If you want your how to do it yourself solar power for your home to work right, you will also need to look at the average amount of days you will have rain cloud cover in your region, and prepare your solar power system for the worst months, so you will have enough solar panels to supply the energy you need all year long.
One of the most crucial elements of your homemade solar power is the batteries. Without them you would only have power when the sun was shining, but batteries allow you to have continuous running power during the night and even days of cloudiness. One way around having to use costly batteries is to connect your system to the power grid, but this can be both complicated and frustrating. Batteries will have to be replaced after years of usage, but the kind you want to look for are called deep-cycle batteries. These will ensure little energy loss in your solar power system and maximum efficiency.
Another vital part to your homemade solar power system is a charge controller. A charge controller regulates and monitors the amount of electricity flowing into and out of the system which will preserve your batteries lifespan and not allow them to be fully drained.
And lastly, in order for your DIY solar power system to work you will need a way to convert the DC (direct current) into the form of electricity your home uses which is AC (alternating current). For this task you will have to have an inverter. Some inverter systems have very simple wiring that can be configured by a novice without any electrical experience, but a little electric knowledge will help. I highly recommend having a professional electrician help hook everything up for you and making sure it is all up to code.
Once all of the above has been completed you will have free, clean electricity for more than 20 years, and then some maintenance will probably be required. But those years will be spent saving a lot of money. Even when your neighbors loose electricity because of a storm or accident, you will still have the sun, giving you lasting energy for years to come.
Solar power for home use is becoming more practical now than it has ever been in years past. The cost of a solar power system is just a fraction of what it was during the seventies. The solar panels have become cheaper to manufacture and there are several different ways to set up your system that will best match your needs.
Even though the cost of manufacturing a solar panel has been greatly reduced, especially over the last several years, the cost of a solar power system is still a big factor. Over time a solar solar power energy company panel system will pay for itself but it still requires a large up front investment.
The good news is that there are all kinds of state and federal programs that will help offset the cost of setting up your home to start taking advantage of solar energy. There are grants, tax breaks and special loans offered by states and federal government that will ease the pain of that initial start up cost.
The system that makes the most sense to me is the grid-tie system. The primary purpose of this system is just to offset the cost of your electricity provided by the utility company. This system is fairly simple and just ties in to the same system as your current electricity.
During peak sunlight hours you will use very little or no power from the utility company. In some cases your solar generated electricity will exceed that of what you are using and your meter can actually start spinning backwards. When that happens then the utility company is actually buying power from you.
The best part of the grid-tie system is that you can grow it slowly. You can start off with just one panel and then add more when you can afford it. This way you start helping the environment and becoming more independent from the power companies but you don't have to mortgage your house while you are doing it.