How is energy from solar panels converted to energy that can be used for solar power?

Your best bet is making solar water heating panels. You could make them out of copper, PVC, and garden hose, and compare which gets hotter. Check out this site for ideas. http://www.builditsolar.com/

Avoid the scams out there saying you can build your own panel for $200 to power your whole house. You can't. There are some free instructions on the You Build It site that are legit.

More than likely you are going to need a voltage converter in between your panel and your battery. This converter is a switching powersupply, and takes the nominal voltage of your panel and steps it up/down to the correct voltage for your battery. Switchers have the advantage of being able to take a certain amount of power and turn it into a fixed voltage output. The design of the supply sets the input voltage range, but it can swing across several hundred volt range if designed properly. This is important for one main reason: solar cells have what is called an IV curve. You plot voltage against current for your panel and it shows a nice curve with a bend at high V/I levels. At a specific point on this curve, where V and I are both maximized, is the Maximum Power Point. This is the voltage and current where you get the most power off your panel. Some converters are smart and find this point. They are called Maximum Power Point Trackers or MPPTs. They will draw as much power as possible out of your panel for you to use. The Biel school of Engineering makes some that work well, but they are not cheap. I believe Xantrex technologies makes some as well. I've only played with the Biel's during my tenure on the ISU Solar Car Team. Other converters do not track. They just draw at a certain power level, and if it's not the max so be it. They are the cheaper of the two types. If this is a home panel this type of converter is a viable option as you can set the maximum power output to your battery. Since you don't want to overcharge your battery, the unused potential power from your supply is kind of a wash. Finally, you may be thinking "Well, why don't I just hook it up directly?" Good question. Firstly, if the maximum output voltage of the panel is too high, it can damage the battery. If the maximum output voltage is too low, it will never fully charge your battery. If the voltage output of the panel is less than the battery voltage (Low light), your battery will not charge. This set up will take a long time to fully charge your battery as you are on the high voltage side of the IV curve. The converter eliminates all this by taking a certain amount of power (voltage independant) from the panel and converting it to the correct charge levels for the battery. You will have to research this, as you need to match your converter to your project and panel. Take a look at Xantrex technologies, I believe they make setups for this exact project. Also, if you plan to drive your home with this be sure to talk to your power company. They will tell you how to do it safely, and, if your system is big enough, may let you sell power back onto the grid. Good luck.

Unless you know how to grow silicon crystals and slice them wafer thin in a controlled environment, you wont be making any solar cells.

You can make some of the make shift solar cells out of the deposite formed on copper when super heated. There are some tutorials online that explain how to do it,.

Your best bet would be to buy solar cells which are made from different processes and test them.

example

monocrystalline solar cell

polycrystalline cell

amorphous cell (not realy a cell, but a piece)

there are many other types of cells. Just contact someone and ask for a cell for school, they are about $2 a piece.

Then get a good multimeter from radio shack and do all of your testing on the same day.

Search "DIY" solar panels and google and you will come up with some DIY kits. If you need more information on solar panels and the different technologies, we just wrote a White Paper: Residential Solar Technology Made Simple that can be found here: http://www.moonworkshome.com/home-improvement-reso...

I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out with any further questions.

You might be able to manage solar panels to warm water.

This would be used, for example, in a home to reduce energy needed by the hot water heater.

Other types of solar panels, such as those that make electricity, you would not be able to make at home.

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you can macgyver extremely inefficient solar cells but it probably wont be worth it