DIY Solar Panel Guides / Kits – Review

The Truth Behind the Hype

Expect to Pay around $175 per 60watt Solar Panel

Having bought and examined dozens of these DIY solar panel guides / kits, there is no doubt that the leading packages offer excellent value for money and do show you how to make your own solar panel.  But, expect to pay around $175 for the materials to construct a 60watt solar panel.

(Also, if you are only attracted to making your own solar panel because of the claimed cost savings, I should point out that we have found some very competitive retail bargains on Amazon where they are selling the equivalent of 2 x 60watt panels for $360 – so do not expect to save much money by taking the DIY route).

Will a single 60watt solar panel cut your electricity bill by 75%?  NO.  Not a chance.

An average home will need around 3000 watts of solar panels to make that level of saving.  Please see our article on genuine real life examples that show solar panels giving savings of 72% – 79%.  3000 watts is equivalent to 50 x 60watt panels – believe me, you will NOT want to make 50 solar panels!

So why am I promoting these products?  Because if you ignore the hype, the best of these DIY solar panel guides really do excellent job of showing you step by step how to make your own solar panels.  But please DO NOT buy these DIY solar panel guides / kits with the view of making sufficient solar panels to cut your electricity bill substantially. That really is cloud cuckoo land stuff!

The Truth behind DIY Solar Panel Guides

We advocate making your own solar panels as an enjoyable and satisfying science or DIY project where you want to make just a couple of panels to provide lighting or some power to an outbuilding or workshop.  But it is a total nonsense to suggest you should build sufficient solar panels to halve your electricity bills. Here’s why:

• A typical home will need at least 3000watts of solar power to cut their electricity costs by more than 50%.  3000watts is 50 x 60watt panels.
• Home made solar panels degrade much more quickly and have a much shorter life than commercially made panels
• Home made solar panels are not subjected to the strict testing and quality control procedures of commercial panels.
• Home made solar panels are very unlikely to qualify for Government grants and rebates.  In the US, only panels that are UL approved qualify (that excludes ALL home made solar panels).
• Home made solar panels have no guarantees of performance.  Most commercial panels come with 25 year guarantees
• The cost of making your own 60watt panel is around $175.  You should be able to buy commercially manufactured 60 watt panels for the equivalent of $180 from Amazon.

Which means you can buy a commercially manufactured solar panel, that is guaranteed to perform for 25 years and qualifies for Government grants, for approximately the same cost of making them yourself.  Folks – it just does not make sense to do this.

So Why Make Solar Panels Yourself?

Making your own solar panels, say 2 or 3 for a small off grid application, can be enjoyable, very rewarding and very satisfying.  Sure, your home made solar panel is not going to last as long as a commercially manufactured panel, but it will still give you years of service.  If you already have some of the right materials you might be able to get the cost down to $120 per panel.  We think it would be a great project to undertake during the winter months, knowing that the end result is something you can be very proud of and show off to your family and friends.  Plus once made it will immediately give you some benefit.

If you fancy taking on this project, there are some really excellent DIY solar panel guides / kits available.

And the best of these DIY solar panel guides / kits really does show you step by step how to do it!

To produce a good looking solar panel will probably take you a couple of weekends for the first panel while you improve your skills at soldering.  Expect your second panel to require slightly less time.

.

Suitable for Novice DIYers

Now, we have seen numerous reviews of these “how to” guides / kits that just refer to the manuals.  It is quite obvious that the 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 suitable degree of soldering competence  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 it comes to 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 – please leave comments if you go ahead and build your own solar panels, I would love to know how you get on.

Summary of Review Findings

DIY Solar Panel Guides	Earth 4 Energy	Green DIY Energy	Your Home Energy	Home Made Energy	Power 4 Home
Price	$49.97	$49.97	$9.97	$47	$49.97
Instructions & Videos
Renewable Energy Info
How Easy to Build
Value for Money
Attention to Safety
Money Back Guarantee	60 days	60 days	60 days	60 days	60 days
Overall Rating
Comment	A very good product, but needs more videos.  Still a very good choice	Best quality videos, good manuals.  A very good product	Insufficient detail.  Not for the novice. Cheap – a possible 2nd kit	Very thorough, very easy to follow, 17 videos.  Excellent product	Unique content and approach.  Not the best quality videos. Possible 2nd kit
Ranking	2nd	2nd	5th	1st	4th
VERDICT	HIGHLY RECOMMENDED	HIGHLY RECOMMENDED	CHEAP	No 1 CHOICE	WORTH CONSIDERING
Web Site	Earth 4 Energy	Green DIY Energy	Your Home Energy	Home Made Energy	Power 4 Home

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

.

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.

-

Highly Recommended – GreenDIYenergy

Price                                $49.97

Instructions & Videos:
Renewable Energy Info:
How Easy to Build:
Value for Money:
Attention to Safety:
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 2^nd 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.

-

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.

Technorati Tags: DIY Solar Panel guides, DIY Solar Panel guides review, review of solar panel kits, solar panel guides, solar panel guides review