Do You Need Permits?

Now comes our favorite part of building a wind generator. Do you need permits? Are you allowed to put a wind generator up in your municipality? These questions are very easily answered and the good news is that the people you will be in contact with actually want to help you (which is great for us). Read more »

How Much Power?

Ahh, the first step on a new journey. Before we jump into building a wind generator you'll need to do a little background work first. The most important is to figure out how much energy you want your wind generator to produce. First though, we have to check and make sure that wind energy is right for you. Read more »

Step 11: Putting The Siding On

The last step has arrived! While your panel looks pretty good right now, we want it to look like a professional panel. To do this we add a little "J" flashing around the edge of the panel. This can be a little trick so make sure to watch the video. Read more »

Step 10: Trimming The Sides Off

Ok, now that your silicone has cured for a couple days it's time to trim off the excess around the edge of the cells. You're going to want to leave about 3/4" out from the edge of the cells because we're going to cover that up with some "J" vinyl flashing. Read more »

Step 9: Putting the Backing On

Now that we know that our panel produces power and we haven't screwed anything up it's time to put the backing on the panel. This is a crucial step because it's very important that you properly seal the panel so that rain water can't get in. Read more »

Step 8: Testing for Power

Our solar panel has been all wired together, but before we put the finishing touches on it, we should test to make sure that we haven't screwed anything up. This is a fairly simple process in which you peel back some of the covering of the plexiglass and shine some light on the cells. Read more »

Step 7: Connecting Strings of Cells Together

Now that our cells aren't going to be moving on us anymore it's time to wire everything together. Right now you have 6 strings of solar cells. Each of these strings produces about 4.5 volts. We are going to connect all of the strings together so our panel can produce 19 volts so we have enough voltage to charge our batteries. Read more »

Step 6: Tacking Strings In Place

Alright, before we go connecting the strings in place we need to tack the strings into place so that they don't move them around when we connect the strings together. This step helps ensure that all of your cells are perfectly spaced and aligned. This step is what gives your panel that professional look. Read more »

Step 5: Stringing Cells Together

Ok, now that you have tabbed your solar cells it's time to connect them together in such a way that we can get some useful power out of them. You see... by themselves solar cells don't produce very much energy. The ones I use produce 0.55 volts, 3.98 amps (or about 2 watts). Since 0.55 volts isn't going to charge 12 volt battery we need to hook the cells up in series to get the voltage we need. Read more »

Step 4: Tabbing the Solar Cells

Now that we've finished all of our preparations for tabbing solar cells it's time to actually tab them! If you haven't yet prepared your tabbing wire or put flux on the cells I recommend you go back to the previous steps. If you don't prepare the cells it will be a big headache trying to tab them correctly. Read more »