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CHECK WITH LOCAL MANUFACTURERS, RENTERS AND DISTRIBUTORS OF SOLAR PANELS AND SEE IF YOU CAN GET SOME CHEAP SOLAR CELLS

For those who do not fully understand solar panels it is good to understand the difference between a solar panel and a solar cell. Solar panels are nothing more than a bunch of individual cells strung together. When trying to hunt down cheap solar cells one way is to contact companies that deal with solar panels and solar cells all the time, many of these companies are going to have a certain amount of damaged equipment that they need to get rid of. One place you can check for information on such a company is on the road side equipment you see all the time that have solar panels attached to them. This equipment is generally rented and there should be a number on the devise that you can call. Solar panels from these companies are always getting broken. You can give companies like this a call and see what their policy is regarding the broken panels and cells they might have. Most panels in this category are going to be small ones that my have been powering road side signs or set at constructions sites. In a lot of cases you will actually be doing the company a favor by getting rid of these for them. Either way in many cases these panels and cells are just waiting to be thrown out, you should be able to find some cheap solar cells this way. You can use these for projects, and small things like that. Or if your don’t mind the work you can string a bunch of cells together and make a full size solar panel.

OK, in a lot of cases especially right now it will be hard to get grade A solar panels that you can own outright 100% for free. And if you don’t like the idea of calling around and asking a lot of different companies for broken solar panels there is still an option. Some companies regularly sell cheap solar cells that have been damaged. So getting cheap solar cells are not quite like getting them for free but it does cut out some of the hassle and you can get the damaged cells for an absolute fraction of the price of new solar panels. Here is one company that does this.

CHEAP SOLAR CELLS

Buying cheap solar cells like these allow you to get solar cells for a fraction of the normal price, about 1/20th the normal cost. Even though they are damaged you are paying for them so at least there will be some idea of the quality that they will be shipping to you. Now most people will use these cells for small projects and experimentation. However that does not mean that with a little bit of work you can’t string together your own full size solar panel extremely cheap. Many people have already done this with a bunch of cheap solar cells and are slashing there electric cost.

In addition to getting cheap solar cells that are damaged there are a number of Federal and State incentive programs that are in effect to get people setup with cheap solar panels.

 

Large Solar Panels

In some cases however you might be able to get a hold of full size solar panels that have been damaged for free. The newer panels these days are more durable than the ones from a few years ago and even is the panel appears to be completely broken you might be surprised. Many PVC’s (photo voltaic cells) today are actually made of a flexible material, with only a glass face on them when they are assembled as as a panel. If and when the glass breaks the panel may seem to be broken and unusable. However the PVC’s should still be fine. The panel would no longer be viable with the broken glass due to the fractures obscuring most of the suns rays and not letting light get to the actual solar cells. However with enough time and patience this broken glass front can be removed and if desired replaced, this is not necessarily needed as the cells should work fine without and glass at all. Just check out this you tube video, Broken Solar Panels

Now working with cheap solar cells that have been damaged may seem like there will still be a sizable cost involved. This is where some creative thinking comes in. You have to figure in what you might be saving in the long run or how much your saving on a monthly basis. If you can work the numbers so what you have to put up will be recovered over a short period of time it is definitively worth it. Of if you do have to take out a loan for some improvements than you would like your monthly payment to be less than the amount your saving on your electric bill than your already making out. Solar Incentives