HOME MADE SOLAR

I figured I better bring up the obvious stuff I've neglected for crazier things I was researching. You know you can make your own solar panels? Really inefficient, but maybe you can find a use for this. Since it's so inefficient, I'm not gonna talk about it, but you might be able to incorporate it into a light sensor for something.

Here's something I came across and I like it. It's a tutorial on How to Make a Solar Power Generator. You're talking a yacht panel and a deep cycle battery. There's a few other things that are real cheap to add and I would consider adding a some sort of charge controller. Great tutorial and he mentions some additional stuff to control amperage and change from DC to AC current and all that as well.

With a topped off battery, he claims it'll run things like radios, fans and low-wattage lights (LEDs) all night or 5 continuous hours at 115 volt AC, which is pretty impressive for one small panel and a deep cycle battery, and then it takes 3-5 hours to charge an empty battery. I'm curious about what 5 batteries and 3 large solar panels could accomplish... only one way to find out.