January 2012
“I never would have guessed how easy and cheap it is to build my own solar panels and cut my energy bill to almost nothing.”
I was pretty skeptical about the whole concept of DIY Solar Panels until a good friend of mine tried it using a “Do it Yourself Solar Power Guide” he found online that took the guesswork and mystery out of it. For months, all he would talk about was how easy and cost effective it was. He couldn’t get over the fact that he had completely eliminated his utility bill and was even making some extra money on the utility company. He saved thousands over purchasing the panels at full retail price. He was able to build a solar panel for less than $200 in materials.
I decided to visit his home and see it for myself. He showed me the basics of bulding my own solar panels and then proceeded to pull out his electricity bills before and after installing solar. I was sold.
I decided to go for it and purchase an online Homemade Solar Panel kit that contained all the schematics and instructional videos I needed. I had been thinking about doing this for years, but never thought that somebody like me could actually do it. If only I would have done this years ago, I would have saved so much money.
I started with my friend’s recommendation of GreenDIYEnergy’s How to Build Your Own Solar Panels kit. My friend had actually bought a few different kits before he found the one he liked (the better ones have a money back guarantee). This gave me some confidence in his choice. If you are like me, I always appreciate a recommendation, and I thought my readers would appreciate one as well; so my friend and I set out to evaluate all the kits that we could find so that people could save the time and money and purchase the best kit with confidence. You could spend days going around and around trying to find the best one, so take our advice and save your time. It was a fun project, and I now enjoy the benefit of not having an electricity bill myself.
After reviewing every DIY Solar kit we could find (7 total kits), it was pretty clear from the start that there were only three that made the cut to write about, the rest were pretty bad in comparison. You can tell pretty quick which companies have a good product and which ones don’t.
As of January 2012, I can tell you that there are no other DIY solar kits available that are as good as the three listed below:
#1 – Green DIY Energy
#2 – Earth 4 Energy
#3 – Homemade Energy
Top Choice. A great value!
After reviewing many Solar Power kits on this subject of making a solar panel, GreenDIYEnergy’s Solar Power Kit came out on top for me. They did a fantastic job in putting their kit together and their customer service was great. Their approach on how to build solar panels is simple, professional, and easy to use. In addition to being a great reference guide, they have several How to Build Your Own Solar Panel videos to explain the process step by step which makes it quite simple for even a novice like myself. You don’t get that “home movie” feeling that a lot of other DIY videos suffer from.
GreenDIYEnergy gives you detailed plans on how to build a solar panel. They provide wiring plans and they give you a guide on how to install and mount solar panels to your roof. They also have some great guides that will show you how to calculate how much energy you are saving. It is a dream come true for any person wanting the energy saving of Do it Yourself solar panels without the big price tag. It is put together in such simple manner that even a complete novice in Building Solar Panels will be able to purchase the equipment, put it together, and have it running very quickly.
The other thing I loved about this Solar Power kit is that they give you information about Federal and State rebates that are available when you build solar panels for your home. This is something that is essential to understanding so that you can benefit from all the money being pumped into solar energy incentives right now. Yep, even more saving! Oh, and don’t forget that they throw in a guide on how to build a wind turbine. This alone was worth the $50 to learn how easy and cost effective it is to utilize wind to generate your own power.
There is a pretty big discount on this guide right now that wasn’t there when I purchased the kit. It looks like the discount will be removed any day, so check out the website now to see if this discount is still available. At this discounted price, you really should try it out, you always have the 100% money back guarantee if you’re not happy.
Features:
- Easy to use Do It Yourself Guide books
- Instructional Videos
- Detailed DIY Solar Panel Plans
- Huge Energy cost savings
- Make Your Own Solar Panels AND Make Your Own Wind Turbine included
- Free Technical Support
- Fully Illustrated DIY Solar Guide
- Bonus guide on how to How to Find Free Solar Panels
- Bonus guide on how to How to Maintain Your Do It Yourself Solar Panel System
- 60 day 100% Refund Policy
Runner up, but still a great value!
Our #2 choice for learning to make a solar panel is the Earth4Energy Solar Power kit. This product consists of a 90 page ebook and 3 instructional videos and has been seen in Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. They have a six part guide to Do It Yourself Solar Energy including a chapter on how to make a wind Turbine:
1) Introduction To DIY Solar Energy
2) Building Your own Solar Panels
3) Solar Help Package
4) Earth4Energy DIY Solar Video Series
5) Make A Wind Turbine!
Earth4Energy was also very easy to follow. My own experience says you should set aside at least 2 days to buy the parts and get it fully installed. Not bad for putting together a Do It Yourself solar panel.
This guide assumes absolutely no knowledge of wind or solar powered home energy systems. The 90 page, fully illustrated guide gives step by step instructions that make it so simple you can even turn it into a fun family project for the weekend.
Best of all, the materials required are readily available and cheap – I was able to access all the parts needed for just $194.37. Given that its proven to decrease your electric bill by as much as 80%, you could well recoup your investment in less than a months time. The Earth4Energy Solar Power Kit is suitable for any type of home and is aimed squarely at helping the complete ‘novice’ who just wants to save money while doing his or her part to help the environment. Best of all there is an unconditional 60 – day money back guaranteed and it is actually quite easy to get your money back if you aren’t happy.
Features:
- Basic enough for complete Build it Yourself Solar novices
- Homemade Solar Panel AND Wind guides included
- Video “How to make a solar Panel” Tutorials
- Step by step guide where to buy cheap material to build a solar panel and wind power system
- Step by Step guide on how to build a solar power generator from scratch
- Step by step guide on how to setup the DIY solar and wind generator to power your home
- Step by step guide on how to build wind power generator from scratch
- Free 24 hour Technical Support
- 60 day money back guarantee
Honorable Mention:
The HomeMadeEnergy Solar DIY kit is my third pick, and it too focuses on creating Homemade Solar panels for home energy needs, but it also covers wind energy as well. They report up to an 80% reduction in energy costs and the home made energy system has loads of case studies from people who have had great success using it.
The difference between this and the top two sites was simple: customer service. I had a difficult time getting responses to the most simple of questions. A full, hands-on support system is vital if a relative “novice” is to install either system, and I just wasn’t happy with the results.
One great thing about HomeMadeEnergy’s Solar Power kit is that they update their guides on a monthly basis. They collect the information from users and also publish their latest discoveries when it comes to renewable energy and Making Your Own Solar Panels. This is a nice feature in that your E-Book won’t get outdated, so if you get distracted on another project for a few months or a year (who me? Never…), you can pick it back up knowning you can get a free updated copy.
Features:
- Do It Yourself solar panels AND Do It Yourself wind power generator
- Video Homemade Solar panel Tutorials
- Monthly updates
- Step by step Make your own solar panel guide
- 60 day money back guarantee
