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There are a lot of dumb people out there.

I

IGBT

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I was looking at some reviews on solar panels and one guy was complaining he was not seeing the full power ( 400 watts) out of his two 200 watt panels.

Look at the bungee cords he has strung across them (not to mention there is no way they are pointed anywhere near direct to the sun) Sigh...

How do dumb people get so much money to spend? I really must be doing something wrong...
 

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IGBT said:
I was looking at some reviews on solar panels and one guy was complaining he was not seeing the full power ( 400 watts) out of his two 200 watt panels.

Look at the bungee cords he has strung across them (not to mention there is no way they are pointed anywhere near direct to the sun) Sigh...

How do dumb people get so much money to spend? I really must be doing something wrong...
Click to expand...
nice find :)
Stupid Earthling!
 
It's unlikely the bungee cords themselves are that big of an issue, but the angle certainly is.

I always take 85-90% of any given value anyways (no matter what I buy) and just assume that's the max I'll get.
That way I'm never upset when something doesn't perform, I just expect it.

Perks of being a realist. 😅
 
The older, and presumably wiser, that one gets, the more humbled by the realization of how little one actually knows. At the same time, it can often be the case that the wiser one gets, the more frustrated one becomes with the general bane of ignorance. Ignorance is a huge problem. Ignorance injures society at all levels. Ignorant officials make ignorant laws. Ignorant builders make ignorant mistakes which create hazards and risks for countless people. Ignorance costs millions and is among the top causes of death. The biggest problem with it? The greater one's ignorance, the greater one's false confidence and belief that one knows what is necessary--certainly more than the next guy.

Psychologists may refer to the phenomenon as the "Dunning-Kruger Effect." Ignorance is among the worst evils to exist, and among the most difficult to fight.
 
Clearly there is no limitations to a complainers insightfulness on how something works.

Genius has limitations, but complainers don't know there are any limitations!
 
Just another case of stupid people not knowing what they don't know.

"Common sense" would say that if you block 10% of 400 watts of solar panels, you should still get 360 watts. Right? :fp2
Clearly the math works. Unfortunately the physics doesn't.
 
Norwasian said:
The older, and presumably wiser, that one gets, the more humbled by the realization of how little one actually knows. At the same time, it can often be the case that the wiser one gets, the more frustrated one becomes with the general bane of ignorance. Ignorance is a huge problem. Ignorance injures society at all levels. Ignorant officials make ignorant laws. Ignorant builders make ignorant mistakes which create hazards and risks for countless people. Ignorance costs millions and is among the top causes of death. The biggest problem with it? The greater one's ignorance, the greater one's false confidence and belief that one knows what is necessary--certainly more than the next guy.

Psychologists may refer to the phenomenon as the "Dunning-Kruger Effect." Ignorance is among the worst evils to exist, and among the most difficult to fight.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately sometimes people get old and are so certain that they try to treat everyone like crap because of course they are the smartest person and that everyone else knows nothing. crotchety old arrogant asses.
 
IGBT said:
The ultimate intelligence is the ability to know you don't know something.
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There was a quote from the show Monster Garage back in the day lol that has stuck with me since I was a teenager.

Similar to the Dynning-Kruger effect or whatever, where the less intelligent you are, the more likely you are to overplay your intelligence.

But in Monster Garage the host Jesse James banked on a team winning because when asked how they we're going to complete the challenge they said something to the effect of "we have no idea, but well try our best".

Where as the other team was very cocksure and were being braggadocios and bullshitting that they knew exactly how to do it.

Ie let that sit with me all these years and almost every single situation I've ever been in in my life, it has been true.

👌👌👌
 
As a dunning-kruger enthusiast, I can assure you the panels will straighten out and produce full power once they get a bit of rain on them.
 
How do you think solar installer/ salesmen charge the insane prices ya see on TV..and yet people buy the stuff…
 

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Norwasian said:
The older, and presumably wiser, that one gets, the more humbled by the realization of how little one actually knows. At the same time, it can often be the case that the wiser one gets, the more frustrated one becomes with the general bane of ignorance. Ignorance is a huge problem. Ignorance injures society at all levels. Ignorant officials make ignorant laws. Ignorant builders make ignorant mistakes which create hazards and risks for countless people. Ignorance costs millions and is among the top causes of death. The biggest problem with it? The greater one's ignorance, the greater one's false confidence and belief that one knows what is necessary--certainly more than the next guy.

Psychologists may refer to the phenomenon as the "Dunning-Kruger Effect." Ignorance is among the worst evils to exist, and among the most difficult to fight.
Click to expand...
Thailand it must be torture for you.
 
ThaiTaffy said:
Thailand it must be torture for you.
Click to expand...
Perspicacious words.

I don't know what is more torturous: To know, and be rejected by those who don't; or to be ignorant, and be at the mercy of random chance happenstance--in addition to one's own mistakes. But I think it's worse to know. As the old saw says: "Ignorance is bliss." Though the Good Book says "the simple pass on and are punished." There is a price to be paid for foolish ignorance.
  • You pay for your ignorance.
  • You pay for your mistakes.
  • You pay for your emergencies.
While these tenets can be expanded (e.g. "You pay for your lack of attention to detail" ==> "You pay for your ignorance" OR "You pay for your lack of planning" ==> "You pay for your emergencies"), they all boil down to two words: "Ignorance costs."

And ignorance is not limited to Thailand; albeit it seems Thailand has a special dose of it. I've seen even popular photos of New York City firefighters showing a beautiful, but ineffective, firefighting tactic: pouring water at the top of the flames.

Ignorance is everywhere, and is usually most harmful where it is least suspected.
 
I found these definitions of Ignorance.
  1. The condition of being ignorant; the lack of knowledge in general, or in relation to a particular subject; the state of being uneducated or uninformed.
  2. (Theol.) A willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge which one may acquire and it is his duty to have.
  3. (Theol.) ignorance beyond the individual's control and for which, therefore, he is not responsible before God.
Let's take the first definition, it is only really a problem if you lack the humility and the self awareness to recognise and acknowledge your own ignorance instead substituting arrogance or bravado to compensate. In defense of Thailand and similar cultures they have an additional hurdle or handicap which is that of face 'nah' or more accurately losing face 'nah teg', I cannot understate how ingrained and important this is to a vast majority of Thais. With that in mind and given critical thinking is not a strong feature of the Thai curriculum one could argue it is a trap, it makes it difficult for Thais to say things like "I don't really know that, can you explain it to me?" as the admission of ignorance is an automatic loss of face and god forbid you ask your manager who also doesn't know the answer and cause him/her to lose face.

This cultural trait can be dangerous, expensive and inefficient on one side of the ledger but on the other side it is an intrinsic part of Thainess which for the most part nets a cohesive, happy go lucky and polite society in comparison to the ultra optimised Western culture.

BTW. Perhaps the guy's logic in the original photo was if they have to be laid flat to work properly why make them flexible in the first place? Mad I know but after 30+ years in the IT business that photo looks reasonable compared to some of the inane things I've seen customers and clients do.
 
PhiPhi said:
Let's take the first definition, it is only really a problem if you lack the humility and the self awareness to recognise and acknowledge your own ignorance instead substituting arrogance or bravado to compensate. In defense of Thailand and similar cultures they have an additional hurdle or handicap which is that of face 'nah' or more accurately losing face 'nah teg', I cannot understate how ingrained and important this is to a vast majority of Thais.
Click to expand...
I once witnessed a Thai cook who was deep-frying something in oil. The oil got too hot, and combusted, sending flames shooting upwards. Immediately she ran to the sink to fill a pitcher of water, intending to pour that on the flames. She would have literally lost her face that day if I had not been there and quickly intervened. I stopped her from returning to that pot, and quickly stopped the fire with the placement of a large plate over the top of the pan, suffocating the flames. She did not even know that I had saved her (and the building)...I had to explain what would have happened if she had followed her course of action.

She had no arrogance. No bravado was in the way of progress. Just pure ignorance.

And Thailand is chock full of this type of ignorance, in addition to other forms which cause them to resist being educated by "foreigners."

PhiPhi said:
This cultural trait can be dangerous, expensive and inefficient on one side of the ledger but on the other side it is an intrinsic part of Thainess which for the most part nets a cohesive, happy go lucky and polite society in comparison to the ultra optimised Western culture.
Click to expand...
Dangerous indeed!
 
I'm recently new to Solar Panels. Since setting them up, it has been cloudy every day in S. La. I was thinking about contacting the seller and asking " What the Hell " . Talk about a learning curve. I'm finding out, even when the Sun is hot - It's not so Bright
 
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