Solar Panels

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, Pink7 said:

Im mounting panels on a metal roof who is build on a steel construction In top of blocks and cement poles, with DIY solar rails of steel. I then got the idea to connect the steel roof or the garage steel construction to a Ground rod, will that work?

 

Pink

 

 

I don't understand what you are worried about. 

Can you please detail your concerns so that we can put them to rest.

[Pink7]

14 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

I don't understand what you are worried about. 

Can you please detail your concerns so that we can put them to rest.

Im not sure Im so worried. I just shared my solution for grounding my diy solar rails, then hopefully it will be a ok grounding. Instead of connect all the rails together, i guess the roofing and steel work already connect them.

 

Pink

Edited April 10, 2023 by Pink7

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Pink7 said:

Im not sure Im so worried. I just shared my solution for grounding my diy solar rails, then hopefully it will be a ok grounding. Instead of connect all the rails together, i guess the roofing and steel work already connect them.

 

Pink

Our panels are on a rolled steel roof.  In that aspect, the house itself is grounded, as all is tied in together to the support columns in the dirt.  Not copper or copper wrapped steel, but all the column are in the dirt.

 

If not mistaken, think the copper earthing ground connected the the home electrical/breaker boxes, pretty much just protects the appliances and anyone touching them if a current goes haywire.

 

With the solar system itself, being grounded through that also.

[Crossy]

Generally, all the metallic bits of your structure (including the panel frames) should be electrically bonded together and then grounded. That's why you see all those little bits of green/yellow linking the panels (and cable tray, trunking etc.) together on a "pro" installation.

 

In reality, the fixings themselves will provide an adequate bond and the bonding wires are the insurance.

 

Your building steel may be an adequate ground already. Our house roof steel measures better than our 2.5m copper-clad rod ???? But it's the rod that makes it all "to code".

 

 

[h90]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

Generally, all the metallic bits of your structure (including the panel frames) should be electrically bonded together and then grounded. That's why you see all those little bits of green/yellow linking the panels (and cable tray, trunking etc.) together on a "pro" installation.

 

In reality, the fixings themselves will provide an adequate bond and the bonding wires are the insurance.

 

Your building steel may be an adequate ground already. Our house roof steel measures better than our 2.5m copper-clad rod ???? But it's the rod that makes it all "to code".

 

 

I don't know if that is relevant, we were a bit concerned of unequal changing sizes with temperature. So when we screwed the panels on we used faulty small UCup seals (soft plastic) between the panels and the structure....Basically like a big rubber washer. (just we produce these seals and had some that didn't pass quality control + they are UV resistant and don't age in the sun) so the panel can move a little bit in compare to the steel structure below it.
Don't know if that makes sense but as it didn't cost more we did it.

[degrub]

That’s what all the green/yellow wire bonding jumpers are meant to address - when you have to isolate with nonconductive  components for mechanical reasons.

[Muhendis]

2 minutes ago, degrub said:

That’s what all the green/yellow wire bonding jumpers are meant to address - when you have to isolate with nonconductive  components for mechanical reasons.

The rubber washers @h90 uses won't make any difference to the grounding of the panel frames which is where I understand he is using them. The panel frames are anodised aluminium which means they are insulated. If I remember rightly the anodised coating is good for 1kV so if you want to bond the panel frame to ground you would need to grind off the anodised coating where the connection is made to the frame. Of course, if you do that then you also need to add a bit of protection against corrosion of any bare aluminium.

I didn't bother with grounding the panel frames but I added loads of bits of green wire between all individual mounting hardware.

[h90]

19 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

The rubber washers @h90 uses won't make any difference to the grounding of the panel frames which is where I understand he is using them. The panel frames are anodised aluminium which means they are insulated. If I remember rightly the anodised coating is good for 1kV so if you want to bond the panel frame to ground you would need to grind off the anodised coating where the connection is made to the frame. Of course, if you do that then you also need to add a bit of protection against corrosion of any bare aluminium.

I didn't bother with grounding the panel frames but I added loads of bits of green wire between all individual mounting hardware.

Interesting.....I did not ground anything and I did not do any connection on purpose. Didn't had a problem so far. But most probably grounding would be a good idea. I saw that one neighbor has some very tall radio antenna. I hope every lightning goes to him first....

[thaisail]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:10 PM, Crossy said:

 

Sort of, spreading your panels like that will enable you to start generating earlier and finish later so extending your production day but your peak rate (around mid-day) will be lower because 60% of your panels are pointing the "wrong" way.

 

Thing is that "6 hours" doesn't mean your panels generate rated power for 6 hours it's just a way of getting an overall per day production without complex maths.

 

Our panels are producing power at 6.30AM and they finally give up at around 6PM, but sure as heck they're going nowhere near even 10% of rated power at those times. 

Is there a tiny motor that can rotate the panel so that it will turn with the arc of the sun so that the panel will always be perpendicular to the sun?

[KhunLA]

9 minutes ago, thaisail said:

Is there a tiny motor that can rotate the panel so that it will turn with the arc of the sun so that the panel will always be perpendicular to the sun?

Anything is possible ... but... 

https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/are-solar-axis-trackers-worth-the-additional-investment#:~:text=In most cases%2C solar trackers,to include a tracking system.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by KhunLA

[degrub]

Commercial solar farms would use motorized tracking as there would be payback versus the maintenance and extra capital required.  For a home user, it should be simpler , less costly, and less maintenance to add panels on fixed mounts as is commonly done to capture the additional peak time. 

[thaisail]

On 4/9/2023 at 6:05 PM, SomchaiDIY said:

made collection some grade-a jinko 575watt mono type-n panel for friend

 

price 6366 baht / piece with tax 

 

11 baht / watt

 

same panel 1 year early 10.6 baht / watt

 

average for mono grade-a top brand now 11 baht / watt with tax

 

 

Is there any way we can set up some sort price alert system for everyone looking for a promotion on solar panels? I have heard that lately, Global has had the best prices but I am also willing to order panels online if I can beat the Global cost when adding in transport cost.

[h90]

2 hours ago, thaisail said:

Is there any way we can set up some sort price alert system for everyone looking for a promotion on solar panels? I have heard that lately, Global has had the best prices but I am also willing to order panels online if I can beat the Global cost when adding in transport cost.

I got pretty good deals for small quantities on Shopee, which surprised me and no hassle with importing from China

[SomchaiDIY]

2 hours ago, thaisail said:

Is there any way we can set up some sort price alert system for everyone looking for a promotion on solar panels? I have heard that lately, Global has had the best prices but I am also willing to order panels online if I can beat the Global cost when adding in transport cost.

global house provide only sale service for solar product

outside company keep stock and make promotion price

often global house stock level goes out fast

 

 

many big importer of top brand solar panel around bangkok but many time not easy to make purchase of small number

many people like to make brand choice + see touch product before making these expensive buy

delivery from online shop can be ok but some people have problem from some seller if damage in delivery or not same brand 

 

my friend asked for jinko tiger neo n-type panel

i arrange pickup from importer for the small order

 

https://www.jinkosolar.com/en/site/tigerneo#s1

 

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, SomchaiDIY said:

global house provide only sale service for solar product

outside company keep stock and make promotion price

often global house stock level goes out fast

 

 

many big importer of top brand solar panel around bangkok but many time not easy to make purchase of small number

many people like to make brand choice + see touch product before making these expensive buy

delivery from online shop can be ok but some people have problem from some seller if damage in delivery or not same brand 

 

my friend asked for jinko tiger neo n-type panel

i arrange pickup from importer for the small order

 

https://www.jinkosolar.com/en/site/tigerneo#s1

 

Jinko specs are a bit vague in that link but nice too see improvements.

If the panel is 1% down at 1 year then looses 0.4%/year linearly, after 30 years you would be 12.6% down from new.

Do you have prices for these panels?

Edited April 11, 2023 by Muhendis

[indyo]

what about these panels?, it's less than 10 bath per watt but I have no idea about the quality.

[SomchaiDIY]

On 4/9/2023 at 6:05 PM, SomchaiDIY said:

made collection some grade-a jinko 575watt mono type-n panel for friend

 

price 6366 baht / piece with tax 

 

11 baht / watt

 

same panel 1 year early 10.6 baht / watt

 

average for mono grade-a top brand now 11 baht / watt with tax

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Jinko specs are a bit vague in that link but nice too see improvements.

If the panel is 1% down at 1 year then looses 0.4%/year linearly, after 30 years you would be 12.6% down from new.

Do you have prices for these panels?

example price in early post 

 

jinko give spec in pdf for all panel in my product link

 

example 

https://www.jinkosolar.com/uploads/619f4244/JKM555-575N-72HL4-(V)-F1-EN.pdf

[SomchaiDIY]

25 minutes ago, indyo said:

what about these panels?, it's less than 10 bath per watt but I have no idea about the quality.

ja solar mono panel have most good review in thai groups

 

trina panel have also some good review

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, SomchaiDIY said:

 

example price in early post 

 

jinko give spec in pdf for all panel in my product link

 

example 

https://www.jinkosolar.com/uploads/619f4244/JKM555-575N-72HL4-(V)-F1-EN.pdf

Thanks for the prices

Those Jinko panels are excellent in respect of longevity and with a few extra percent output too.

Much better than the "normal" panels.

Thermal losses are the same but that is a function of the technology of silicon and is to be expected.

Prices look on a par.

 

[TimeMachine]

Want to buy an inverter that handles solar panel input without the need for batteries to be connected. Looking at hooking up 10 panels to 5.5kw inverter. I'm deciding between two sold on Lazada by powmr. The grey orange version and the blue white version. Anybody has either? And have you tried running without batteries?

 

Cheers.