Review of DIY Solar Panel Guides

Introduction to Solar Energy and Making Your Own Solar Panel

This site contains literally hundreds of articles on solar energy and solar panels.  Please take time to explore.

This opening article looks at the various solar panels guides and kits available from the Internet.  I wanted to make my own solar panel and find the best solar panel guide, but couldn’t find an objective and unbiased review (I found a number of reviews but in all honesty they had little substance and lacked objectivity).

So I decided to do my own review.  I bought the five leading products, examined each one carefully, watched all the videos, read each of the guides and manuals, looked at their plans and finally compared them together.  From this work (and it took a couple of weeks) I produced this review and published it so my friends and family could benefit.  As you will see from this review, some ‘how to’ guides are really excellent, but unfortunately others are just a waste of money.  I hope you find this helpful.  I have tried to be objective and fair and present an honest appraisal of each product.

Before starting to make your own solar panel, please see my article on finding cheap solar panels and read the warnings re. DIY panels.

Summary of Review Findings

See below for our review of the three leading DIY solar panel guides.

Making your own solar panels, should be enjoyable, very rewarding and very satisfying.  Your home made solar panel should give you years of service (but won’t last as long as UL certified commercially manufactured solar panels).  If you already have some of the right materials you might be able to get the cost down to around $100 per 60 watt panel.

As you will see below, the best DIY solar panel guides / kits really do show you step by step how to do it, and ensure even a total novice can produce a great functional solar panel!

To produce a good looking solar panel give yourself a couple of weekends for the first panel while you improve your skills at soldering.  Expect your second and subsequent panels to require less time as you grow in skill, competence and confidence.

Suitable for Novice DIYers

These kits will provide you with manuals/”how to” guides and more recently, some very good videos.  The top suppliers have responded to past criticism, especially in the area of videos.  The videos included with the top three DIY solar panel guides / kits are extremely good and show you what to do and how to do it in a very methodical manner.

With the quality and thoroughness of the leading products even a complete DIY novice should be able to build their own solar panel and make a good job of it.  The important things are to watch the videos a number of times, work on your soldering skills, take your time and only begin soldering tab wires to solar cells once you have achieved a the required skills in soldering.  All the leading suppliers provide customer support, so if you do get stuck there is always someone you can turn to for advice.

Safety First

Finally, a word regarding safety.  Now we know it sounds boring, but please be very careful when installing your solar panels.  Take the proper safety precautions and ALWAYS seek professional assistance from a suitably qualified electrician when it comes to wiring and connecting your system.  I wish you all the best building your solar panel home.  Have fun!

No. 1 Choice - HomeMadeEnergy

Price                                $47.00

Instructions & Videos:
Renewable Energy Info:
How Easy to Build:
Value for Money:
Attention to Safety:
Overall Verdict:

HomeMadeEnergy has produced the best of the DIY solar panel guides.  Their package is the most comprehensive for making solar panels.  The manual does a very thorough job, covering all aspects of making a solar panel and does not assume any prior knowledge or expertise.  In addition, there are seven videos (approx. total of 3 hours) that go through in great detail all the steps to making a solar panel.  The icing on the cake is another 3 hours of video presentations that lay a solid foundation of knowledge covering solar energy systems, terminology, system components, system sizing, batteries, on grid / off grid configurations and the fundamentals of electricity.  These videos just reinforce how much knowledge these guys have.  They know and throughly understand what they are talking about.

Because of its failure to include any bonuses, HomeMadeEnergy gets marked down in just the one area: value for money.  To be honest, nearly all the bonuses the other two leading packages include can be downloaded free from the Internet.  I just think HomeMadeEnergy should have made the extra effort to include a few useful freebies – it just makes you feel good when you get a nice surprise!

This kit is ideal for both the novice or experienced DIYer who wants to make their own solar panels.  At the time of review this HomeMadeEnergy product is the most complete, comprehensive and best of the DIY solar panel guides.  It is our No. 1 choice.

Click here for our in-depth review of the HomeMadeEnergy DIY Solar Panel Guides.

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Highly Recommended – GreenDIYenergy

Price                                $49.97

Instructions & Videos:
Renewable Energy Info:
How Easy to Build:
Value for Money:
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Overall Verdict:

The GreenDIYenergy package is very impressive and one of the top DIY solar panel guides.  It includes four good manuals and some really excellent quality videos.  The videos have been produced in high resolution and cover the making of a solar panel and the materials & tools used.  These are the best quality instructional videos we have reviewed.  As with Home Made Energy, the videos complement the manuals and together provide excellent step by step instructions.

Green DIY Energy has produced one of the best DIY solar panel guides but it gets edged into 2nd place because it’s coverage of the additional background information on solar energy, on grid/off grid system configurations, batteries, etc. lacks dept and breadth.  The instructional videos are also aimed at those who have bought pre-tabbed solar cells – if you buy non-tabbed cells you will have to rely on the manual for an explanation of how to solder the tab wires to the front of the cells.

However, all in all the GreenDIYenergy product is a first class instructional guide and would suit both the novice and experienced DIY person.  It definitely warrants a place as one of the top 3 DIY solar panel guides.  Highly Recommended.

Click here for our in-depth review of the GreenDIYenergy DIY solar panel guides.

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Highly Recommended - Earth4Energy

Price                                $49.97

Instructions & Videos:
Renewable Energy Info:
How Easy to Build:
Value for Money:
Attention to Safety:
Overall Verdict:

This is a very good product and probably the best known of the DIY solar panel guides.  Earth4Energy has produced one of the best DIY solar panel guides available and it is a guide that is improving month on month.  The manuals are very good.  The only reason that this kit does not get top billing is that the instructional videos only cover some of the initial steps in building a solar panel.  Earth 4 Energy has recently produced four excellent videos (and more are in the pipeline) that cover the wider aspects of using and configuring solar panel systems, covering terminology, different types of on grid/off grid configurations, building codes/regulations etc.

As well as a a number of useful bonuses (all available free off the Internet) the package includes a manual for making bio-diesel from used cooking oil.  If you have access to gllons of used cooking oil and a diesel car or truck, this could be another project for you once your solar panels are working!

Overall, this is a very good package on how to make a solar panel and wind turbine, and one that is continually being improved.  Earth4Energy has produce one of the top DIY solar panel guides and rightly deserves joint 2nd place with Green DIY Energy. Highly Recommended.

Click here for our in-depth review of the Earth4Energy DIY solar panel guides.