Daily pv production

Murt2 · 09-12-2022 12:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119971742#Comment_119971742

My array faces south. I should be doing a lot better.

DC999 · 09-12-2022 1:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973324#Comment_119973324

Hey, look at the panels and different times of the day to see can you see shading. This time of year I’m seeing shading I never expected (year1 of solar for me). Even a small bit of shade will hammer output on what’s on that string without optimisers (but I’d agree with others you don’t want optimisers just for winter. I have them for shading all year round for some panels).

So check when they are in sun and see what the inverter stats are showing per string and overall (if you have any non S facing panels). Should get decent output when in sun. Then check once they are shaded and will see it drop. Then you know shading is the issue. And do that several times a day so you can see the pattern and note it all down for yourself. Get me?

Today in Dublin my panels are under snow. So they need to be clear to get a baseline. So if they are snow free and you've sun in the sky, today is a good day to start it

ECO_Mental · 09-12-2022 1:21pm

Its going to be another cracker of a day again for me lads!!!! 20 kWh+ 😁😎

Clear blue skies all the way, although the forest is saying it might get cloudy around 3pm

Picture below is at 12:15 and solar noon where I am is 12:26 today, its amazing how low the sun is at this time of the year...

bullit_dodger · 09-12-2022 1:33pm

My shed panels say otherwise ECO. LOL

https://www.dropbox.com/s/msizs1c4muxrosd/2022-12-09%2012.30.49.jpg?dl=0

bullit_dodger · 09-12-2022 1:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973324#Comment_119973324

Maybe? Naturally people wouldn't be able to say for certain without more details. But the math for purchasing optimizers (generally) is unfavorable in winter.

Why? Well the days are short so your production is somewhat limited anyway, even if you have perfectly aligned panels with no shading. Nearly everyone on this forum (ECO_Mental aside) normally suffers some shading on their panels in winter. Sun is very low on the horizon and houses/trees shade your panels which doesn't normally happen from March->Oct.

The whole thing about optimizers is that the way that inverters work is that if you have say 10 panels and 1 of those panels is shaded (say by a chimney) then all the panels are "dragged down" to the lowest performing panel. Installing optimizers on the affected panel(s) will mean that the unshaded 9 panels out of the 10 (or whatever you have) will work as normal.

Where the math falls down fiscally, is that optimizers are €50 a pop, installing it on say all of your 10 panels = €500 in devices, and then add on getting someone onto your roof. Could be €1000, now will your "extra production" recoup that cost......unlikely based on winter time production.

If however you were experiencing shading in Apr->Sept then yes, there's a case to be made for optimizers, but only again if "some" of your panels are shaded. If they are all shaded, then optimizers will do nothing to help (in fact they will ever so slightly dis-improve your production)

So if I was you, save your money. Have a look at your production on a clear day in April next and the re-evaluate. You'll see what I mean - trust me :-)

micks_address · 09-12-2022 4:19pm

heading for about 6.75whr today.. 4kw panels south east.. 3kw panels north west.. north county dublin

Big Lar · 09-12-2022 9:09pm

An absolutely savage day here in West Waterford

2.8Kw SE, 4.8KW SW

redmagic68 · 09-12-2022 9:22pm

If your system is relatively close to the predicted output on the solar calculators surely it’s fair to assume things are working correctly or is this too simplistic?

ECO_Mental · 09-12-2022 9:26pm

SmartSelect_20221209_202154_Home Assistant.jpg

What a curve! 20.8 kWh today...used 75% of it most of it into the car. Tomorrow looks good as well

rameire · 09-12-2022 9:32pm

0.6 generated today.

Is a huge learning curve and amazing to see what a layer of frozen snow does to generation when it's sunny but temp doesn't get above 0c.

Wasn't even tempted to remove the caked snow as don't want to do anything stupid to the panels.

graememk · 09-12-2022 9:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977009#Comment_119977009

Yeah but on a monthly basis (and generally what others are saying)

For example march 2022 was an absolute blinder, way better than the prediction.

June wasn't as good this year.

Galego · 09-12-2022 10:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975659#Comment_119975659

6.6wkh today from 4kwp SE too in South Meath :-)

irishchris · 09-12-2022 11:22pm

Really foggy day here in galway but somehow in afternoon managed to scrape to 9.5kwh

Jonathan · 09-12-2022 11:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119972621#Comment_119972621

10.1kWh today. Not bad going considering the PV and thermal panels were pretty well covered until 10:30 or so. Cold weather had the MPPT running very close to the 520V limit too.

Murt2 · 09-12-2022 11:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974895#Comment_119974895

I'll install them myself. Yeah, there is a chimney and a tree that are causing havoc with my output when I should be getting decent generation between 1&3pm. There are also shading issue where about half the panels are blocked in the late evening during the summer. According to the calculator, I should have gotten about 260kWh in November, I actually got 130

Murt2 · 09-12-2022 11:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974775#Comment_119974775

Nice to see! You seem to live where there are no trees, no clouds, no anything actually. Where are you?

mrm · 10-12-2022 12:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977961#Comment_119977961

On the sun I reckon from some of his figures!

ECO_Mental · 10-12-2022 1:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977961#Comment_119977961

Just south of Cork City, about 6-7 km from the city centre as the crow flys. Realy lucky just built a house and moved in last year. its an exposed site as you can see and practically from East to West no obstruction. Also lucky again the Architect who designed the house (more than 12 years ago!) knew what he was doing and orientated the house perfectly south facing for Solar gain etc as back then PV wasn't a thing and I didn't have a clue back then.

A lot of stars aligned for me I know, but by pure luck to be honest.

championc · 10-12-2022 10:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973324#Comment_119973324

Optimizers are only needed when some panels in a string are shaded while others in the same string are not. They cannot magically boost output if the whole array is tree shaded.