Yesterday's peak production from my panels... 3.4kW, then yesterday evening with squeegee and soapy warm water clean them panels... peak so far (which isn't actual peak yet) is 3.81kW... daardie voel kak en goed moet afkom van die paneele...

More numbers... yesterday at 08:02 production was 1.02kw, this morning at 08:00 production was 1.38kW...

Same WX, no clouds, within 3°C temperature for now and yesterday same time...

So, I conclude, in my case, that enough dust/crud/crap etc. had collected to impact the production by well over 10% and seems like closer to 15% for the day, possibly... will post daily production number this evening, yesterday we produced 25k2W out of 17 X 280W JA Solar panels.

Failed to add, the panels were cleaned not more than 3 months ago previously...

Edited August 26, 20223 yr by Kalahari Meerkat
1 more thing...

Cleaning is always a good thing.

Depending on where you live, the need may be seasonal. Up here on the highveld we have dry winters and lots of dust blowing around. In the summer it's wetter, which means that the panels get a wash every now and then. 

There's a business opportunity here. I am getting too old to clamber around on a roof, squeegeeing the panels. I can do some of mine from the ground with a hose, but others are not so easily accessible and you really have to get up on the roof. Which I don't want to do.

Thanks @Kalahari Meerkat, I've seen similar results when cleaning my panels, but only from reading the watts on screen, not with any decent data.

@Scorp007I guess you either get a lot more rain than we do or you live in a much cleaner part of the country 🤣

4 hours ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

daardie voel kak en goed moet afkom van die paneele..

Yip, I can vouch for that
I think I have a deliberate seagull that like clockwork craps on my panels every afternoon at about the same time and it flies at the same angle and drops it like he is aiming for the same spot each time, I am bust making a old-school ketti to get that $@@%$^@

Ok, at the moment, we're still producing 113W, so pretty much all over, but 31k1W have accumulated for the day, I would not have guessed this... 25k2 vs 31k1... 5.9kW more... but hey, just a bit of elbow grease...

We actually had more rain than normal, this winter, normally I tell people we have 3 cloudy days in the winter with 1 or 2 days a minor drizzle, usually not amounting to more than 8mm for the winter months... this go around (the 2nd year of the start of the 11 year solar cycle) we ended up with 57.25mm from 14th June the 1st rain for winter and the last rain, so far, the 2nd of August... let me add, I see winter as from the 1st of June until the 31st of August. As per the Norwegians, I don't expect any more rain this winter.

37 minutes ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

5.9kW more... but hey, just a bit of elbow grease

yio thats a whole battery worth.

14 hours ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

yio thats a whole battery worth.

Actually, once the sun set, it said 31.2kW

So, happy with that one... I've got some Hawks nesting on my tower and all sorts of birds, none of whom have manners, so it seems every 3 months its clean up time... maybe if its a fairly wet rainy season, then during summer we get to skip a few... but for now, not expecting to see much water from above until probably late November, I'm guessing... but lets see and keep the squeegee handy for now 🙂

As for battery, not quite...

On 2022/08/26 at 12:24 PM, Bobster. said:

There's a business opportunity here.

I don't have names and numbers, but I understand that at least one such service is available in Jhb, and more are coming. Apparently some DIYers have used caustic agents on their panels and have done damage. These companies do an inspection as well as a clean and say they use appropriate cleaning agents.

About R1500 a visit, I'm told.

I Hose my panels down every two weeks or so in Winter and it makes a hugely noticeable difference.