I am starting this solar power thread because I will be working on a project over the summer to build my own solar panel in an effort to generate an alternate and cleaner source of power. I hope to chronicle my experience so that others may also learn how to build their own power generation systems.

The speccification of the solar cells are as follows:

6 inch monocrystalline silicone wafer

17.4% - 18.2% Efficiency

0.5 volts

7 amps or 3.5 watts

Alkaline Process

sounds good but i dont think they will work at 3am lol, seriously though will that be enough amps or watts, voltage should be from what i know

I have seen some things online to show how to generate 80% of your power at home, wonder how good they are.

Oh sorry owen for huge delay. There is some book going around the net saying you can make a power source, guess its like what your doing.

many people are making there own wind turbines to generate small amounts of power, say enough to run the tele or shed lights, there are many home made ones ive seen on the net. some made from old motor bike wheels and washing machine motors to more elaborate designs that work really well, for what they are.

funny thing is an electrician mate once said to me that if they made minature nuclear reactors, he was talking about the size of a large house sized stereo speaker, they could generate enough power to supply around 15 houses and due to the size any problems with them would be very minor, and that because they are small they can be made more safe.

i dont knoiw but if they can be made as good as he was saying then it could actually be a safe alternative?