How about a solar car port on a budget?

[Crossy]

55 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

So it must be down to you that we are having such a dull, overcast day today.

 

My evil weather-control system is working perfectly!! Tomorrow I will wash the car and guarantee a downpour.

 

Cue maniacal laughter!

 

Strokes white Persian cat!

 

[007 RED]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

If the good weather continues, I'll have to turn off export earlier than usual.

I'm not quite in the same 'boat'.  Since the meter was read 14 days ago my small scale system has been satisfying most of our daytime needs, resulting in us only needing to purchase 13 units.

 

I checked the panels yesterday and, as can be seen from the photo below, they are 'caked in dust' which must have a degrading effect on their efficiency, so I  early this morning it was up on the car port roof with the hose and soft brush.  They looked brand new when I finished.  I'm not sure if there will be any significant improvement in output as its difficult to measure with so many variable.

 

That said, if the weather remains the same until the next meter reading in 13 days, we'll have an extremely small bill, possibly the lowest since the system has been in operation.

Edited January 2, 2023 by 007 RED
Typo

[Muhendis]

14 hours ago, 007 RED said:

I'm not sure if there will be any significant improvement in output as its difficult to measure with so many variable.

When the sun is a bit low in the morning and later in the afternoon, you can be sure there is a significant difference .

At midday the difference is about 5% but the shading of the dust in the earlier and later parts of the day can reduce the output to half what it should be.

I did mine a couple of days ago in the early morning and the output shot up by double. I use slightly soapy water and one of those mop thingies that can spin around in it's bucket.

I will need to revisit to remove a few spots of bird droppings which seem to be etched into the glass.

[Crossy]

We use the hose and the nylon pool brush (it has a telescopic handle). 

 

It's also worth doing early in the morning when any dew is still on the panels to soften the dirt.

 

Our panels are nowhere near as mucky as @007 RED ones, but they do need a clean.

[007 RED]

I just looked at my panels again this morning - less than 24 hours after I cleaned them - and already there is a fine layer of dust on them.  It looks like I may have to do them again next week. 

 

The culprit is the pollution hanging over us because of the cold layer in the upper atmosphere.  My little PM2.5  meter is almost off the scale, as shown below.  (photo taken 3/1/23 @ 9:51 am)

 

My problem is getting up onto the car port roof (approx. 4 meters above the ground).  At 76 YO, falling through the cement roof tiles is going to mean a very expensive hospital bill, or possibly a cheaper trip to the local temple ????.

[Crossy]

We pay a man (you don't think I clean our panels do you), it's actually the same chap who cuts the grass etc.

 

Should be plenty of locals who will push the mud around for a nominal fee.

 

[MJCM]

20 hours ago, Crossy said:

I just read our meter.

 

Reading on the last bill (19/12/22) 14,831, today's reading 14,821.

 

Oops.

 

If the good weather continues, I'll have to turn off export earlier than usual.

Even our Simple setup was putting us in the minus so I have turned it off and since then (Dec 26th) we have only used 4 units (PEA) from 16th December.

 

Meter reader comes again on the 16th January, expecting a record low this time (again) ????

Edited January 3, 2023 by MJCM

[MJCM]

Re: Cleaning Panels

 

We (I) have to do that almost every single day, why? birds ????. They use the panel edges as their toilets, and if you don't clean it often it will be difficult to remove.

[007 RED]

3 hours ago, MJCM said:

Re: Cleaning Panels

 

birds ????. They use the panel edges as their toilets

As a proficient DIYer.. How about a few of these?

[Crossy]

17 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

As a proficient DIYer.. How about a few of these?

 

[007 RED]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

We pay a man (you don't think I clean our panels do you), it's actually the same chap who cuts the grass etc.

 

Should be plenty of locals who will push the mud around for a nominal fee.

 

The thought of getting a 'local' to clean them every so often had crossed my mind, but again, who is responsible if they fall off?

 

My better half has suggested getting someone to construct a 'walk-way' on the car port roof, similar to yours, which would avoid the risk of slipping on the incline.  Good idea ????.  I think that may be a project for later in the year.

 

In the short term I'm seriously considering getting an electric solar panel brush system, as shown below.

 

The motor is 24V (AC-DCconverter supplied), 300RPM. Water supply is connected to nearby tap in garden.  Handle extendable from 2M to 7M.

 

With this I can reach all of the panels comfortably from a step ladder.

 

Cost about 10K, which is a lot cheaper than the hospital bills might be if I came a cropper.

[MJCM]

1 hour ago, 007 RED said:

As a proficient DIYer.. How about a few of these?

55555555555555555

 

Then I have to fill our whole garden with them.

 

My wife loves birds because they eat the insects of the Veggies.

 

I said to her, Yes Birds love our garden, they eat the insects of your veggies and they then use the Solar Panels as the toilets so what we have is a One Stop Drive In complete with Rest Rooms

 

She was looking at me like this ????

 

[Encid]

7 hours ago, MJCM said:

Re: Cleaning Panels

 

We (I) have to do that almost every single day, why? birds ????. They use the panel edges as their toilets, and if you don't clean it often it will be difficult to remove.

One solution:

 

 

They will have to find a toilet somewhere else...

[Muhendis]

Another solution.

[carlyai]

12 hours ago, Encid said:

One solution:

 

 

They will have to find a toilet somewhere else...

We have similar to these on a fence, does the trick.

I also bought some big black Crows, silly me, as I wasn't allowed to put them up. ????

[Muhendis]

 

 

Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of you.

[sezze]

On 1/3/2023 at 9:09 AM, 007 RED said:

The thought of getting a 'local' to clean them every so often had crossed my mind, but again, who is responsible if they fall off?

 

My better half has suggested getting someone to construct a 'walk-way' on the car port roof, similar to yours, which would avoid the risk of slipping on the incline.  Good idea ????.  I think that may be a project for later in the year.

 

In the short term I'm seriously considering getting an electric solar panel brush system, as shown below.

 

The motor is 24V (AC-DCconverter supplied), 300RPM. Water supply is connected to nearby tap in garden.  Handle extendable from 2M to 7M.

 

With this I can reach all of the panels comfortably from a step ladder.

 

Cost about 10K, which is a lot cheaper than the hospital bills might be if I came a cropper.

This actually looks exactly the same as this.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/automatic-rotating-brush-for-high-pressure-washer-window-glass-cleaning-brush-car-cleaning-tools-i3729268272.html?spm

And this is actually already expensive . All you need is a pressure washer , long hose and some long steel .

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lutian-yili-bosch-i2553656068-s10478565270.html?

 

I actually used 1 of those , the inner brush spins thx to water pressure . It does not have the fancy premium "solar panel cleaning" name on it , as it is purpose is cleaning cars .

 

[Crossy]

The numbers for January.

 

A somewhat variable month that includes one of our best days with 40.3kWh of generation on the 29th and a pretty crumby 11.8kWh on the 11th.

 

 

 

[Crossy]

I checked our PEA meter last evening when Madam was showing me where PWA want to dig up part of our driveway to access a leak, she's miffed that they want to move part of her hedge.

 

We are -38kWh since the man came on the 19th of January, oops.

 

He will come again on the 16th of February so we are now in no-export mode. If I have to, I'll kill the solar completely for a couple of days (we use a total of about 30kWh per day).

 

I blame the nice sunny weather and cool night-time temperatures (no A/C in the bedroom).

[Muhendis]

34 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I blame the nice sunny weather and cool night-time temperatures (no A/C in the bedroom).

And don't forget the panels are also giving better output in this cooler weather.

[Crossy]

Here we go with the February numbers.

 

Definitely a month of two halves. Lowest production was 8.9kWh on the 15th, best was a dead heat at 40.9kWh on the 25th and 26th. 

 

[007 RED]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

Here we go with the February numbers.

 

Definitely a month of two halves. Lowest production was 8.9kWh on the 15th, best was a dead heat at 40.9kWh on the 25th and 26th. 

 

Although my system is minuscule compared to yours, our production graphs for February is almost identical to yours, apart from the numbers that is.

 

 

The 15th was a real strange day. It was as though someone upstairs forgot to 'light the candle' in the morning and turned the 'shower' full on instead.   There was ZERO production between 08:30 and 11.30, as seen from the graph below, resulting in my small scale system only producing 1.75kW that day.

 

[motdaeng]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

Here we go with the February numbers.

 

Definitely a month of two halves. Lowest production was 8.9kWh on the 15th, best was a dead heat at 40.9kWh on the 25th and 26th. 

 

are the low numbers on the 15th. and 16th. because of your "PEA reading days"?

[Crossy]

9 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

are the low numbers on the 15th. and 16th. because of your "PEA reading days"?

 

No, it was just really carp weather ???? 

 

16th was meter reading, but we didn't even get a full charge in the batteries either day.

 

[TronxII]

Did you already get your quality LiFePo4 from China ? I remember you wanted to order some in November or December.

 

[Crossy]

On 3/4/2023 at 3:23 AM, TronxII said:

Did you already get your quality LiFePo4 from China ? I remember you wanted to order some in November or December.

 

Right now, things are on hold due to financial circumstances (waiting to sort out a new contract). Watch this space ???? 

[Crossy]

Despite a couple of miserable days late spurt saw us zip past the 1MWh generation milestone for March ???? 

 

 

[carlyai]

I'm going to have to put my build off until next year I think.

[Crossy]

Just now, carlyai said:

I'm going to have to put my build off until next year I think.

 

Ouch!!

 

Accident or surgery or both??

[carlyai]

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Ouch!!

 

Accident or surgery or both??

Revision TKR unfortunately. 

Hope they got it right this time. Seems there's a few mm difference between a good replacement and a bad replacement.