Need help. CLassic 200 do not waking up.

Started by trigrong, December 11, 2013, 04:17:17 AM

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waynefromnscanada

Quote from: Westbranch on December 12, 2013, 06:01:55 PM
YES, Snow on panels =no sun on panels = no power from panels. 

You need to get all of the snow off the panels.  Any small patches of snow will greatly diminish the output of the panels, the same effect as shade!  Use a broom with soft bristles.

If you can change the angle of the PV mount it is best to have the PV's as VERTICAL as possible to shed the snow without someone being there.
Not sure where the OP is located, but in my situation here in Nova Scotia, after a couple of years fighting nature and using long handled brooms to pull piles of snow down on my head, I woke up and now shift my PVs to vertical for Winters. The slight difference of the sun's Winter elevation and the vertical panels is far more than made up for by the total elimination of any snow on the panels, and the additional power received as a result of reflection off the snow covered ground. Not to mention no longer having to fight mother nature and wade through piles of snow to enjoy pulling blankets of snow down on my head.
Not kidding, when the Winter sun pokes it's nose up over the SE horizon, within 10 minutes I'm getting really great production, aided by reflection off the snow.

philb

My solar panel wiring shorted out several weeks ago from snow melting on the connections. After I replaced the fried bad connection, the panels went back to producing electricity like nothing had happened.

dgd

Quote from: waynefromnscanada on December 12, 2013, 10:11:27 PM
...and the additional power received as a result of reflection off the snow covered ground. Not to mention no longer having to fight mother nature and wade through piles of snow to enjoy pulling blankets of snow down on my head.
Not kidding, when the Winter sun pokes it's nose up over the SE horizon, within 10 minutes I'm getting really great production, aided by reflection off the snow.

Thats an interesting thought, reflection of light from snow increasing PV production.
I remember years ago when PVs were more expensive than gold that some designs of PV systems had reflector plates either side of the PV to apparently increase output. Seems it didn't work very well as never hear of PV reflectors now..  :D
dgd
Classic 250, 150,  20 140w, 6 250w PVs, 2Kw turbine, MN ac Clipper, Epanel/MNdc, Trace SW3024E (1997), Century 1050Ah 24V FLA (1999). Arduino power monitoring and web server.  Off grid since 4/2000
West Auckland, New Zealand

trigrong

It woke up! :)  Guys, thank you very much for your time and kind!  I really appreciate your help. My friend just thought that 8 panels should be enough to run the appliances - it was hard for him to clear snow from those two panels and result was unexpected. They showed good voltage.

Could you explain the process that is going on when one of the panels in shade? Is that kind of safety thing or just not enough Ampers?  I though the current should go through the all panels even they in shadow. I'm just wondering to be smarter :)

vtmaps

Quote from: trigrong on December 13, 2013, 03:08:35 AM
Could you explain the process that is going on when one of the panels in shade? Is that kind of safety thing or just not enough Ampers?  I though the current should go through the all panels even they in shadow. I'm just wondering to be smarter :) 

The individual solar cells in your panels are arranged in series (like a chain).  The current through the series is limited to the current through the shadiest cell (sort of like a chain is only as good as its weakest link). 

Now that's an over simplification... you have many of these series chains in a series/parallel arrangement.  You also have bypass diodes that may allow SOME power to get around a shaded series chain. 
Bottom line: any shading from a bird dropping, overhead power line, tree branch, etc is devastating to output.

Wayne's comment on vertical panels is spot on.  Other things you can do to help with snow is use panels with black frames, and put the panels in landscape (rather than portrait) orientation.

--vtMaps

waynefromnscanada

Quote from: vtmaps on December 13, 2013, 06:29:18 AMand put the panels in landscape (rather than portrait) orientation.
--vtMaps

Good point VT!
Actually Ive also done that with all my panels. Why? because the cell strings are wired in series lengthways in the panel, and each panel, depending on design, can have 2, 3, or more parallel strings. If the PV is mounted "portrait", any snow that slides down to the bottom of the panel will cover some cells from every string, basically killing all output, even though the top half of the panel may be clear.
If however the PV is mounted "landscape", and snow slides to the bottom, it shades all or most of one string only, leaving the string/s above it clear to produce at least half the panel's rated power. I learned that before I started tilting my PVs vertical for Winter.

trigrong

vtmaps,

got it!  Thank you for clarifying!