You can expect to increase your home's value and save quite a bit of money on power costs as time goes on by installing solar panels on your roof. There's no reason to wait on building a solar system to power your house just because you don't have thousands of dollars to invest in it right away. Start off small and grow your system as your savings grows. Here's how to do just that.
Start with Basic Lighting
An excellent way to start relying on solar power and improving energy efficiency at home is to focus on your lighting first. Start by putting solar garden lights near your driveway, porches, and any exterior areas where anyone in your household spends time when the sun goes down.
You can then add solar lights to the garage and any sheds on the property to eliminate the need for electric lighting in these spaces. Many solar lights made specifically for small spaces like sheds and garages come with their solar panels and are directly hooked up to the panels, so you don't have to worry about investing in deep-cycle batteries, charge controllers, and other accessories at first.
Plan Expansions in Sections
Once you're ready to start putting solar panels up on the roof, finish off powering your lights for free. You can do this by figuring out how many watts of power your household uses for lighting and then buying a solar panel that will handle the wattage. Add a deep-cycle battery, a charge controller, and some cable, and then have your lighting wired to the new solar power source.
Then work on powering your major appliances, such as the water heater and HVAC system. Again, figure out how much power each appliance uses on a daily or weekly basis and buy your solar panels based on those numbers. You can take advantage of various calculators online that will allow you to calculate your power usage for everything from light bulbs, refrigerators, and computers to televisions, washers, and ceiling fans.
From there, plan your expansions room by room so you can build upon your solar system as you get the money instead of having to wait until all of the money is saved up to get started. In the kitchen, calculate your power usage for all of the appliances, even the toaster and electric can opener, and then build upon your solar system accordingly. Work through each room until you've completely powered your entire house with solar power.
Consider Building Your Own Panels
You can save yourself a significant amount of money by building some of your own solar panels using accessories online. You'll need a few items and some spare time to get the job done, but the effort involved is typically well worth it. Before starting your project, gather items such as:
- Solar cells
- Tabbing wire to connect the solar cells together
- A flux pen for soldering the wires together
- Plywood to use as the base of the solar panel
- Glass or plexiglass to use as the top of the solar panel
- Encapsulating materials to seal the solar panel
It's a good idea to make use of online guides and videos to learn how a proper solar panel is made before giving things a go yourself. You'll also want to talk to your contractor or online solar provider about combining the panels you buy with the panels you make to create one large solar system at home. It may be necessary to create two systems—one made up of homemade panels and the other made up of purchased panels. You can power your lights and small appliances with the homemade panels and power the rest of your home using the ones you purchased from your dealer.
These tips and tricks should make it easy for you to get started with solar power while on a budget and to build your system up as your time and budget allows.
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