solar panels life expectancy
What is the life expectancy of solar panels?
…. and how well they stand up against hail and storm?
about 20-40 years and Yes, you may want to think about building your own solar panels … Let me start by saying we (Agua-Luna) is an organization nonprofit living, promote and teach 100% "off-grid" living and complete self-sufficiency. "To give you an idea of this, they often leave the ranch, but once or twice a year. The following measures were taken directly from a DIY guide to offer you wish to run their homes with solar energy reducing your monthly bills for utilities or even selling-up power to the utilities. The full guide is available in http://www.agua-luna.com/diy_guides.html. It is very simple but if you have any problems please email us directly at info@agua-luna.com can walk you threw the process. Materials Needed … A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $ 5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot. clip of two tracks. A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a surplus light rail with a needle. An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small plate of an electric burner for about $ 25. The small 700 burners W probably does not work – mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot top. A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut. I used a 2 liter bottle of spring water. A mouth glass jar will also work great. Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt. Water tap. Sandpaper or a wire brush in an electric drill. Body scissors to cut the copper foil. first step is to cut a piece of copper foil is about the size of the stove burner. Wash your hands so you do not have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get oil or grease it. Use the wire brush or sandpaper to thoroughly clean the copper foil, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed. A Then place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest position. As the copper starts to heat up, you will see the beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper. As copper is heated, the colors are replaced with a layer of oxide black copper. This is not the oxide we want, but flaking later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath. Recent traces of color disappear as the burner gets red hot. When the burner is red hot, the copper foil is covered with a layer of black copper oxide. Leave cook for half an hour, so the black coating is thick. This is important because a thick layer flakes off very well, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper. After half an hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If it cools too quickly, the oxide black will stay glued to copper. As the copper cools, it shrinks. Black copper oxide is reduced. However, they contract at different rates, which makes the copper black oxide flake off. The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means more cleanup effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch. When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will have gone. A light wash hands under running water will remove most of the small pieces. Resist the temptation to remove all the black spots by scrubbing hard or soft copper bending. This could damage the delicate layer of red cuprous oxide that we have to make to the work of the solar cell. Cut another sheet copper about the same size as the first. Bend both pieces gently, so that fits in the plastic bottle or jar without touching. The copper oxide layer was up in the background is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it is smoother, cleaner surface. Clip attach two cables, one to the plate copper again, and one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the cable from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the cable from the copper oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter. Mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt dissolves. Then, carefully pour saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates – you should leave an inch of the plate on the water, so that can move around the solar cell without the clip leads wet place. Now in the sun with the magnified on top. The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, and usually show a few microamps of current. It's that simple. If
cigs solar cell