Bad days for Solar Production.

[Mattb4]

After a few days without sun it is impressive the difference when the skies are blue. I might achieve a full charge on #1 battery bank by 2pm and possibly #2 battery bank (it was more depleted) might achieve 100% before the day ends. Sadly the clouds are due to return tomorrow.

 

[GXMnow]

The weather here has been a Yo-Yo. Not only can't it make up it's mind, the predictions are wrong, making it tough to manage. If I was not grid tied, I would be in big trouble. My December production total is now up to 360 KWHs. That is an average of 12 KWHs a day, or still 2.5 sun hours per day on my 4.8 KW of solar panels. The "good" days hit just 3.1 sun hours to make 15 KWHs. My daily energy usage is coming in at about 17 KWHs. On the good days, my DC system has been making enough to cover it. Even with the cheap charge controller, on a 3 sun hour day, where the Enphase made 14 KWHs, the DC system made just over 5 KWHs. That easily covers my usage on good days. Today has just been weird. The forecast called for cloudy to partly cloudy all day. But now the sun is out in force again. My battery is fully topped out just after 1 pm. The solar power is fully running my house and I am exporting 1,800 watts to the grid.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

We'll be hitting -20C and below starting tomorrow (-14C right now) - which should mean some clear skies and some sun!

 

[42OhmsPA]

We'll be hitting -20C and below starting tomorrow (-14C right now) - which should mean some clear skies and some sun!

The clear skies on a frigid night are more enjoyable than a sunny day.

I wish it would get cold and clear. I pulled in a couple kwhs as the clouds cleared 45 minutes before sunset...

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

The clear skies on a frigid night are more enjoyable than a sunny day.

Absolutely! The night skies here (without light pollution) are amazing.

 

[Kenny_]

Since Dec is almost over... my totals since install...

 

[Q-Dog]

The past 2 days were beautiful ... clear and cool here, which made up for the rest of the dreary month.

1600 watts of panels working. December so far, 120 kWh. August was my best month with 216 kWh.

 

[B-Mod]

Fog freezing drizzle all day, darkest day. Probably the worst solar day that is possible around here. Made only 9.8kwh.

 

[Zwy]

I tilt up my arrays for the winter too, helps both with solar and with snow removal.
I looked up Des moines, sun-down yesterday was 4:52Pm - your 8.4kW array from 10:00 to 4:52 had just shy of 7 hours to collect those 49.03kWh, meaning they operated on average, 7kW per hour x 7 hours or 83% of max. I wish I was getting that performance!
Still no snow on the ground up here, seems to really cut my solar compared with last winter.
{did I just admit I want it to snow? LOL}

I recorded the output on my phone at high noon. https://diysolarforum.com/threads/5...-unless-youre-some-kind-of-solar-freak.75746/

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Dick mode:

Day before the winter solstice...




2473W/2970W rated = 83% rated

15.4kWh harvested

Of course, the reason I got a full power curve is because the prior three days were shite...

 

[Kiwi2000]

I've been enjoying the long summer days of the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere.

Though I haven't been complacent and sitting idle. Nearly doubled the PV going to my main house system and upgraded the Epever SCCs to Victron SCCs that do a much better job of harvesting every watt that they can. Sure some mornings my 33kWh LFP batteries are full by 10:30am but I'm going to need that headroom heading back into the southern hemisphere's winter.

I'm looking forward to seeing how well all my upgrades do as my days begin to shorten again.

 

[shadowmaker]

We'll be hitting -20C and below starting tomorrow (-14C right now) - which should mean some clear skies and some sun!

Forecast is saying -28C from Tuesday to Friday, which means -32C or so in my place (we have usually 3-5 degrees lower temperatures than predicted). Fortunately it comes with sunshine. Going to get about 75kWh (full sun today with -20C) from my 44kWp set today and it seems that over 40kWh/day is possible for at least a week. My daily usage is around 200kWh today and will get up to 250kWh when it gets under -30C, but still every harvested photon helps.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Yep, looking forward to it!

 

[robby]

All this Talk from the Finns is making me thirsty for a Pint of KARHU ?
and not the cheap one, the one the Gods Mods Drink?

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Good day today. Cold and sunny. 85kWh..?

 

[LydMekk]

After a week of decent clear weather we are back to grey and with possibility of rain the coming 5-6 days.
Yay...

 

[OffGridForGood]

back to grey and with possibility of rain the coming 5-6 days.

Your Turn!!
Sorry I couldn't resist after suffering through our own week of very poor solar weather!

 

[OPTIMALSOLAR]

Final tally 820 kw for month on 5.9kw inversion. Best month just over 1.1 mw so very good for Dec. Season of Love continues.

 

[B-Mod]

2512 kwh for the month. Not bad, but could have used much more.

2024 I might have to add solar to two more inverters. Then I will be done.....

 

[Quattrohead]

Then I will be done...

Yeah that's what we all say

 

[B-Mod]

Yeah that's what we all say

I told my wife this yesterday, and then under my breath I said "unless I add some charge controllers"......

 

[timselectric]

"Done"
Is when you get through your worst winter, with power to spare.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[shadowmaker]

0,4MWh out of 44kWp for December. Would have been just over 0,3MWh without last day sunshine. Got 91kWh today, which is close to maximum at this time of year and it looks like I might get close to 0,5MWh this week only. 2024 seems to have nice solar start, but I'm pretty sure Mother Nature will piss on my parade sooner or later... Probably sooner.

 

[Ampster]

As December comes to a close, my 8kW system will produce about 530 kWh compared to 480 kWh last December.

 

[GXMnow]

My final Dec. 2023 came out to 372.7 KWHs from just 4.8 KW of panels on my Enphase system. Not too bad. That is a total of 77.65 sun hours / 31 days = 2.5 sun hours per day average.

My 2,000 watt DC system produced an additional 115.5 KWHs. That's only 57.77 sun hours total, or an average of 1.9 sun hours per day.

My total Dec. 2023 energy production is then 488.2 KWH's. But I used more like 620 KWHs. So I am purchasing about 132 KWHs from the grid for this month. That will take about $40 off of my energy credit.