Subnostr

Mother trucking duck sucker...

This is annoying. The shadow from the peak of the house kills any output from the two panels. It's only going to get worse until the solstice. Once I get my other two panels mounted to the roof, I'll have to change how I've got them wired. The front two (farthest from where I took the pic) will be one series and the rear two will be another series. That way at least two panels will be clear nearly all of the day.

Live and learn.

#solar #diy #diysolar #rv #vanlife #rvlife #energyindependence

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Discussion

Adeptus 2y ago

Daily and seasonal sun-arc has complicated a lot of installs.

The Beave 2y ago

Yeah. The trailer was further back in the yard before, which would be better for solar, but, worse for keeping the water lines from freezing over the winter, so, I'll deal with this the best I can as I build out and learn more about solar stuff.

#iterativeimprovement

Adeptus 2y ago

It's all about learning and time.

Jac 2y ago

So depending on your latitude you’ll want 30 to 45 degrees vertical, and about 17 degrees SW facing if you can achieve that. Best case you have perpendicular angle of incident with the photons from every angle.

The Beave 2y ago

Yeah. The next two panels I install will be on tilt mounts, and I'm going to split the pairs differently. That should yield way better results.

Jac 2y ago

Some other things to remember, panels at different voltages, ie. shade and sun will feed power from one into the other if you don’t separate them with diodes. Some panels have them built in, but most don’t. I found 15A MC4 diodes on EBay. Also, cooler panels make more power in the same sun. Some people go for a SE facing array because the local atmosphere helps keep the panels cool in the morning sun. Even a partially shaded panel can affect the overall production negatively.

The Beave 2y ago

My panels have diodes and are very efficient, putting it full voltage in rather adverse conditions. As long as I split the panels into a morning and afternoon array, I think the output will be acceptable in the winter.