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diy solar

slippery coating for panels

Jims94vmx

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May 23, 2020
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I just went on top of the rv and see some dust and pollen on flat panels. Not tilted because of traveling every few days. Anyone use a coating to make slippery? Wax?303?

Jim
 
I have 6 panels on my house. They collect lots of dust although I haven't seen much in degradation if any. But I'm experimenting with RainX that you would use on your car windshield. Don't know if the RainX leaves a fine coat the would affect the panel performance.
 
I have never heard of people using RainX on solar panels, but definitely on windshields to great effect. Might insignificantly affect performance by blocking a tiny amount of light.

Good luck with the pollen!

Water cleaning systems are neat but active and stuff. hope the coating approach works well for you
 
Most waxes will have UV protection ... so, that wouldn't be good. Not sure about RainX.

You'd have to experiment with it with 2 side by side panels to see if performance is affected .... and then factor in how much difference it makes by the panels staying more clean.
 
Thanks. not sure if a wax would be good due to scatching? This isn't a problem but just got me thinking.
 
You can find quite some ideas when searching for “nano coating solar panels”
 
I haven't found anything I'm willing to try yet. I have a squirt bottle of water/soap that I use on the panels. I apply a very generous layer of the solution and then take it off with a rubber squeegee.
 
Most waxes will have UV protection ... so, that wouldn't be good. Not sure about RainX.

You'd have to experiment with it with 2 side by side panels to see if performance is affected .... and then factor in how much difference it makes by the panels staying more clean.
Solar Cells use UV light and not visual light. So I'm not sure about using a UV protection. The reason I thought about RainX is hoping the rainwater would beed up and run off my panels as my panels are at an 11-degree slope from horizontal.

I wonder what people do on their homes' roofs where they can't get to the panels with safety.
 
As of 2012, RainX does not recommend their product on solar panels.

However, this company has a product claimed to be effective.

Edit:
Another product
Thanks, it was just an experiment as RainX beads up and runs off of windshields. Since we are not putting anything directly on the solar cells but the clear cover, I was thinking it wouldn't hurt. - But good old water my be all one needs.
 
I wonder what people do on their homes' roofs where they can't get to the panels with safety.

They completely ignore them. My neighbor has a roof full of PV and hasn't been up there to look at it since it was installed. The only time they worry about it is when it gets a load of snow on it. It tends to come down in an avalanche, always at the wrong time.
 
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