Basic Solar Panel Parts

The 4 essential solar panel elements

• Enclosure or Housing 
• Substrate 
• Solar cells 
• Wires 

Solar Enclosure or Housing - It's this that a lot of people see when they think of solar power. It's a clear glass top, a frame and a backing that the solar cells are mounted on. The housing can be large and mounted on a rooftop, or small and be a plastic box that can be placed almost anywhere to run your outdoor lights. It needs to be resistant to ultra violet (UV) rays so that it doesn't deteriorate with constant sun exposure. The glass top (usually Plexiglas) needs to be able to withstand harsh weather like hail, windstorms and snow.

Substrate - This is a piece of pegboard that the solar cells are mounted to inside of the enclosure. It needs to be UV-resistant to withstand prolonged sunlight exposure.

Solar cells - The solar cells combine the silicon, metals and other materials in a way that capture direct sunlight and convert it to electricity. The electricity can be immediately used by direct current devices (DC) like LED lights, or stored in DC batteries and converted into alternating current (AC) to power your house.

Tabbed along with Untabbed Solar cells - While constructing your own solar panels, you can save money by buying untabbed solar cells and soldering the tabs onto the cells yourself. This can be a more inexpensive method if you have more time than money, but it's much more time consuming. To save time buy tabbed solar cells.

Solar Cell Wiring - After the solar cells are mounted on the substrate, they are wired to each other in a series to generate electricity. Copper wire connects the solar cells to storage batteries for using the electricity later, or connects directly to the device that the solar panel is powering.

Blocking Diod - A blocking diode is a component that prevents electricity from draining backward into the solar panel. Larger photovoltaic systems use a charge controller for the same effect.

Other Solar Options - If making solar panels seem to hard or time consuming for you there are some other economical ways to start using solar energy. You can buy used solar panels, buy new solar panels, or even lease new solar panels. Nowadays there are solar panel kits that come ready to go and plugin in directly to your AC outlets.
You can find all of your solar panel supply needs at our Solar Shop.