what parts and tool do i need to build and connect a solar electric panel to my home
you need to buy, not build. Just to put the parts together correctly requires a lot of experience, not something to be done by someone with no experience. And this is a major project, with lots of decisions before you start. how many watts? how many hours of sun do you get per day? worse case? Do you have a space to put the array where it can get sun all day with no shade? grid tie or not? how many batteries if not grid tie? if no grid tie, how long do you expect the batteries to last during a long period with no sun? And finally, how much money do you want to spend. for a good sized system expect to pay US$20k to 50k
Solar energy is very expensive. Or I should say, solar panels are expensive, because once you install them the power is free. A typical residential solar power system that supplies around a kilowatt of power at best conditions (noon, sunny day) will cost about $0,000. This includes the solar panel, the inverter (converts DC into AC), the cabling, but not installation (that would probably run you another $2000). One kilowatt is not that much electricity. It would run one microwave oven, or one hair dryer, or 0 light bulbs, and nothing else. Most houses use 3 times that at peak hours. So you would still likely get some power off the grid at peak time, and other times you can sell it back to make a little money. The good news is that solar panels are getting cheaper. They are around $5 per watt now, and are projected to drop to half that in the next decade. At some point, it will reach the sweet spot that makes solar an attractive alternative to grid power and more people will jump on board. There are some tax incentives too, but more would certainly help.
Dear Matadora, Very good, good, good step to change your home electric supply to solar cell, because in long run, solar cell is cheaper. First you have to consider Power need for your house, eg. 200W, then you go to sellers and choose one with lowest price but best quality. After that you should assemble/attach your solar panel in place that gets most Sunlight, most probably in your roof. Attach them tightly, avoid burglar. Original solar cell current is DC. Current from solar cell placed first in several car batteries, so you could use electricity in night either. After that if your home appliances use DC, you could directly connect your appliances to batteries. But if your appliances need AC, current should be converted first from DC to AC use DC to AC converter. Car battery used to have 2 Volt DC. So if you need 220VAC, after DC converted into AC, then passed through transformer to increase voltage. Thank you very much Matadora.
