Bad days for Solar Production.
- Thread starter Nobodybusiness
- Start date
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
Went thru a small town of maybe 20 people yesterday. Was admiring one resident's solar array, next house had about 8 wind generators short posts.
I figured maybe it was some competition between neighbors.
Certainly was interesting, I'll have to backtrack that route next summer and get the real story. Although the wind was 30 mph, only about 2 blades were spinning. I should have taken a photo, the generators were mounted below the roof line of a building right on the eave.
I think there is a place for wind here in Iowa, but to find a small generator that holds up anymore might be a challenge.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
GXMnow
Solar Wizard
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We just had our first day of a predicted 5 in a row of heavy clouds and rain. My Enphase system tried it's best.
2 days ago, that system made 15.1 KWHs, pretty good for the shortest days.
Yesterday, it made just 8.9 KWHs as the clouds started to move in. Got some decent sun for about 1 hour.
Today, it was overcast and cloudy all day, and rained a bit, an the total was just 4.0 KWHs. The peak power only hit 1.6 KW at 10:30 am, the rest of the day was much worse.
In the hot Summer, and into Fall even, we were having tiny power glitches that the XW-Pro inverter was seeing as the grid frequency being too high. That was causing a short disconnect. About half the time it happened, it would cause the XW to go into charge mode when it reconnected to the grid. It didn't happen for almost 2 whole months, but then, it did it on Sat. at 10 pm, and again, at 12:30 am this morning. The funny thing is, with this bad weather, I was going to the XW to force some grid charging, only to find, it was already charging, both times. Hmmm. It is sort of an accidental "Storm Guard" mode. It's almost midnight as I am typing this. It didn't start charging today, in fact I do have a decent amount of battery charge left, but with the crappy forecast ahead, I am setting it to charge at just 7 amp overnight. That is less than 400 watts. If it goes for 10 hours, it will be just 4 KWHs. Only a little more than $1 USD. Then it will have the energy needed to get past the high rate ToU again. I'll keep doing this until the weather clears up a bit. Looks like we might get sun next Sat.
2 days ago, that system made 15.1 KWHs, pretty good for the shortest days.
Yesterday, it made just 8.9 KWHs as the clouds started to move in. Got some decent sun for about 1 hour.
Today, it was overcast and cloudy all day, and rained a bit, an the total was just 4.0 KWHs. The peak power only hit 1.6 KW at 10:30 am, the rest of the day was much worse.
In the hot Summer, and into Fall even, we were having tiny power glitches that the XW-Pro inverter was seeing as the grid frequency being too high. That was causing a short disconnect. About half the time it happened, it would cause the XW to go into charge mode when it reconnected to the grid. It didn't happen for almost 2 whole months, but then, it did it on Sat. at 10 pm, and again, at 12:30 am this morning. The funny thing is, with this bad weather, I was going to the XW to force some grid charging, only to find, it was already charging, both times. Hmmm. It is sort of an accidental "Storm Guard" mode. It's almost midnight as I am typing this. It didn't start charging today, in fact I do have a decent amount of battery charge left, but with the crappy forecast ahead, I am setting it to charge at just 7 amp overnight. That is less than 400 watts. If it goes for 10 hours, it will be just 4 KWHs. Only a little more than $1 USD. Then it will have the energy needed to get past the high rate ToU again. I'll keep doing this until the weather clears up a bit. Looks like we might get sun next Sat.
B-Mod
Solar Addict
Here are my daily amounts so far for December. Note last weekend I shut down the system for upgrades in the afternoons, but they were both cloudy low production days.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Gonna be a good day!
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
It blows my mind how much more efficient the tilted ground mount is...
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
You get more PV thru the whole day with the tilted panels. I had researched seasonal tilt for some time before I decided on a ground mount. Ran the figures thru all the yield calculators, that reinforced my decision.
Seeing the real world results is pretty amazing.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Kenny_
Solar Wizard
Welp.... tomorrow is the Solstice....the Sun Returns!
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
Not here, looks like 5 days coming of nothing but clouds. Hopefully I get to 100% SOC today before clouds roll in later.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
(Scowl) Rainy and cloudy the rest of the week. Production has been in the low 30's the last two days, not enough to run the abode. Had to pop on the grid to charge the cars. You'd think I lived in PA or NC or something...
On a better note, I should have best case solstice day baseline tomorrow, It's supposed to be sunny, and my batteries are close to depleted after the last couple of days, so I should get a full soak of sunshine, before it turns to poopey. If I had the battery capacity of @B-Mod or @timselectric it'd be no problemo. All it takes is money.
On a better note, I should have best case solstice day baseline tomorrow, It's supposed to be sunny, and my batteries are close to depleted after the last couple of days, so I should get a full soak of sunshine, before it turns to poopey. If I had the battery capacity of @B-Mod or @timselectric it'd be no problemo. All it takes is money.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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All things considered. I can't complain about this. For the day before winter solstice.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Elfing clouds
shadowmaker
Solar Addict
Got two almost sunny days yesterday and today. Yesterday it was cloudy in the morning, today in the afternoon. 60kWh on both days (5 day old snow with actual heavy rain between and -1C to-2C only). Looking at the curves it should be possible to make about 80-90kwh in one perfect day in these conditions and maybe 100kWh with fresh snow and -25C. One and a half day to winter solstice so this is the best of the worst time possible.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
8.4Kw of panels, this is just battery charging and no loads included.
B-Mod
Solar Addict
Lunch time update
GXMnow
Solar Wizard
- Joined
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The last 3 days here have been horrible. 4 days ago, I did well at 15.1 KWHs. Only a tick off my best lat December production. But then this storm front moved in. The 18th dropped to just 8.9 KWHs. Just over half of normal. Then the 19th and 20th were only 4.0 and 3.9 KWHs, or just 1/4 of what I would get with a clear sky this time of year.
I have been using a bit of overnight grid charging to make sure I can cover the peak rate 4 pm to 9 pm off of the battery. My electric utility billing cyle just started the next month, and the first 5 days all SUCK! When the sky is clear, I still net export, but the first 2 days, I had to import about 2 KWHs each day. Not too horrible, but the last 3 days went to importing 9 KWHs, then 11 and 11 KWHs. So in just 6 or 7 days (weather is bad again today), I will import as much as I did the entire previous billing month.
Last night at 9:19 PM the grid went down. The output of my XW-Pro glitched enough that the TV shut off and the internet router rebooted, but my PC stayed running just fine. The grid was only down about 1 minute though. The light over my kitchen sink is not on the backup panel. So I saw it come back right away. There was no glitch when it went back on grid. I went to check the log on the XW to see what it reported, and I could not sign into Insight Local. Hmm. The router was back up and I could get back to the internet. I waited 15 minutes, still no go. I ended up having to manually reboot the Schneider Gateway. I did not expect that to be the part to lock up. It gets DC power from the battery over the Xanbus cable. Whatever, it came back up and I logged in. Just 1 event "AI Under Frequency". The system worked just fine.
This morning, it was on the local "What's Up SCV" blog. A transformer exploded last night. We did hear a fire engine go by shortly after the power glitch. The power outage was so short, the sub station must have re-routed around the failure.
I have been using a bit of overnight grid charging to make sure I can cover the peak rate 4 pm to 9 pm off of the battery. My electric utility billing cyle just started the next month, and the first 5 days all SUCK! When the sky is clear, I still net export, but the first 2 days, I had to import about 2 KWHs each day. Not too horrible, but the last 3 days went to importing 9 KWHs, then 11 and 11 KWHs. So in just 6 or 7 days (weather is bad again today), I will import as much as I did the entire previous billing month.
Last night at 9:19 PM the grid went down. The output of my XW-Pro glitched enough that the TV shut off and the internet router rebooted, but my PC stayed running just fine. The grid was only down about 1 minute though. The light over my kitchen sink is not on the backup panel. So I saw it come back right away. There was no glitch when it went back on grid. I went to check the log on the XW to see what it reported, and I could not sign into Insight Local. Hmm. The router was back up and I could get back to the internet. I waited 15 minutes, still no go. I ended up having to manually reboot the Schneider Gateway. I did not expect that to be the part to lock up. It gets DC power from the battery over the Xanbus cable. Whatever, it came back up and I logged in. Just 1 event "AI Under Frequency". The system worked just fine.
This morning, it was on the local "What's Up SCV" blog. A transformer exploded last night. We did hear a fire engine go by shortly after the power glitch. The power outage was so short, the sub station must have re-routed around the failure.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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The biggest thing that is bugging me. Is that one of my security cameras is pointing at the location of 3 future ground mounts. And they are in full sun. lol
I'm really not looking forward to clearing those trees on uneven ground.
I'm really not looking forward to clearing those trees on uneven ground.
It has been a good December solar wise. Mostly sunny with just a few days that there was no production. So long as they have not been 2 in a row, in which the grid had to supplement some, my PV setup has routinely given a surplus over my daily needs. Which is pretty fantastic since with the low sun angle and the trees I only can count on production from 9am to 2pm. Sure helps to have a El Nino Winter.
The next few days are forecast to be rain so I expect I will have to use the grid more.
With my system now I should have enough to do a large amount of the AC come Summer time.
The next few days are forecast to be rain so I expect I will have to use the grid more.
With my system now I should have enough to do a large amount of the AC come Summer time.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Not a bad day. Those flipping clouds just after noon ticked me off, especially when it was bright and sunny at work.
I estimated I'd get to 70% SOC this morning... If it weren't for the clouds I would have been way off.
1 more day and it's uphill for 6 months, sorry to those on the other side.
I estimated I'd get to 70% SOC this morning... If it weren't for the clouds I would have been way off.
1 more day and it's uphill for 6 months, sorry to those on the other side.
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