actually see the instruction manuals, you really won’t know if you can do the job – so always buy instruction manuals that offer a money back guarantee!  This way, if you cannot locate the components, do not have the ability or just don’t think that the instructions are of an acceptable level of instruction, then just ask for your money back.

There is no greater guarantee that you are buying a quality product, than knowing they have a money back guarantee!

Click Here To Go Directly To The Download Page

How Do Solar Panels Work?

An easy explanation is that the panels are made up of a collection of solar cells.  The cells are made up of silicon and when linked together, they capture the energy from the sun.  It is then converted into electricity and this is the electricity you can use to run your home.  This may seem a very simplified version, but depending on how you want to generate energy, where you live and how you want to integrate your system into the grid or have a stand alone system, you will have small variances on this basic principle.

Click Here to go Straight to the Best Diy Solar Panel Plans.

.

.

The 3 systems you’ll want to think about.

Lets say you want to have a stand alone system where grid-tie is not an option, then you will need batteries to store your energy.  You could also opt for a hybrid system where you have some energy produced from your own efforts and some from an external system or you can have a grid-tie system, which means that you sell your energy to the grid when you have excess and use it from the grid when you don’t.

This last option is the most popular and is actually the easiest to implement because you don’t have to worry about batteries and storage space.

Click Here to see the Product

.

.

So how easy are they to build?

Solar panels are very easy to build, but only if you have a clear set of instructions.  There are so many different instruction manuals online, but the best step by step instruction will include video tutorials which allow you to actually see the work being done.  This is like looking over the shoulder of a professional.  It was also really helpful to have online support so that I could have my questions answered as soon as they cropped up.

The actual building was simple.  Although I would consider myself to be a bit of a do it yourself enthusiast, I don’t think that anyone will have any problems with the instructions.  I had some more technical questions that arose from wanting to use my solar panel energy to run my water pump from the well.  I didn’t know if I should integrate it into the whole system or have a separate system for the pump.

For the average person who lives in the country or suberbs, these kinds of questions won’t pop up, but if they do, you have people there ready to help you.

Click Here to go to the Downloadable Instructions.

.

.

Here are a few of the other questions that I keep getting asked and quick links to the pages where you’ll find the answers.

How To Calculate How Many Panels I’ll Need?

Where To Find Cheap Solar Cells?

How Much Energy Does An Average Home Use?

If you have any questions regarding the content in this website, about the products that are mentioned, or just any questions at all don’t hesitate to contact me at the following address.

Although I have not used all of the products on this site, I have researched each as best I can and would be happy to answer your questions.  I’d also love to hear any feedback on the site if you’ve found it helpful or have some ideas about how I can improve the site in some way.

Please contact me at  admin@BuildaGenerator.net
I will reply to all messages as soon as possible.

Our Commitment To Your Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and at every point where personally identifiable information may be requested.

Our Commitment To Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our Commitment To Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 18, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 18. Under our Terms of Service, children under 18 are no allowed to access our service.

Collection of Personal Information

On visiting this site, the IP address used to access the site will be logged along with the dates and times of access. This information is purely used to analyse trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Importantly, IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Links to third party websites

We have included links on this site for your reference. We are not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites.

lterations to this Privacy Statement

The content of this statement may be altered at any time.

Have a question? Just contact me at admin@BuildaGenerator.net