Have you seen the latest ads out there online? They’re everywhere. They talk about how you can make cheap wind and solar power using simple and cheap materials to create your own wind turbine and solar panel array.

But what these plan’s don’t tell you is how much time, effort, and money you’ll throw away trying to “get it right” in the first place.

I’ve found several problems with downloadable, online guides as they relate to “making your own home made power”.

They overstate the gains or energy created.

Understand that alternative energy sources, like wind and solar, that you do yourself are relatively low power. You’ll need not only to store the energy you make, but build on it for quite some time before it is usable. This can be costly, especially when you factor in the power inverter, battery banks, charge regulators, and other raw materials you need.

Additionally, understand that they often times talk about the “best case scenarios” rather than the likely one. For example, they tell you that you can “make” a solar array with broken or chipped solar cells. This is true, but the amount of effort that goes into this and the extremely delicate nature of the cells makes it a challenge to say the least. You will end up cracking some for sure. And often times, you get a few pieces that are DOA – so they are worthless. This means you have to test every darn one. Also, understand that you should only ever put cells that have the same output in parallel with each other. This is because the amount of power that you can generate will only ever be as high as the “lowest” rated one. So, if you have a .32a cell and a .75a cell, the .75a cell will only give your .32a of power. You lost more than half already.

The costs are higher than they state

Okay, I’m not sure when these “gurus” wrote their guides, but I have to be honest here. They claim that you can buy a good dc motor for a wind generator for around $35. Wrong! An ebay/craigslist/flea market search for the motor shows that it is now close to $70. Oops. And the chipped solar array package? Yeah, thats over $20.

Meanwhile, you can get a new solar panel for around $6 plus shipping. Very little assembly required.

Complicated plans or lack of schematics

I’ve noticed that many of these guides often times advertise a “complete” plan. When I think of “complete plan” I think drawings, schematics, step by step. Unfortunately many of the guides provide half assed diagrams that aren’t clear, and instructions that are something to be desired, so to speak.

Impossible designs

Many of the DIY guides also seem to presume regualr homowners have the proper tools to complete the project. A perfect example is the blades for the wind turbine and the cowl, or cover. These are precise parts that can not be flawed – otherwise the unit will wobble and fall from the sky! If not that drastic, non precise parts will always reduce the energy you make and severely damage the energy making turbine. So, it is wrong to assume that regular homeowners have the tools or expertise to “get it right” without a lot of practice. And this takes materials, time, and money.

Look, I’m not against making energy at home. I am against people charging a lot of money for plans you can find online for free. Many of these guides were written by someone who read it somewhere – and never actually did it themselves. The ultimate test – email and ask the site owner or author of the guide for photos and details about their home made product. If they can’t walk away. They wrote the guide without ever actually doing anything.