Should you tilt panels in winter?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Should you tilt your panels in winter? Plus I discuss future plans on my channel and solar system. Subscribe and see my upcoming content.
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Mike Holt video on PV grounding and bonding • Solar Photovoltaic (PV...
Well I am going to need to look up your solar panels. If your array is 34' Long that is almost exactly what we need for the Sea Container that we have on our property. Thank you for showing us all your detail, Doc!
Looking forward to all of your videos!!!
Thanks for posting, Doc! I am looking into purchasing two of the EG4 MPPT Charge Controllers 100/48.
Good video. I agree on the grounding the panels (and pretty much everything else you covered). I grounded every one. It just didn't cost that much more. I'm gonna take a pass on those temps and snow you get. This last round was enough to last me all the rest of this year and next year too. If you do get down to Texas, drop by and see me. I'll grill us some home grown grass fed steaks and we can swap stories.
Great video! Thank you!
Just dropping by to say hi!
Thanks, good to see you here.
Good topic. While snow isn’t an issue here in TX, I tilted my 405w bifacial panels vertical when the high winds from the last cold front came through. I was a surprised that the reduction in power on a sunny day was only around 15%-20%. I would have expected more than that. I have a buddy who owned an auto AC shop in Houston for years. He only worked 1/2 year over summers and fished the rest of the year. He told me he was finally retiring so he could fish more.. I just rolled my eyes.. 🤦♂️
With snow on the ground and panels tilted to 65° during winter I see yield up pretty high, with good sun yield is over panel ratings like I showed in the video. The sun reflects off the snow and increases the yield. The AC business has been good to me, I just stumbled into it. Started as a sideline and ended up as the main specialty. I run a mobile shop doing service calls on off road equipment in addition to the shop. Not unusual to do 100 hour weeks during heat waves. 37 years in business this year and 28 in the AC business.
I would love to see a video on the apps you used to find your locations for solar.
I'll get to work on it for you.
Thanks, sounds interesting as I did not need to look at apps as I just used a property line to line mine up.@@doczwy8143
👌👍hi there from n Ga
I dont understand here. You said not to ground the pv array, then later you said to ground it?? Please explain and elaborate. Thank you.
The array needs to be grounded. An equipment grounding conductor needs to be ran from the array to your grounding system. That is the green wire ran from my array with the PV wires to my house system shown in the video. Do not install a grounding rod at the array. It is allowed under NEC code as an auxillary ground rod but you would still have to run the grounding conductor to your grounding system. This is to prevent the voltage gradient from a nearby lightning strike from entering your system. A steel mount like mine can cause the gradient pulse to enter, not much one can do about that. A direct hit on an array and your system will most likely sustain damage. Lessen the chances of the gradient pulse from damaging your system by not having any additional grounding points at the array. I suggest viewing Mike Holt's videos on PV grounding. I added a link in the video description.
Thank you very much!!! Hubs says that our array is just like you described.
I just received a response from Signature Solar that I need to configure my 390 Watt QCELL Panels in a 6S2P configuration to supply the same Charge Controller you are utilizing at 8S/500 watt panels... what am I not comprehending, Doc? I was hoping to hit the 4kw threshold that you are producing. The configuration they are requiring is 1/2 the input you have inbound to your charge controllers?!? What gives? I need to re-watch the video and see what brand and output your panels are. I will purchase all new panels to get the amount of power you are producing on your system. Mind you - none of this may be possible now that I found out we may be too high above sea level for this unit (4921ft maximum above sea level). We are at 5300ft above sea level.
The 390W Q Cell has a VOC of 48.48V. If you want 12 panels per SCC, which is 4680W, then you would have to use multiple strings in parallel. You could do 3 SCC's with 8S as that would be 388V (plus it needs to be run thru a VOC calculator for temp coefficient, I suggest Midnite Solar calculator) which is under the 450V limit but that is only 3120W per SCC. You won't need a combiner box with 2 strings in parallel. To save on wire costs and power loss, run 10 AWG PV wire from each string and only parallel them together right before the SCC. As for the altitude, I don't think the 400 feet probably is an issue although there was some recent discussion about inverters and charge controllers at high altitude on the DIY Solar Forum.
@@doczwy8143 Thank you for responding to my questions! I think this might be easier to follow the pathway that you did with your JA SOLAR Panels and SCC's (or a similar spec'd panel). The array will be mounted on top of the High Cube Container so the "wire runs" are in 40'-50' range. The reason for keeping the array on tp of the container - pack rats out here eat wiring like Swiss Cheese (already reeked havoc on the tractor). I am impressed with your tilting array and trying to find the means to apply that to the container ( a lot of welding for support brackets if we chose that route - but worth it for seasonal reasons). Once again - thank you so much for your time and effort and insight! Where do we support your effort? I am going to be following your for years to come as you keep posting your videos!
@@rongray4118 I do this all for free in my own time and do not have intentions of monetizing my channel or being an affiliate of any company. I can give my unbiased opinion on something that I purchased with my own money.
@@doczwy8143 duly noted, Doc! Thank you!!