A Guide to DIY Solar Panel Guides

GreenDIYEnergy

GreenDIYEnergy is the most comprehensive and the best of the DIY solar guides. They include ebooks, videos and spreadsheets – 17 different components in all. What really separates GreenDIYEnergy from the rest of the pack is the quality of it’s videos.

GreenDIYEnergy covers the entire solar panel build process in 6 videos. The videos are at a resolution of 852×480 and are mp4 videos. Compared to the videos in the other guides, the videos in GreenDIYEnergy are much larger and higher quality. They look awesome and they show the entire process step-by-step from start to finish. The large size and high resolution let you see everything.

The videos start with what tools and parts you’ll need for the solar panels. Next, acquiring and soldering the solar cells together is shown. The next step is building the actual container and attaching the solar cells in the container. Up next is final wiring and finishing work. Finally the solar panel is connected to a volt meter and you can see it actually producing electricity.

The ebooks included in GreenDIYEnergy cover, among other things, solar electrical, solar tax credits, solar installation and DIY solar power. With over 200 total pages, the ebooks are really comprehensive. They also include spreadsheets with calculators for how much electricity your appliances consume, solar panel sizing, battery sizing, charge controller sizing and power inverter sizing.

GreenDIYEnergy is the best and most comprehensive DIY solar guide I have seen, after buying and reviewing quite a few DIY solar guides in preparation for building a solar panel for my electric bike. For a more comprehensive review, visit GreenDIYEnergy Reviews.

Homemade Energy

Homemade energy is also a very good DIY solar panel guide. It also includes videos, in fact more videos than any other guide. It includes ebooks, though fewer than GreenDIYEnergy, and similar spreadsheets.

Homemade Energy includes more videos than any other DIY solar guide. They show the whole build step-by-step in plenty of detail. You get to see everything – parts and tools, connecting the solar cells, constructing the box and cover, affixing the cells and final finish. The videos are flash videos and aren’t quite as big and high quality as GreenDIYEnergy, but they are still quite good.

All parts of the build are covered in the comprehensive ebook include with Homemade Energy. I would suggest using it as a reference alongside the videos. It also includes a spreadsheet with sizing calculators that is very similar to the one included with GreenDIYEnergy.

I would say GreenDIYEnergy is a little better than Homemade Energy mainly because of the higher quality video and more ebooks. You definitely get your money’s worth with Homemade Energy and it is a very good package.

For a more comprehensive look, check out HomemadeEnergy Review.

Earth4Energy

In third place is Earth4Energy. It includes ebooks, online calculators and videos, but less of them than GreenDIYEnergy. The solar material is pretty good, though in my opinion not as good as the solar guides above, however Earth4Energy is the only guide that includes video for building a wind generator.

The parts of the project that are most likely to cause problems are covered with videos, but the videos are not comprehensive. You have to go to the ebook for much of the build information with Earth4Energy, while the other 2 guides show you the whole project from start to finish in the videos.

The Earth4Energy ebook is also pretty good, but not as comprehensive as as the other two guides. Earth4Energy includes online calculators for appliance electricity requirements, solar panel output and battery sizing.

So, can you build a solar panel with Earth4Energy? I think the answer is yes, but both GreenDIYEnergy and HomemadeEnergy are more comprehensive, particularly when it comes to the video, which is the most important part of a DIY guide in my opinion. If you are looking for a DIY wind guide, Earth4Energy is the only guide to include wind project video. For a solar project, you can definitely build a solar panel using the Earth4Energy guide, but both of the other guides above will give you more for your money.

For a more complete review, visitEarth4Energy Review.

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