I finally got all the materials together for my solar panel. Plexiglas at Home Depot was the most expensive single part, at $12 for a plate. I needed two of them. Also got some wood trim at only 98 cents a piece to use for the framing of the panel.

Plywood at Home Depot, precut is only about $5 each. I need two of everything because my panel will be too large otherwise. I will make two identical panels, each putting out 9 Volts.

In the above pictures, I got all my tools ready and started soldering - finally. I had to use a weight to hold the solar cell in place and another weight to hold the tabbing wire down while I soldered it into place.

Hopefully I will have this project finished soon.

I just moved to the country!

Now I can put my solar panels outside in the full sunlight and really begin testing. I had to have them in my sliding glass doors because my landlord would not allow me to put them outside anywhere.

Well, now I have an apartment on 1.5 acres of free, wild land in the mountains. When I get a warmer day, the panels are going outside in the full sun. I will set up sunlight tracking systems for maximum energy output during the daylight hours.

I was only getting some light directly on the panels during the mid day in my old place. This provided enough energy to power a couple energy efficient lights and my netbook in the evenings.

With solar tracking, I should get about 870 watt hours of energy during the ten hour long winter days and up to 1300 watts during the summer months.

I have an idea to increase the energy output even more. If you look up "Bedini Motor" or "SSG" on the internet, you will find a sort of "free" energy generator. It takes a small amount of energy to run it and puts out larger amounts of energy into batteries. I have been experimenting with this idea for a few years now and may try using solar energy to power the Bedini motor, which will charge batteries.

Above is a picture of a roller skate wheel generating electricity using the Bedini concept.

On Thursday last week, we got hit with a terrible snow storm. It dumped 3 feet of snow during the day and brought down trees. These hit power lines and cable lines. I lost power. That took out my water, light and heat. My car was under 3 feet of snow, so there was no running for supplies.

I had to improvise, so I took out some vegetable oil, a glass container and some twine. I made an oil lamp for light and heat.

The diy oil lamp worked surprisingly well. It helped warm up the place a bit and provided quite a bit of light. I made two of them and one had a double wick for more heat and light. The only thing I had to do was top off the oil once a day to prevent smoking. When the oil got a bit low, the wick was too long, making smoke. So, I just kept it full. The thing only burnt about a quarter to half inch of oil per 24 hours. That was a nice bonus. It is very efficient.

I posted all the details here:

DIY Oil Lamp