Hoping to find instruction, materials list and hardware needed to construct solar panels myself, how many and make it happen instead of talking about it
Silica based solar cells are not the kind of thing you whomp up in you basement. Here are a couple ideas for solar systems you can build and install yourself. Take a 4 x 8 sheet of /2 inch plywood. Frame sides with 2 x 4's. Screw tin cans in a staggered row (checker board) pattern inside frame. The more cans the more heat you get so place them nearly touching. Paint cans and entire assembly flat black. Cover top with glass, plexiglass (best) or heavy mill clear plastic (cheapest)Place on roof. Drill 3-4 inch holes in opposing sides. Run pipe or tubing into house. Attach to small low speed fan. The black paint will absorb sunlight and heat. The air moving through box will carry heat into house. It's a cheap efficient way to help heat your home. You can vary size and shape of box to fit your roof. If you use more than one box, hook them up in series. More boxes mean more surface area means more heat. To heat water. Take a steel tank. A car gas tank works well. It is galvanized so it won't rust, is cheap, and easily available at any auto salvage yard. But you will have to flush in throughly to remove gasoline odor. A steel 55 gallon drum is easier to work with but may cost more. Paint exterior of tank flat black. Weld/glue/clamp water pipes to tank. Place on ground in area that gets lots of sunlight. Attach water supply to tank and route discharge pipe to house or appliance. Black painted steel absorbs heat from sun light and heats water. In spring and fall you get warm to hot water. In summer you get scalding hot water and in winter you get cold to luke warm water. Both of these solar powered systems are seasonal and their output varies according to location and climate, but they are very inexpensive and easy to build and provide FREE heat and/or hot water for many years with little or no maintainence.
If you think that a solar storm is going to knock out most power utilities in that time, what makes you think that your solar panels will not be affected as well? The cost to even come close to light up half your house will be prohibitive and will take at least a decade or 2 to just break even on your original costs. May want to do a little more research on your 202 storms. If you are concerned about the power going out for a while, then you better check at what else may happen.
