Learning How to Build Solar Panel Cars
Solar panel cars are fantastic because they use the energy given off by the sun to run. This does a great justice both financially and environmentally because solar energy is renewable and clean, and therefore does not pollute the environment in any way.
How it Works
The process of how solar panel cars work is really quite simple to understand. Solar cells are used to convert the light given off by the sun into usable energy, and these cells are built like a sandwich with two layers of silicone separated by a thin layer of insulating material. Once sunlight falls onto these cells, electrical charges are produced, with the charge being positive on one side of each cell and negative on the other.
If you have enough of these solar cells you can even power something as large as a car, which is quite impressive because a single solar cell is only able to produce a small amount of electricity but if you connect various solar cells together on a multi-cell panel you can produce incredibly increased amounts of electricity.
Getting Started
If you are interested in building your own solar panel car, the first thing to remember is to start off small. While you can fully power an actual size car the best idea is to create a smaller sized one in order to get the general idea first and then go larger. All you need to do to create a small solar panel car is construct the body, mount the wheels, mount the motor, prepare the solar panels by connecting and strengthening them, mount the panels, and then you are finished.
Now you want to test the solar panel car, which you can do by placing it in bright sunlight, and after even just a few minutes you will see that the wheels will start to spin. You can make adjustments to the car as you please, and remember that if you notice that the wheels are turning in the wrong direction, you simply have to switch the wires that are connected to the motor. It is these sorts of issues that you want to be more educated on before moving on to a life size car and attempting to use solar energy to power it.
There are also solar panel cars that are already made and ready to go and if you would like to save yourself some time and energy you can choose to go this route, however you will get to learn so much more about solar energy and how it works if you build the car on your own.
