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diy solar

diy solar

From office UPS to whole house... my journey

OK - 3 months post surgery and progress is resuming. Compliments of my petite niece visiting, help from my wife, and (3) 40+F degree days we have all the poles set:

IMG_1887.jpg

We are a bit muddy from the wear but have a real chance of having the (2) newer strings feeding into the system by December 31st More work this afternoon after my PT session. Probably going to trench for the wire given the unfrozen ground. Woodwork and panels can be done <32F, trenching not so much so.
 
OK - 3 months post surgery and progress is resuming. Compliments of my petite niece visiting, help from my wife, and (3) 40+F degree days we have all the poles set:

View attachment 263601

We are a bit muddy from the wear but have a real chance of having the (2) newer strings feeding into the system by December 31st More work this afternoon after my PT session. Probably going to trench for the wire given the unfrozen ground. Woodwork and panels can be done <32F, trenching not so much so.
Going fully vertical like @shadowmaker ?
 
Going fully vertical like @shadowmaker ?
I have 3 strings: one 45 degree south facing currently working well after 10am until around 4:30pm this time of year. The vertical will be one east facing and one west facing. All panels are bifacial. Goal was to make this my test system and compare the RL outputs and test my engineering skills. But basically yes…
 
I have 3 strings: one 45 degree south facing currently working well after 10am until around 4:30pm this time of year. The vertical will be one east facing and one west facing. All panels are bifacial. Goal was to make this my test system and compare the RL outputs and test my engineering skills. But basically yes…
That will be cool to see the stats between the strings on the front and back sides. I'd love something like your vertical design but able to pivot on one end so it can face south for winter, drag it into place with tractor twice a year.
 
My setup has produced ~480kWh so far this month from which ~20kWh is from roof mounted panels (15,4kWp). Verticals (44,1kWp) are fine but roof mounted are always covered with snow/ice. Day is only 5 hours long so south facing verticals would be ideal (my verticals are SE as I don't want them to interfere with farming the land).

I'll probably install more verticals (~15kWp) with SW orientation (same as my roof panels) as I have room for it in my current inverters. Also roof panels work better in summer (better angle even high up here), but I already have more than enough summer production. From now on I should focus on winter production only.
 
Down to the wire. Have string 2 hung and interconnected. Planning on running the feed lines tomorrow and turning on the switch! Just in time for the 2024 tax rebate (system must be running by midnight December 31st). Didn't get the 3rd string in time, so 2/3rds of panel cost will be deductible, along with all the electronics since the 2nd string will be plugged into my 2nd MPPT controller - just to make it useful in time.

Rather looking forward to seeing how much wattage the backside of the panels produces on a sunny morning. The panels are oriented true east/west, so in theory at least other than incidental reflection on the frontside, all power generated before solar noon will be from the backside cells.

ps. That's the eastern (morning) backside in the photo below.
pps. The third string would have the primary side to the east and be mounted above those pictured below.

1735596102139.jpeg
 
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And we made it... barely. Rain last night filled our trench above with water - spent over an hour just bailing it out, and the one on the other side of the driveway. Had to make a Home Depot run for more conduit which ate part of the day. Rest of day spent outside and in the attic running the feed lines. Outside was pretty miserable, around 31F with 16-18mph winds. Its not pretty (had to order another bag of wire clips), but we turned on the switch at 4:30pm and the charger controller lit up. Too little sunlight to generate power, but the controller at least saw some voltage. Still have the 3rd string wire to run while my nieces is here - but that is tomorrows project. Still, made it active in 2024, so can deduct all but 1/3rd of the panels.
 
3:30pm ish, the west facing vertical string has matched the 45 degree south panel in power output. At 3:45 it has finally pulled ahead. We have a good snow expected this weekend, so it will be interesting in compare then, for now, for 3/4ths of the day, the 45 degree south facing is producing about 2X the power. Will update at the end of today.

I did find one loose MC4 connector, so perhaps I was only getting a partial string feeding in current? Will know more over the next few days.

As we approach 4pm I'm still getting 3000W of input between the two strings - that is nice to see. Batteries are getting a small charge (600W) despite the 1500W tank heater running along with my PC.

I did notice late this morning that my south string was producing over 4000W - and that is with 9X400W bifacial Hyperons. We had high clouds but bright diffused sunlight - so the backsides were apparently contributing 15% of the total or so. Not bad.
 
Mostly sunny day today, a few high thin clouds. The 45 degree south panel has been generating about 4000Ws most of the day, clearly the bifacial design is helping (9x400W Hyperions). The vertical panels during the morning were generating about 1500W: morning sun hits the back of those panels. As the afternoon progresses, the wattage is increasing a bit. Now at 13:18pm DST (sunset at 17:01) I'm at 1870W. Its 20F (-7C) so the cold is probably helping a bit.

I'll update this in a few hours, but guessing total power generated is going to favor the 45 degree panels by about 2:1. Time will tell.

For those just reading that haven't installed ground mount panels: expect to pay more for the mounts than the panels. Maybe 50% more (1.5X) if you use 6x6x8' poles to elevate above ground level like I did (had too to avoid horses and cows from destroying panels/chewing wires). Going vertical actually cost me more due to the reinforcement lumber (might not have needed that if I could have drilled 6' holes but that is deeper than my auger went).

Update: 14:00 - South array is generating about 3600-4000W, vertical is at 2400-2600W... but we are clouding up a bit.
Update: 15:18 - South 300W, vertical 750W, high clouds, but batteries at 99% so current draw is less (I imagine they are balancing since its been a few weeks since I've been at 100%. Yeah, just a few amps going into (5) 100 amp batteries now. Pack voltage is slowly climbing.) 17.3kWh from the South array so far today, 8.5kWh from the vertical array.
Update: 15:47 - South at 600W, vertical at 300W. I suspect the low sun angle (well south of true east/west) is hindering the verticals. Other seasons may improve the verticals performance, but they are not critical due to longer daylight hours.
Update: 16:41 - South at 455W, vertical at 1175W. Tank heater running so panels at full demand.
Update: 13:21 (next day) - both arrays are producing around 1500W with the vertical slightly less. Conditions: High cloud cover with snow on ground.

I'll try and revisit this at spring and summer equinoxes.
 
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My general conclusion after this week(ish) of observation are:

A) If your battery pack is often at 100% verticals east/west panels will add an hour or two of additional charge time to your day.
B) If your battery pack is only occasionally at 100% (typically required to level the individual cells), then a pure south facing setup will generate more overall charging power than a vertical east/west setup. At least in USA latitudes.
C) Snow helps verticals and at least 45 degree pitched south facing... perhaps a bit more for the verticals, but if your whole system is only producing <10% of its normal output, does it really matter? Again, this is for USA latitudes where snow cover is not a routine thing. I did have to clean the snow off my 45s and got many a face full doing so. At higher latitudes, with more tilt, the south facing panels MAY self clean. Verticals almost always self clean.
D) Vertical east/west will end up costing you about the same as south facing ground mounts due to the reinforcements needed to deal with the resulting "solar sails".
E) If you have a year round constant load, optimize for winter power generation using just south facing panels. I'm at 40.117 degrees north and stock 45 degree mounts seem to work just fine (I saw a peak of 4395W from my 45 degree south facing array of (9) Hyperion 400W panels today. Backsides of these bi-facial panels were obviously contributing.) My winter load, with a stock tank heater, is actually higher than the other three seasons, even summer when I'm running a rather efficient split 240V AC for my office.
 
When the ground thaws, I'll be installing another 45 degree string with my remaining panels instead of the originally planned 2nd East/West string. Will probably then deconstruct the vertical setup, I suspect much to the joy of my neighbors, and use the parts for yet another 45 degree string. Hopefully will be able to pick up another 10 pack of Hyperions and max out my charge controllers with a 4th string. Spare panels (two of which now have shattered backsides) will be roof mounted to feed a 12V system I have, at which point this journey, or at least the construction part, should be over. Of course, there is always the house to do.... <evil smile>
 
When the ground thaws, I'll be installing another 45 degree string with my remaining panels instead of the originally planned 2nd East/West string. Will probably then deconstruct the vertical setup, I suspect much to the joy of my neighbors, and use the parts for yet another 45 degree string. Hopefully will be able to pick up another 10 pack of Hyperions and max out my charge controllers with a 4th string. Spare panels (two of which now have shattered backsides) will be roof mounted to feed a 12V system I have, at which point this journey, or at least the construction part, should be over. Of course, there is always the house to do.... <evil smile>
Hyperion 400W back in stock at sig solar for hundo each.
 
Cool. I paid $120 for them from Sig Solar before. Shipping sucks, $337 for (10). Got free shipping when I ordered (27)... now its a $350 flat rate for orders of $3000 or more. Notice CurrentConnected isn't offering free shipping on any order size currently. Seems to be a trend?
 
Minor update: ordered another two racks of SOK batteries for the 48V system and a small Victron 150V/45A charge controller for my 12V system.

Fed-Ex claims this Friday… we will see.
 
Grrr... both Racks of new SOK 48V Pro batteries are installed. Dropped a 3/8" nut used in the CC Buss Bar and I'll be dammed if I can find it. So one rack is currently powered off. These are the times I dislike being 25 miles from Home Depot.

OK, off to stare at the floor some more.
 

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