One Stop Solar & Wind Resource

i got a 20 watt solar panel and a 120v pump.the thing is that most electronics have a piece that reduces electricity into the voltage the part wants.will the solar panel make the pump work.

20 watts is not much power. That would run a small DC fountain pump. For anything larger, you would have to match the power rating of the pump.

There is an entire forum devoted to solar water pumping here http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/forumdisplay.php?f=10 . If you browse around, you may find what you’re looking for. The people there are pumping larger volumes, to water cattle, irrigate, or fill cisterns.

Well, we’re having a solar car competition tomorrow at school, and since my car’s motor and belt drive don’t work too well, I need a way to make the car go faster. Since I can’t have any other source of energy other than the solar panel, is there any way I could make it better? Like with stuff you’d have around the house? Or possible improvements on the car itself?

Add some small mirrors around the cell to direct more light on it. If the weight of the mirrors is too much, try foil paper, or using a couple large mirrors held by yourself and classmates, directed at your car.

well my mom got a whole load of solar powered lights for outside. is there any way i can make these into a solar panel ? if so how?if not why?

it’s probably not a good idea.
they only generate enough power, with the sun shining on ‘em all day, to produce a few watts to light a diode at night.
you could string a hundred of ‘em together, and you’d probably not be able to run your computer.
added all together, they’re not as big as a single solar panel.
and you need several panels to make a useful amount of electricity.

enjoy the lights.
they’re kinda nice.

as Low as 5 Dollars at the Door …. ! ?

If solar panels ever become so easy to make that anyone can do it at home, given the materials, I don’t think Government funding will be necessary.

The problem is that with present technology, there isn’t a way to produce quality panels. I wouldn’t mind if that changes though - and there’s always hope with technology. It used to cost a million dollars for an MPEG encoder to put a movie onto DVD, now anyone can do it with a PC.

I want to go green and learn how to make a solar panel. I have always thought of going green, and this is one way I would like to start. Does anyone know some websites that can guide me. Thanks.

Go green. It’s nice that you are trying to be conscious of the environment. I had to do a
project for a class and I learned how to build a solar panel from http://mybuyweb.com/resources.html

They helped a lot and I learned a great deal of stuff to help make this place a little greener.

So I’m in seventh grade and for the science fair want to make a homemade simple solar panel that could probaly power a light bulb or something. Can any one help me on how to make One and what matirials I need

Sorry you cannot, its simply too hard, you’d need a manufacturing company at your disposal. If your looking to use solar power, what you can do is set up a mirror cone to concentrate the sun’s rays unto a pot of water. Then run the steam through a generator to produce electricity. You’ll probably be able to power a hobby light.

i trying to make a solar panel. right now i dont have money to go and buy a copper sheet. so can i make it out of aluminum foil. if there is a way please tell me how. and what do i use for wires. i making this to charge batteries.

You can’t make a solar panel to generate any reasonable amount of electricity from that.

You need a semiconductor to start with, in order to have something that can generate free charge carriers(electrons and holes) from photons. Then you need a junction which can separate the charges.

In principle you could make a Shottky Diode solar cell from copper if you could find a doped semiconductor to bond a sheet of it to the copper. To form a decent electric field there should be a significant difference in work functions between the copper and the semiconductor, this will generally require the semiconductor to be doped.

On top of this you would need a transparent conductor (most used are things like ITO or other ‘TCOs’ - Transparent Conducting Oxides) to be the top electrode to inject replacement charges into the semiconductor to replace the effect of recombination current.

In summary, it’s difficult to DIY. You generally need complicated machinery to get decent crystal growth and/or doping.

Can you please tell me how much a solar panel costs?
Please back up your info with a website.

If you mean how much does it cost a manufacturer, First Solar is now making claims of $1/watt manufacturing cost, which obviously doesn’t include shipping. That would make a 200-watt panel $200. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/first-solar-inc-manufacturing-costs-solar-panels-below-1-dollar-watt.php

Low-cost crystalline panel manufacturers such as Suntech are believed to have costs in the $1.50/watt range today - making it $300 for a 200-watt panel. That doesn’t mean that one can buy a panel for that price, of course.

If you mean a DIY panel from purchased solar cells, the cost would be closer to $360 for an equivalent-powered panel, not counting the price of the frame, and the labor. A homebuilt panel would not stand up to decades of weather unless one spent even more on the frame. And since such a panel would not have safety certification, it could not legally be connected to the grid in most places.

If you meant a water heating panel, please update or post another question - I’m sure people will chime in.

Can you please tell me how much a solar panel costs?
Please back up your info with a website.

Just in case you didn’t know, solar panels come in all sizes from big enough to run a calculator and costing a few pennies, to ones large enough to power a house and costing tens of thousands of dollars.

A very general rule of thumb: Small, single-PV-panel systems that produce about 75 watts can cost about $900 installed, or $12 per watt. A 2-kilowatt (1 kilowatt=1,000 watts) system that meets most energy needs of an extremely energy-efficient home can cost $16,000-$20,000 installed, or $8-$10 per watt. A 5-kilowatt system that completely meets the energy needs of many conventional homes can cost $30,000-$40,000 installed, or $6-$8 per watt.

first reference:
The $1 per watt price point has been a goal of the solar industry for a long time: First Solar announced that "it reduced its manufacturing cost for solar modules in the fourth quarter to 98 cents per watt". It’s a bit unfortunate that it is happening to First Solar at a time when the economy is in bad shape and fewer people and corporations can afford solar panels, but it is nonetheless a great achievement.

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I want to make a solar panel. I want to by a foot, by a foot. Have an adapter. Is this possible. What are the supplies. and. How much will it cost?
I was talking about the photo one,
but the heat collector seem interesting.
Could you put more detail into makng the heat collector?

Check out Build It Solar. It is a free resource to build all kinds of projects. Be careful though, you can lose hours surfing around there.

Avoid the scams that will sell you kits to build your own solar panel, the info is available free.