Many factors have decided that between renewable (ecological as well), and

conventional (non-renewable and non-ecological)

energy sources, the first choice is always conventional energy source with profit as the only
important criterion. For example, high
profit is obtained by monopoly on strategic crude-oil reserves. Keep on reading to see how a
small man can mae a difference by building diy solar panels.
Ingenious solar system solution shown on the cansolair website served as inspiration to
build home-made efficient diy solar panels. Basically, it is incredibly simple and cheap
solar panel for supplemental home heating, which heats the air directly. The most interesting
is the fact that solar collector is almost entirely home built and constructed out of empty
aluminum cans!
ousing for diy solar panels is made of wood !plywood "#mm$, while its front is % mm
!&."' inches$ (le)iglas*polycarbonate !you can use tempered glass as well$. The bac+ of the
case set is made of '&mm roc+ wool !or styrodur$ as insulation.
,olar absorber is made out using beer and soda cans, painted in matte-blac+ paint
resistant to high temperature. The upper part !cover$ of cans is specifically designed to
provide greater efficiency in heat e)change between the cans and the passing air.
-hen it is sunny, regardless of outside temperature, cans and inside air heat up very
.uic+ly. The fan drives heated air bac+ into the room.

TIN-CAN DIY SOLAR PANELS FOR
HEATING DIY BILDING !ANAL
To begin with, we have collected empty cans from which we will assemble diy solar
panels. It is necessary to wash the cans immediately, because they very .uic+ly begin to
spread odors. /ttention! 0ans are generally made of aluminum, but there are some iron
specimens. 1ou can test cans easily with magnet.
-e have mar+ed three holes on each can with nail, then drilled the bottom using the
tools shown in (icture ' and %.
(lease pay attention and try to cut and form a small fin at the top of the can as precisely as
you can. Their tas+ is to encourage turbulent flow of air within each solar tube of our diy solar
panels so that air passing through the pipe can collect more heat from the heated wall of
cans. 0arefully cut the top of the cans in the form of star, and then distort free parts using
pliers !(icture "$. /ll this is necessary to do before gluing the cans.
(icture " (icture '
-/23I34! This procedure is e)tremely dangerous because the can walls are very
thin. ,harp parts may cause hand in5ury.
-hen the drilling is completed, small parts of the metal could remain in the can. 6se
pliers to remove these parts.
7o not remove pieces of sheet metal and debris with bare hands!
2emove grease and dirt from the surface of cans. /ny synthetic degreasing agent will
serve .uite well for this purpose. 7o this outdoors or in well-ventilated room.
-/23I34! This procedure is flammable and a potential ris+ of e)plosion! It is
dangerous to do this near open flame or cigarette!!!
4lue all cans using any adhesive silicone resistant to high temperatures, at least up to
'&& 8 0. There are products for bonding that can withstand up to '9& 8 0 or %&& 8 0. Top and
the bottom of cans are compatible and fit perfectly to each other. (ut glue*silicone on the
edge of can and press other can on it. In this way the glue*silicone will not run away from the
edge. 7etail of the soldering tin, you can see in (icture :, and series of taped and finished
cans are shown in (icture #.
(icture : (icture #
(repare a template for stac+ing cans - shown in ;igure <. 1ou can use the two most
ordinary flat boards and connect them with nails. Template will provide support during the
drying cans to get a straight pipe - solar tunnel. In addition, attach the cans for a template
using the 5ar rubber.
(icture = (icture 9
(ictures =, 9 and > show the process of gluing. / series of glued cans form a solar
tube. (icture "& shows the pipe that must be fi)ed and motionless until the glue is completely
dry.
(icture "&
Bo)es of inta+e and e)haust parts for our diy solar panels are made of wood or
aluminum, " mm !;igures "" and "'$, gaps around the edges are filled with adhesive tape or
heat-resistant silicone. The bo) are drilled, cut-outs are ##mm in diameter. 7rilled parts can
be seen in ;igures "' and "% The first row of cans is glued to the cover of the suction bo)es,
see how it loo+s when all parts are assembled and prepared for painting !;igure "%$.
The adhesive dries very slowly. It is necessary to leave it to dry for at least ': hours.
(icture "" (icture "'
,olar absorber fits in the casing made of wood !;ig. ":$. Bac+ side of the diy solar
panels bo) is made of the plywood. In order to further consolidate the structure, you can
ma+e the inner wall of the strip. Isolation between partitions set - roc+ wool or styrodur
insulation. 0over all this with a thin plywood panel. Installed insulation can be seen in ;igure
"#. (ay special attention to the insulation around the opening for the e)it and entrance of air
in the solar collector.
(icture ": (icture "#
(reparation, protection and paint of timber from which the bo) is assembled is finished.
oo+s are attached to all four corners of the solar collector, so it can be mounted on the wall
!;ig. "<$ using "& mm screws !;ig. "=$. /n empty bo) is placed on the wall in order to
precisely determine the place and mar+ the spot of drilling the inlet*e)haust.
(icture "9 (icture ">
/t the end, the solar absorber is painted blac+ and placed in the diy solar panels
casing. The casing is covered with ple)iglass that we attach to the frame and thoroughly
complained silicone. (olycarbonate * ple)iglass is slightly conve) in order to gain greater
strength. 1ou can see installed solar absorber without ple)iglass in picture "9. 0omplete solar
collector is shown on (icture ">, and finally, installed solar system can be seen in (icture '&.
The following page shows complete specification of parts and material needed for building diy
solar panels. If you want to learn more about solar heating, chec+ out how do pop can solar
panels work .
?n youtube you can see how our pop-can diy solar panels wor+. @ideo shows how
solar panel operates on a bright day. /fter first '& minutes, panel heated up the air inside
livingroom at #& 80.
Important noteA ?ur solar sys"e# is no" a$le "o a%%&#&la"e "'er#al ener(y after
producing it. -hen itBs sunny, the solar collector produces heat, but it is necessary to use it
immediately for heating the air inside the house. If the sun does not shine, it is necessary to
interrupt the supply of air in the solar collector, because otherwise the room will begin to cool
off. This can be solved in a simple way - by installing the valve, which will reduce the heat
loss to a minimum.
7ifferential thermostat !snap disc$ controls the fan. This thermostat can be bought in
better-e.uipped electronic component stores. The unit has two sensors. ?ne placed inside
the top opening for warm air, the other inside the lower opening for the supply of cold air in
the solar collector.
If on*off temperatures are set carefully, diy solar panels are able to produce an average
' +- of energy for home heating. This generally depends on how much sun do we have
during the day.
7ress rehearsal of solar collectors carried out in the bac+yard before installing the
system on the house. It was a sunny winter day, no clouds. /s a fan is used a small cooler
e)tracted from a faulty power supply of (0. /fter "& minutes in the sun from the solar
collector is out hot air temperatures of =& 8 0! The test results have encouraged us to install
solar heater on the house as soon as possible.
/fter completing installation of collector, the outside temperature was -% 8 0, and from
the solar collector is coming out % m%*min !% cubic meters per minute$ of heated air. In the
home version we used more powerful fan than for the test. eated air temperature went up to
C=' 8 0. Temperature was measured by digital thermometer. To calculate the heating power
of the collector, we too+ the air flow, and average air temperature e)iting from the device.
0alculated power that the solar panelproduced, was appro)imately )*+, - !watts$ which is
almost % ( !% horsepower$!!!
-/3T T? ,DD E?2D 7I1 (2?FD0T,G Fust enter the search term and hit ,earch
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0?30H6,I?3A 0onsidering that the results are .uite satisfactory, we can conclude
that 7I1 solar panels are definitely worth ma+ing. The collector, at the very least, can be used
for additional heating of our home, and it is up to you to calculate and figure out how much
savings you can achieve.