Going Solar

[SparWeb]

There it is, Spar. The code you had "looked" right but I had to retype it in to get it to show. TW

[SparWeb]

Well, this is the first partial success, in several tries to get a diary entry to work.  Of course the link is broken.  I think I botched the HTML.  Here is a link to it, plus a few more:

New Panels


New Panels Connector Box


New Panels Mounted


New C40s.jpg

This pair of panels should keep my geriatric batteries at float charge more often.  The genny just isn't getting the job done.  Especially in the doldrums of February when I seem to get one windy day out of every 7.

[Junkie]

Nice setup there, always satisfying to add more power to a system.

Hope you get some good sun soon.

[willib]

I would have thought that in Canada the winds would be howling in winter?

Man i thought it looked bleak here , at least our roads are clear though.

FYI the link isnt broken ya just copied it wrong

http://www.sparweb.ca/Diary/Solar/New_Solar_Panels.jpg

This is what you copied

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2010/2/15/114324/www3.telus.net/faheydumas/Wind_Turbine/Diary/Solar/
New_Solar_Panels.jpg

How many watts per panel have ya got there?

[ghurd]

Might consider tipping them a few more degrees.

Say 60 degrees?  Snow doesn't really stick much at 60, and if there is enough sun to do much charging, it evaporates or melts off pretty fast.

These are 50~53 degrees, and they don't generally collect much.  They would collect more than I would want on a roof, but 10 degrees more would make it a non issue I think, even where you are!

Can 'almost' see the ice sickles if you look close at both the right hand brackets.

The 'portable' LOL 60W never gets any snow to stick, and it is usually not at the steep angle shown.

http://www.fieldlines.com/images/scimages/2050/PVsnow.jpg

I think I would be more concerned about 6" of white covering/shading the lower cells.

G-

[richhagen]

Looks good.  Looks like the drops are BX cable.  I don't know about BX cable in exterior conditions though.  Being in an urban environment, I am a bit jealous of all of that space you have there.

Joke - If you angled them the right direction you might be able to catch enough light off of the natural gas drilling rig you posted a photo of before to charge at night.  Rich

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

What's your latitude?

You want them tilted somewhere between your latitude (to maximize average input) and splitting the difference between that an your latitude plus 23.5 degrees (to do a little better in the winter when you need it more), unless you're going to adjust them for season or have some special circumstance.

[SparWeb]

Hi!  The sun came out this afternoon, so I did catch a few amps starting about 2PM.

There were wet snow flakes falling this morning, but that melted off the moment the sun came out, so no problem there, either.

They are tilted at 70 degrees from vertical.  I calculated this from my latitude (51 deg) and adding 20 degrees.  It's closer to equinox than solstice right now, so I actually have them pointed a bit too vertically.

Once the sun came out I did a drive around the countryside and noticed a flash that would probably be annoying to one of my neighbours.  I will face them up 10 degrees and that should do me through April.

[SparWeb]

The label says "Carmanah", but the people I bought them from told me that it was made by BP Solar.  I looked up the data sheet, and the numbers match pretty well... mostly.

Carmanah panels are on all of the well-site monitoring stations, so they are a common sight around here.  In fact, that well that was drilled near my place has a panel on it almost identical to this one!

[willib]

i really like your horse, i named her Bonnie

That charge controller looks awesome.

and i'm glad the weather got better

[SparWeb]

A better picture of her:

[SparWeb]

Hey, finally a sunny day yesterday.

The meter counted 36.6 Amp-hours.  The battery voltage was about 27V, so that's 988 Watt-hours.  Yay, nearly one kWhr in February.  I only get about 5 hours of direct sunlight in winter.

[ghurd]

Nice...

G-