If you are interested in building a cheap solar panel, there are numbers of different things that you should keep in mind. You can save quite a lot over at retail system. It sure is fun to learn building a cheap solar panel yourself but you need to know how to and you need to have their proper materials to do so. In the following, we will outline all the materials that you will need to build a cheap solar panel system and we will point out a guide that will be good for you.

First off, you will need a few solar cells. You can buy these online in websites such as eBay, Amazon.com and other sources. Solar cells are probably the most expensive part when building a cheap solar panel system. However, they are also the core components and by getting a better quality solar cell, you will get better reliability as well as better performance. If you are looking to save on these and don't really care about the quality then you can also buy broken ones and join them together.

Secondly, you will need plywood. This will be your main platform where you will lay down your solar cells on. You will need a plywood that is 18 mm thick. Try to get something that is very rigid and of good quality since it will be outside and going through harsh weather conditions. Also, you will need different materials to protect your system such as a good outdoor paint to help prevent moisture and to protect it, silicone caulk so that you can seal everything and also prevent moisture, superglue or wood glue this way you could keep everything assembled together properly and finally, you will also need screws. This will insure that when building a cheap solar panel, they will last longer and perform reliably.

There are also a few electric components when building a cheap solar panel that you will need in order to run a circuit. You will need wires of two different colors this way you will not mix polarities. You will need a diode this way your battery will not discharge overnight because of the solar panels, a deep cycle battery so you could keep on powering all your appliances even at nights or on cloudy days. There are a few other things such as a two pin plug this way you can remove your solar panel from your whole solar power system in times of maintenance or if you have to fix something.

There are so much else that needs to be outlined when building a cheap solar panel. You will need a good guide to take you through all the necessary step to do so. That being said, I would recommend going to the following: http://buildhomemadesolarpanels.net/