DIY Solar (Yes, You Can!)

August 20th, 2012 by Chelsea

For those crafty people ready to jump from homemade clothing, furniture, and baby food, take a stab at a DIY solar power system.

MacOSJoey has come up with a step-by-step online manual of how to construct and modify your very own solar power system. He’s gone to the trouble to describe what you need, what to troubleshoot for and how to modify your system with additional batteries. He even posts all the stats you could ever wonder.

Goodbye, macaroni necklace; hello, sustainable power!

Source: Tree Hugger
Image: Cherkas via Shutterstock

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Tags: DIY, DIY solar

About the Author

Chelsea is a former newspaper reporter who has spent the past few years teaching English in Poland, Finland and Japan. When she wasn't teaching or writing, Chelsea was traveling Europe and Asia, sampling spicy street food along the way.

Anne

This is the real hardcore DEY (do everything yourself)!

With today’s solar panels at or below $ 1/W, making your own solar panels deos not seem like a viable option. But installation of a PV system is certainly in the DIY realm for many people. The main issue is safety, how get onto and not fall off your roof. The rest is peanuts.
- Bob_Wallace
  
  There are a number of pieces of equipment one can rent that will get you up on the roof safely. Scissors lifts, “cherry pickers” – those will take someone and the panels up to the roof level. Some create a safety rail along the bottom of the roof.
  
  Then there’s the basic safety harness. There’s no excuse for taking a tumble.