Just thought I'd pop back in with another update, and also to ask a question. All is still going well, in that now that it's the closed fishing season, and I'm not visiting at all, my batteries continue to be topped off again, every day, as long as there is a little sun, at some point, or even just a bright cloudy day. Where they fail is when it actually seems dark, as a result of proper rain clouds, and even with several hundred watts of power being available with peak power from the sun, I barely break even, and certainly don't catch up from the night before, despite only using around 3-4W continuously, and of course the nights are still to get longer, but I hope everything will continue to be okay.
So far, at least, my system has not turned off the load output, meaning that the batteries have been staying above the LVC setting that I was advised to use to protect the batteries, without being overly conservative, at 23.4V. That means it's been doing its job well for about 10 or 12 weeks now.
This is not to say I don't want to improve things, and the problem I have now is that my bigger, flat, 500W panel, is getting covered in leaves. The back two are currently doing the heavy lifting, so to speak, because of the sun angle, but also because of the leaves on the bigger panel, which you can see here on this shot from my panel cam.
I had a spare security camera, so I put it up a tree to keep an eye on the panels, whenever I wanted, and below you will see that I have no problem with the back ones. Clearly the leaves slide off, and you can also see that they are at a good angle for this more winter sun. Picture taken just before noon yesterday. The front panel though has far too many leaves. I still caught it putting out 79W, at the time of the shot below, whilst the batteries were still being topped off, but it would be much more effective without the leaves. I suppose it's a good job it's half perc cells, which I understand helps.
Anyway, tilting it is not an option, as discussed earlier in the thread, so I'm wondering if anyone has ever given any thought to a remote cleaning solution for small panel installations. I mean, I can drive up, but it's a bit of a long trip, which would take 3 hrs, all told, and about £20 in petrol, only to have the panel covered in leaves, once more, possibly before I got home, lol.
I've been thinking of either a linear windscreen wiper type solution, a blower fan type solution, or a water spray type solution, either of which could be triggered with a WiFi relay switch, that I already have at the cabin, and is currently powered up, for another purpose, and I don't really need that now, but it does mean I know it doesn't use a lot of power. Nor would the device itself, because despite perhaps having a powerful motor, it would only be on for a minute or two, perhaps weekly.
I ask, simply because there's no point reinventing the wheel, if it's already been done, successfully. I did search the forum, with no luck and I did try to search with Google, but again, I found nothing.
In the end they may well all blow away in a month, and if everything keeps going well until then, no need to worry about it, but if the batteries start dropping off, I may well have to do something about it, perhaps to be ready for the same period next year.
Cheers
Sutty