Help - solar panels only producing 50% energy

[SilverNodashi]

Hi,

 

Please help! My solar panels are not working well. It seems to produce only about 50% energy. What can be wrong?

It's 8x 255W panels connected to a 4Kw Axpert inverter and 48V, 200A battery bank.

 

This morning at 9:40, it produced about 420W power. Location is silver lakes, Pretoria.

[___]

Bad panel?

[flltech]

What was the load at that time?

[SilverNodashi]

5 hours ago, plonkster said:

Bad panel?

I checked the fuses and they are fine. All 4 panel strings have more or less the same voltage.

 

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Then we discovered this.

Production was at 870W shortly after washing the panels

 

P.S i don't really need help, just wanted to bring the message across

 

 

[PaulF007]

Ha ha , I didn't know that building had panels on it.If memory serves me there is a little solar shop right behind that M'D sign , maybe little to the left .

[SilverNodashi]

1 minute ago, PaulF007 said:

Ha ha , I didn't know that building had panels on it.If memory serves me there is a little solar shop right behind that M'D sign , maybe little to the left .

What building?

The little solar shop isn't so little anymore, and it's a bit more to the left now, by about 90 degree probably. 

[PaulF007]

Ah well close enough .. 

[Chris Hobson]

1 hour ago, SilverNodashi said:

That is incredible!

[flatfourfan]

with the amount of taxi's that ride on the shoulder of that road, there is no surprise that those panels look the way they do. 

 

But DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN, that's a lot of crap......lol.

[SilverNodashi]

1 hour ago, flatfourfan said:

with the amount of taxi's that ride on the shoulder of that road, there is no surprise that those panels look the way they do. 

 

But DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN, that's a lot of crap......lol.

Yup. Was like a blanket on top of the panels. Just goes to show, a bit of dust can make a big difference. 

[___]

14 hours ago, SilverNodashi said:

P.S i don't really need help, just wanted to bring the message across

It did strike me as odd that the great Silver would require help with something like this :-)

[SilverNodashi]

44 minutes ago, plonkster said:

It did strike me as odd that the great Silver would require help with something like this :-)

The "great Silver"? ai, jai, jai

[SilverNodashi]

27 minutes ago, Ambani said:

You can contact Solterra for more help. 

They can assist you and are located in silverlakes Pretoria

Wow, nice RAS

[Kalito]

We really underestimate the level of dust in our atmosphere and how solar panels are great at grabing the stuff. Most of these panels indicate high tolerance to dust, snow, etc. They promise to work even in the desert. Hmm, how often do we clean 'em?

[SilverNodashi]

1 hour ago, Kalito said:

We really underestimate the level of dust in our atmosphere and how solar panels are great at grabing the stuff. Most of these panels indicate high tolerance to dust, snow, etc. They promise to work even in the desert. Hmm, how often do we clean 'em?

Yup. And it's been quite dry recently so they don't get a natural clean-up as usual 

[Sidewinder]

So last weekend I also "cleaned" my panels. Just a few minutes of hosing down from the borehole. Panels is not easy to get to even with a regular extension ladder.

So the red line is a "regular" profile, and 'cos they are a bit oversized, the inverter "clips" the top of at just over 6 kW. 

The spike on the light brown graph is around 2 pm, when the panels were "cleaned".

The delta is about 1 kW, but I think the cleaning only contributes less than a half of that. The cooling down is very effective.

Now that makes me scheme......how about an automated "Cooling" system. And then recycle the water as water into the veggie patch.

Damn...the temps on the Inv. is already peaking at 49 Deg. Better add those extra fans then.....

maybe add another Inv.....

Ag well, I rather braai this weekend

[pilotfish]

On 9/22/2017 at 7:58 AM, Sidewinder said:

Now that makes me scheme......how about an automated "Cooling" system.

I have been thinking seriously about adding one zone to the irrigation system which will spray down my panels at around midday each day. No, I'm not a Capie - you guys got the mountain, we got the water!!!

Just kidding, I'm on borehole water and I'm thinking a little bit of free water is a good trade off for a little extra fee power.

[Chris Hobson]

The problem the cooling effect last about 10 minutes. I cooled my panels down about 18 months ago nothing major just sprayed them down with the hose. I got a 200W increase in power (from 3kW of panels). Interesting to note that from my PV String Tool I have deduced that my panels run at about 60°C in summer. Now to test whether the theory and real time observations coincide.

[pilotfish]

I would LOVE an extra 400w from 6kWp - but not if I have to spray them every 15m!

[Sidewinder]

I think the idea is to automate such a spraying system. Last time I sprayed my panels (to clean), I also got drenched., but I enjoyed it.

[SilverNodashi]

20 hours ago, pilotfish said:

I have been thinking seriously about adding one zone to the irrigation system which will spray down my panels at around midday each day. No, I'm not a Capie - you guys got the mountain, we got the water!!!

Just kidding, I'm on borehole water and I'm thinking a little bit of free water is a good trade off for a little extra fee power.

Question is: will the panel frames corrode with the metal in the water?

[SilverNodashi]

9 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

The problem the cooling effect last about 10 minutes. I cooled my panels down about 18 months ago nothing major just sprayed them down with the hose. I got a 200W increase in power (from 3kW of panels). Interesting to note that from my PV String Tool I have deduced that my panels run at about 60°C in summer. Now to test whether the theory and real time observations coincide.

I have a temp sensor directly below one of my panels and another in the sun. They reach 60deg quickly in summer.

[Chris Hobson]

1 hour ago, SilverNodashi said:

Question is: will the panel frames corrode with the metal in the water?

Here in the Karoo it is not the corrosion I would be worried about but the limescale.

[DeepBass9]

First rain of the season cleaned off my panels and now they start generating 20 mins earlier in the morning all of a suddenly!

[Guest]

20 hours ago, SilverNodashi said:

Question is: will the panel frames corrode with the metal in the water?

My experiences are that the first rains have a lot more acidity in them (from the air pollution) and panels are designed to last up to 20 years with all of that, not so?

However, with water laden with metals et al, it could dry on the panels and very slowly over time form a layer. Like one gets in kettles in select areas, where there is a "aanpaksel" formed on the sides and elements. Maybe.

But thinking of that, same applies to them just standing their cleaned by the "acid" rain.

So maybe it is advisable to wash them once or twice a year with soap or some such?