My solar adventures

[RoadRoach]

Yeah until I get bigger and more panels it wouldn't help anyway so it's fine staying off grid, I do have it set up to use the grid, just can't sell it back, I'm having a hard time keeping these batteries charged as it is so that's my next purchase

Are you “flatlining” with inadequate storage? Common problem for off grid systems is plenty panel, not enough storage. If the batteries are reaching full charge and you’re running on the panels the rest of the day, yup, need more stuff to hold electrons.

There’s some debate about higher voltage storage having less losses, but that usually requires more expensive inverter hardware. I want to build a 48V system aimed at the middle ground of hardware costs and efficiency. 48VDC is a good level for conversion to 120VAC. I tapped 48V off a 125VDC battery bank in some outdoor switchgear to power an inverter to serve as a UPS on a programmable control system for emergency power in a VA hospital. Worked beautifully. The DC was for control of the breakers, and the PLC sequenced the whole system on outages. I did that system in the mid 80’s when PLCs were scary things, and inverters made engneers slobber.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Are you “flatlining” with inadequate storage? Common problem for off grid systems is plenty panel, not enough storage. If the batteries are reaching full charge and you’re running on the panels the rest of the day, yup, need more stuff to hold electrons.

There’s some debate about higher voltage storage having less losses, but that usually requires more expensive inverter hardware. I want to build a 48V system aimed at the middle ground of hardware costs and efficiency. 48VDC is a good level for conversion to 120VAC. I tapped 48V off a 125VDC battery bank in some outdoor switchgear to power an inverter to serve as a UPS on a programmable control system for emergency power in a VA hospital. Worked beautifully. The DC was for control of the breakers, and the PLC sequenced the whole system on outages. I did that system in the mid 80’s when PLCs were scary things, and inverters made engneers slobber.

I think my biggest concern is a big tree is shading the panels around 5pm then it switches to battery too soon and when it gets dark their not charged enough, I only have 1k of panels so more in a different spot should help

 

[GFHomebrew]

I think my biggest concern is a big tree is shading the panels around 5pm then it switches to battery too soon and when it gets dark their not charged enough, I only have 1k of panels so more in a different spot should help

We have a similar situation our neighbours have got a macadamia tree which shades our house in arvo also drops truckloads of leaves on my roof only up side is free macadamia nuts .

We got it pruned back a bit last year but arbourest said if we cut the top out it'll kill it...

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Got a new toy, and it's live

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Sun tracker it follows the sun

 

[RoadRoach]

Got a new toy, and it's live

View attachment 26430

Spiffy! Boffo! HUZZAH!

I take it the little panel is to power the servo(s) and for sensing light level? Is it dual axis or just single axis rotation? IMO, the dual axis systems are a little overpriced for what they actually accomplish. It's just as easy to have 3 or for notches in the height adjustment for different times of year, and just let it rotate. Less to maintain, simpler to install. I've thought about a couple of those, but have way too many trees in my yard and adjacent properties for one to be worth the investment, let alone two. I wouldn't get much more than about 6 hours of production in the winter, maybe 10 in the summer, so would have to have an enormous number of panels to make up for it. I have a pretty strong aversion to putting them on the roof, especially on asphalt composite roofing. Metal roof, maybe, because the longevity of the metal roof would actually be improved by the shade of the panels, and it's a lot easier to seal up a metal roof around the mounting structures. The roof is better than covering the lawn with them, but covering the lawn with them prevents a leaky roof issue because of the panels.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

this is an automated dual tracker, this is just the smallest one I could find and I beefed it up a bit, currently only putting out 1200 watts,I designed it to hold 2000, I have a shade problem also and this solves that by getting sun at 8 am till 6 pm ish depending on clouds, the unit its self is only $500, pretty light weight, I have a wind sensor that puts it in safe mode "flat" and I'm worried about the strong wind here I had to put a 3 foot pad to secure the base but the panels sway a bunch so I need better bracing

yes that small panel charges the battery that runs the actuators

 

[RoadRoach]

this is an automated dual tracker, this is just the smallest one I could find and I beefed it up a bit, currently only putting out 1200 watts,I designed it to hold 2000, I have a shade problem also and this solves that by getting sun at 8 am till 6 pm ish depending on clouds, the unit its self is only $500, pretty light weight, I have a wind sensor that puts it in safe mode "flat" and I'm worried about the strong wind here I had to put a 3 foot pad to secure the base but the panels sway a bunch so I need better bracing

yes that small panel charges the battery that runs thew actuators

Cool beans. Just remember, triangles are your friends when you start beefing up the framing. However, depending on the size/flexibility of the support, it may not matter what you do to the mounting frame. The panels themselves should lend a lot of rigidity for racking, but planar flex is only going to be corrected with gussets. It's probably going to be somewhat difficult to beef up the frame without adding weight that exceeds the capacity of the base. But where there's a will, there's a way. Might have a look into lighter weight framing materials. It needs to flex a little, or it'll break. You're building a rather large kite on a stick.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Very cool Ozarks!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Frome the side

 

[Donoroto]

Frome the side
View attachment 26435

Nice. I see they are growing huge marshmallows in the field next door.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Is this a trial - One of many?

Nice rural area you live in

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Is this a trial - One of many?

Nice rural area you live in

Just one of many farm fields here, either hay or cattle

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Nice. I see they are growing huge marshmallows in the field next door.

Just Ivy and weeds

Nice. I see they are growing huge marshmallows in the field next door.

Just typical ivy and weeds, as soon as my push trimmer is fixed those will be gone

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Here we go my back yard

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Here we go my back yard

View attachment 26452

On car trips with the kids we called those toasted marshmallows. The ones wrapped in white plastic were plain marshmallows and the ones in black plastic were burned marshmallows.

 

[Donoroto]

Here we go my back yard

View attachment 26452

Oooh! Another marshmallow farm!

 

[GFHomebrew]

Here we go my back yard

View attachment 26452

Not a bad view for a back yard better than sky scrapers!

 

[FrostyBeach]

Frome the side

Don't forget the big grounding stake and wire please.

 

[FrostyBeach]

The roof is better than covering the lawn with them, but covering the lawn with them prevents a leaky roof issue because of the panels.

You already have a number of flashings for plumbing on your roof and the solar flashings are no different. When properly installed they'll easily last the life of the asphalt roof without leaking. And the array should last at least 25 years and if your asphalt roofing doesn't last that long then it's not properly installed unless there's an extreme weather event. And that's what insurance is for. I installed my own array on the roof with UL listed racking. It has wind and fire ratings and the cost isn't significant when you amortize it over 25 years.

My installation isn't ideal because the panels face East and West and are tilted at 18.5 degrees and the latitude is 48N, but even that difference isn't a large decrease in output. I get a maximum of 14.4 KW out of a 15.2 KW array.

Here's the flashing and mounting points for the East array and you can see the aluminum extrusions to mount the panels on the West array to the left :

Here are the rails that the panels mount onto that include integrated grounding:

There are no leaks and I don't expect to see any even with our very harsh weather here in Northern Minnesota.