High Tide Aquatics

Who's cleaning their solar panels?

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sfsuphysics

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After seeing my wife's car last week before she washed it figured I'd check what my solar panels looked like and... well see the picture. Now I'm not sure how much is actually being blocked here, but I figure this was a good enough time to clean them off.

Now I don't have a fancy internet connected/logging system like some of you, I can see how much is made in any one day (if I look right before it shuts off), how much it's made since inception, and what it's currently making, so before I cleaned them off looked at my inverter and saw it was putting out about 2480 W , 3.26kW system. And after cleaning the panels off with car wash soap, a microfiber glove, and water... 2720 W, which is all of a 10% increase in output, which I'm not entirely convinced may have been because the Sun got a little higher in the sky. So if you're worried of panels being overly dirty, and also afraid of killing yourself by falling off your roof... they probably aren't as bad as you think. But then again 10% on this relatively small array, is just that small. If you have a 10kW array 10% is a full kW you're losing out on.
 

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Well, at the very least, spray a jet from your garden hose up there!

When I hosed my car off casually, a ton of soot and ash flowed off it.

V
 
sfsuphysics said:
After seeing my wife's car last week before she washed it figured I'd check what my solar panels looked like and... well see the picture. Now I'm not sure how much is actually being blocked here, but I figure this was a good enough time to clean them off.

Now I don't have a fancy internet connected/logging system like some of you, I can see how much is made in any one day (if I look right before it shuts off), how much it's made since inception, and what it's currently making, so before I cleaned them off looked at my inverter and saw it was putting out about 2480 W , 3.26kW system. And after cleaning the panels off with car wash soap, a microfiber glove, and water... 2720 W, which is all of a 10% increase in output, which I'm not entirely convinced may have been because the Sun got a little higher in the sky. So if you're worried of panels being overly dirty, and also afraid of killing yourself by falling off your roof... they probably aren't as bad as you think. But then again 10% on this relatively small array, is just that small. If you have a 10kW array 10% is a full kW you're losing out on.
Click to expand...

I have a 12.56kW system with two batteries. I cleaned mine off and saw about a 5% bump. I didn't use soap, though. Wasn't sure if that would damage any coating on the glass?
 
tagging alonhe I have been think about this especially recently with all the ash and dirt..
I know there are companies that do this service, but when I got my solar I was told not to worry about it, winter snd rain will clean the panels while summer dust will accumulate.
One way to monitor the monthly production and compare it to last year as an example...
 
ofzakaria said:
tagging alonhe I have been think about this especially recently with all the ash and dirt..
I know there are companies that do this service, but when I got my solar I was told not to worry about it, winter snd rain will clean the panels while summer dust will accumulate.
One way to monitor the monthly production and compare it to last year as an example...
Click to expand...
I was told to garden hose them down once or twice, but that's it. the ash up here in Novato was quite bad and I'm sure affected the output.
 
Do any of you have the ability to monitor portions of your array? Could you clean say half the panels and then do a same-time comparison?
I tried to spray off my car, but there was still a LOT of ash on it. A sponge with no soap (ie minimal scrubbing) took off the vast majority, and soap got the rest.
My neighbor was a bit smarter, he just set his power washer on a low (ie wide) setting and sprayed it all off.
 
jccaclimber said:
Do any of you have the ability to monitor portions of your array? Could you clean say half the panels and then do a same-time comparison?
I tried to spray off my car, but there was still a LOT of ash on it. A sponge with no soap (ie minimal scrubbing) took off the vast majority, and soap got the rest.
My neighbor was a bit smarter, he just set his power washer on a low (ie wide) setting and sprayed it all off.
Click to expand...

I wish-- We went with Tesla for the power walls, but even though I can go online to the inverter's array site, Tesla won't arrange or categorize my arrays to work with how SolarEdge's site is designed to operate.- something about, it takes too much work.
 
jccaclimber said:
Do any of you have the ability to monitor portions of your array? Could you clean say half the panels and then do a same-time comparison?
I tried to spray off my car, but there was still a LOT of ash on it. A sponge with no soap (ie minimal scrubbing) took off the vast majority, and soap got the rest.
My neighbor was a bit smarter, he just set his power washer on a low (ie wide) setting and sprayed it all off.
Click to expand...
My system gives that. I can see per panel
 
jccaclimber said:
Do any of you have the ability to monitor portions of your array? Could you clean say half the panels and then do a same-time comparison?
I tried to spray off my car, but there was still a LOT of ash on it. A sponge with no soap (ie minimal scrubbing) took off the vast majority, and soap got the rest.
My neighbor was a bit smarter, he just set his power washer on a low (ie wide) setting and sprayed it all off.
Click to expand...
I noticed when I just sprayed with a hose, finger over the end version not power washer version, it initially looked good but as soon as the water evaporated it looked like it largely didn't do much of anything, at least from a visual stand point I'm not sure what if anything changed on the power side though as I have a relatively low tech system and wasn't about to go up and down the ladder to see if it did anything. I'm sure a power washer would possibly do more, or maybe even a hose sprayer nozzle, just requires more water? Some of the ash was definitely "sticking" to the the panels though due to days of moist foggy mornings mixed with warm afternoon, so did require a bit more effort.

But that said, it definitely looks like more than 10% coverage in the pictures, maybe I'm just misinterpreting what I see though, or maybe solar panels work way better than most think, I mean there's bird crap on some that I don't think drops the panel efficiency at all, and these are wired in series with a single inverter, none of that microinverter stuff that makes each panel independent of the others.

Mike Yasin said:
ditto! But I’ll never tell wife that was the reason I did it!
Click to expand...
For the environment!
 
Mike Yasin said:
ditto! But I’ll never tell wife that was the reason I did it!
Click to expand...
I know at least a few people who suddenly developed a concern around the high levels of contaminants in their spouse’s drinking water at the same time they started getting serious about their reef. Pulling all of your RO from under the kitchen sink is a pain, but apparently better than not having RO, or admitting why you really want it.
Personally I informed my wife, stuck it on the garage wall, and we each carried on with our day, but not everyone is so fortunate.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I noticed when I just sprayed with a hose, finger over the end version not power washer version, it initially looked good but as soon as the water evaporated it looked like it largely didn't do much of anything, at least from a visual stand point I'm not sure what if anything changed on the power side though as I have a relatively low tech system and wasn't about to go up and down the ladder to see if it did anything. I'm sure a power washer would possibly do more, or maybe even a hose sprayer nozzle, just requires more water? Some of the ash was definitely "sticking" to the the panels though due to days of moist foggy mornings mixed with warm afternoon, so did require a bit more effort.

But that said, it definitely looks like more than 10% coverage in the pictures, maybe I'm just misinterpreting what I see though, or maybe solar panels work way better than most think, I mean there's bird crap on some that I don't think drops the panel efficiency at all, and these are wired in series with a single inverter, none of that microinverter stuff that makes each panel independent of the others.


For the environment!
Click to expand...
Strange my panel provider actuslly advised me against spraying the panels. They told me I can run risk of damaging something...
 
jccaclimber said:
I know at least a few people who suddenly developed a concern around the high levels of contaminants in their spouse’s drinking water at the same time they started getting serious about their reef. Pulling all of your RO from under the kitchen sink is a pain, but apparently better than not having RO, or admitting why you really want it.
Personally I informed my wife, stuck it on the garage wall, and we each carried on with our day, but not everyone is so fortunate.
Click to expand...

My wife accused me of only caring about the tank when I told her we should go with two power walls for whole house back up. I fessed up to half, but her freezer is packed, too. So we both agreed.

My 6-stage RO is in the backyard and only feeds my tank needs!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ofzakaria said:
Damn i really want to add batteries.
I also have 29 panel and can use the batteries. I was just so worried about safety but look like things not as bad as I was thinking when it comes to batteries.
Click to expand...

Nope, not bad at all. but If you do, You’ll want at least two to have whole house backup and not just certain breakers. It’s worth the extra cost not to worry about it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I wish we had added the Batteries. We have 36 panels and my PG&E is still almost 400-500 a month. We run a poo-poo load of pumps and heaters. 6 big pumps, and on average 11 heaters and then lights. We are doing an addition and I think we will be adding to the system along with solar for the pool.

The RODI is in the garage hooked up to a 300 gallon storage tank I think we make 150 gallons a day. We have a small one under the bar in the living room.
 
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