Mobile Panels

@svetz ,

Ok here are some photo's. Must say that everything is constantly changing as I am very experimental minded.
So don't look to much to some loose cables.. It's pure DIY... and I love to recuperate old materials and transform them for other purposes.

Here it is not allowed to make private fixed solar installations on the ground. But the law says nothing about mobile panels

My first selfmade glass panels are mounted on an old trailer, so it can be put anywhere. Needed to do so bcoz I don't have spaces with always sun.
They are heavy (180kg) but completely safe in strong winds (may be not in a hurricane..) And it's manual tracking

The newer mobile station with 12 panels is with automatic tracking. But when seasons change I have to find the best place with most hours sun.
There are also a lot of high trees around which I keep for the wood. Another project is a large but very efficient woodburner with water circuits, CO/NOX control and no smoke. I can heat my whole house with a minimum of wood. But that's for another forum..

The lead acid and Liion banks are automatically disconnected by a Siemens 500A 3 phase relay in case my control system detects overcurrent or under/overvoltage. I think that's really necessary with 30KW power and DIY invertors...

You made those panels from Cells? That is so cool! Love the mobile setup! What's the reason for not allowing ground mounts? Is it an HOA thing?

I think it's for safety. There might happen serious accidents during storms etc.
In fixed structures, it usually has to be much higher (shadowing), so it must be made much stronger. I just move if I have shadow.
In case of announced big storms I can lift off the panels and the rotating/tilting mechanism in one piece, or just drive it inside my garage.

My concept is very light and "elastic" in many ways but has just enough strength and weight to be stable. The wind forces may break stiff constructions more easily.

DIY panels:
With the current prices I do not make panels anymore. Soldering 5 busbars on highly brittle cells is very time consuming. But everything can be learned; the first 20 cells all damaged by handling or soldering but I hardly broke one in the last panels.
I paid 20$ for 2 X 4mm glas plates, size 1*1m. 36 cells costs about 43$ + busbars and a little silicon and wires + MC4 connectors = more than a chinese 100W panel (76 $). So, better no DIY here.

It might be more than a Chinese panel but I bet your's will last longer. A lot of people in Australia have been burnt chasing dollars for the cheapest solar installation they can get and then find their panels degrade significantly or outright fail after a few years and their seller / installer is nowhere to be found.

You are right. My Chinese seller does not respond any questions since I asked for replacements. But that's the case for 90% of the Chinese sellers.

I got 3 bad Chinese panels after 3 months but I am almost sure it's from shading because the plastic EVA film on the backside was melted slightly (wrinkles) at 1 cell at the corner. The next cell had also wrinkles but less. That means the first cell gets shadow at full power. It gets very hot and fails. The panel max power decreases, so the next cell gets shadow but less current and less heat but fails as well. When the shadow reaches the third cell, the current is dropped so far that it does not burn anymore.
I replaced the first panel and in 2 days the new panel failed again. Then I noticed the wrinkles on the back panels. Since then I monitor the current and disable the group automatically when shadowed. I do not have defective panels anymore.

I will know next summer if they degrade or not but for now they do not deliver 1200W anymore, max 1000W. My own panels are still the same.
I never buy panels with 2 busbars anymore. I recommend at least 4.