shadowmaker
Solar Wizard
No.Can I use brass screws with alu busbar?
No.Can I use brass screws with alu busbar?
Just wanted to thank you for this thread. Its inspired me to try out an (18) 400W vertical panel setup on my farm. Nothing compared to yours, but appreciate the inspiration.
Nah, just talk nice to them, be nice to them, and they will do what you ask of themMy nerd friend installed Home Assistant today to my system and while I think it'll be awesome someday, now it's just intimidating.To make my two Deyes to work even somehow sensibly was hard enough and there's still two Bluesun inverters to connect (don't know if that's even possible) plus all programming for automation. Don't have time to study this now.
I hate computers and they seem to hate me back...
If you have surplus power in the winter maybe just heat the whole barn?View attachment 237297
While HA is really nice, there are still many hiccups in my system. Biggest problem so far is flow chart halting after few seconds (both Firefox/Edge). I think this might be due to too fast refresh time reading my Deyes and combining some numbers to get total values (like total PV not shown on this picture though). There are others like Deye 4 showing grid disconnect all the time, different daily grid sell numbers, daily charge/discharge with MWh when it should be kWh...
Other than that my system is awesome with those new roof panels. Let's see if I can make them to heat for snow shedding in winter. I'd hate it if I had to clean them. Barn roof is pretty steep (50-60 degrees maybe) though so don't know how much self cleaning there is.
I had many days last winter under 10kWh produced and even few days only 2kWh produced with my 44kWp system, so with current 60kWp It's going to be only marginally better. Certainly no surplus.If you have surplus power in the winter maybe just heat the whole barn?
Maybe, but for Nov-Dec-Jan I'd need something like 20MWh battery to make it off-grid. Last Dec my production was 0,4MWh and my consumption was ~7MWh. Doubling or even tripling my array wouldn't have any significant effect. For summer my current battery (110kWh usable) is quite enough and I haven't been buying electricity since middle April. Today I sold ~170kWh back to grid after getting my batts full. Made only something like 6e, but it's better than nothing.More battery!![]()
How's the BBMS integration working out, shadowmaker? What do you think?Bought a Battery Bank Manager System ver2. (BBMS2) today. With it I'll try to connect my 30kWh(C5) lead acid to some of my LFP and operate those together with single Deye. Let see how it goes.
Also LFP prices are low so decided to get 15kWh pack on wheels.
Haven't had any time to fiddle with it yet. There has been enough sun to be "off grid" so have been focusing on more important tasks so far. Winter is coming though so I hope I find time for that project too.How's the BBMS integration working out, shadowmaker? What do you think?
Haven't had any time to fiddle with it yet. There has been enough sun to be "off grid" so have been focusing on more important tasks so far. Winter is coming though so I hope I find time for that project too.
I got a "shaker" - from a bakery that we did some work on. They were tossing out the old one and electrician asked me if I wanted it.Let's see if I can make them to heat for snow shedding in winter. I'd hate it if I had to clean them. Barn roof is pretty steep (50-60 degrees maybe) though so don't know how much self cleaning there is.
Haven't measured tilt of my roof array, maybe 50-60 degree. Powder snow maybe, but any other kind snow won't clear with shaker. I'd love to get them heat up for few minutes. My engineer friend is looking to this.I got a "shaker" - from a bakery that we did some work on. They were tossing out the old one and electrician asked me if I wanted it.
(These are used in production bakery for keeping the flour moving/prevent sticking}
I bolted the shaker to the back side of my main array 10 440W CS PV - the array tilts up to 72-degrees for winter, and with the shaker on the back on a switch I can clear the snow in about 15-seconds, as long as there isn't any freezing rain layer on the PV glass.
I have thought of putting it on a timer to just run 10-20 seconds every morning at sunrise, but hey lots of other projects lined up ahead of that one.
Will see if I can find a picture of this thing for you to see what it looks like and how it is mounted.
I think some push power to the panels to warm them up and get them to shed snow/iceAt 72-degrees, wet snow slides off pretty much on it's own, although the shaker does get it moving. And during the depth of winter all the snow is dry power stuff when it's cold out so the shaker works well for this snow.
The only trouble spot was a December late afternoon freezing rain, that turned into ice on the panels as the sun went down. Then it snowed over the frozen layer - that was trouble and the shaker had no effect at all really. Those panels are bi-facial and a few days later we got a bright enough day that the frozen layer melted just enough to slide off.
Interesting thing I have found between a layer of Ice and a layer of Snow - the ice layer still allows decent production while a layer of snow kills production.
Heat will definitely work, but how to heat a solar panel up on a roof is the issue, and at what cost. I have thought about heat trace cables attached to the alum frames, but only thoughts, not installed...
Panels act like radiators when you push power into them. This needs to be done carefully so I don't trust my understanding of it, hence my engineer friend is looking to it.At 72-degrees, wet snow slides off pretty much on it's own, although the shaker does get it moving. And during the depth of winter all the snow is dry power stuff when it's cold out so the shaker works well for this snow.
The only trouble spot was a December late afternoon freezing rain, that turned into ice on the panels as the sun went down. Then it snowed over the frozen layer - that was trouble and the shaker had no effect at all really. Those panels are bi-facial and a few days later we got a bright enough day that the frozen layer melted just enough to slide off.
Interesting thing I have found between a layer of Ice and a layer of Snow - the ice layer still allows decent production while a layer of snow kills production.
Heat will definitely work, but how to heat a solar panel up on a roof is the issue, and at what cost. I have thought about heat trace cables attached to the alum frames, but only thoughts, not installed...