What is the best solar panel to buy?

Question

What is the best solar panel to buy?

Answer 1

Reware

Really cool backpacks and foldable solar panels that can charge your iPod and mobile.

Check out the link below.

Answer 2

christin

let me start by saying Myself, my ranch and home are 100% off the grid and self sufficient. Every form of energy we have I built (mostly from recycled things like car brake drums, old alternators etc). The technology is simple and can be introduced to ANY place by ANYONE in ANY climate or conditions.

I've been installing Solar panels. Solar stoves, Solar batch and inline hot water heaters.Solar radiant heating. Solar home heating and AC, along with home made wind gens and other alternative energy items for the last 3 years in the Mexican border towns (Mexico is NOT a 3rd world country) across from my ranch here in Texas.

the best type of solar panel is the one you build yourself . it's very easy.

Here’s a DIY step by step process i took from a guide i offer at www.agua-luna.com to build a small solar panel that really works. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need

A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.

Two alligator clip leads.

A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.

An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won't work -- mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.

A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.

Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.

Tap water.

Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.

Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don't have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.

Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.

As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.

As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.

The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.

When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.

After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.

As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.

The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.

When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.

Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it has the smoothest, cleanest surface.

Attach the two alligator clip leads, one to the new copper plate, and one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the lead from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the lead from the cuprous oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter.

Now mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt is dissolved. Then carefully pour the saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates -- you should leave about an inch of plate above the water, so you can move the solar cell around without getting the clip leads wet.

The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, and will usually show a few microamps of current.

That’s it it’s that simple. If you’d a more detailed process and some pics (ouldn’t put them here) it’s available along with some other DIY alternative energy projects at http://www.agua-luna.com/guides.html

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at http://www.agua-luna.com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit agua-luna com or email me at [e-mail]

http://www.agua-luna.com

Stop Global Warming, Receive a FREE Solar Panels Now!!!

Answer 3

The best ones you can afford! Actually the cost to energy output (per watts) usually works out the same. Main types are amorphous, crystaline or mono-crystaline, it just depends on how much space you've got to play with, you'll need to get the more expensive ones if you have a small space, but they are more efficient.

If in doubt ask some certified solar companies - it's really in their best interest to sell you the right one for you needs, so ask a few and

Answer 4

None, they are way to expensive to be of any economic benefit.

Answer 5

Ones that catch sunlight.

Answer 6

I am assuming you are talking about photovoltaic panels, not solar thermal?

If you do plan on buying one, and not building one yourself, then there are only a few things you need to consider to compare panels.   Most solar panels are very very similar.  They almost all offer the same guarantee (25 years material & workmanship, declining power guarantee).  There are only one or two or three things that differentiate one from the other.

First, look at the cost per watt of rated power.  Now, you are never going to get the rated power out of your panel - just like you won't get your rated MPG on your car - but it will let you know which panels give you most bang for the buck.

Second, if you are hoping to get a rebate or incentive on your panels, make sure that they are on the qualified list of panels that are eligible for a rebate.

Third, check out the "power tolerance" and look for one that is as low as possible.  10% is high.  5% is okay.  2% is great.  This tells you how much more or less than the rating your panel can provide.  If you buy a 100 watt panel with a 10% tolerance, then your panel is considered acceptable by the manufacturer if it puts out anything over 90 watts.  

Finally, the best panel to buy may be the one you can get your hands on.  Right now, there is a tremendous panel shortage.  My suppliers are telling me that if I want a large quantity of matched panels I will need to wait until at least this fall.  They just can't make them fast enough right now.

Good luck.