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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 2 Oct 2024 20:27
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Here it is October and my bank charging is cutting back, by both the trees and hillside. So today I blew a good amount of duff off the panels, about 30, they still have a thick layer of dirt/dust, with no rain coming. I decided to see how much a squeaky clean panel helps and happened to have a spare laying around. Got about 020 amps (.2 I guess) dirty. Hard to test because I have sunlight flickering through the trees all the time, but I did see 026 at one point.
Any real world test results you guys? Internet search said 1-50% lol.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 2 Oct 2024 22:10
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No date here. I have never done any cleaning. I don't need another job or task. But I do have pretty good exposure even when the hours per day get shorter.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 2 Oct 2024 22:38
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Yeah it’s about the last thing on my mind, particularly when the rain will do it sooner or later. I did pull in 20 amps today for about an hour, instead of 4-5, but after a night of powering the fridge, tv, modem and a few lights it’ll be flirting with 12.9 in the morning.
I did test run the LP genny last night, pumps in 80 amps. Under an hour a day usually gets me through winter.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 3 Oct 2024 00:17
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I have cleaned panels... I used to have 3 under the hummingbird feeders, yeah they needed cleaning occasionally! Never measured the difference in output. Oh... moved the panels!
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 3 Oct 2024 15:07 - Edited by: travellerw
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It was a regular task to clean my panels on my boat. The combination of being almost horizontal and Saharan dust (it blows across the ocean and covers everything in the Caribbean) means the panels would need cleaning about every 3 weeks.
I would see a 25% plus increase right after cleaning the panels, but that would drop to about 17% the next day (measured at the same time of day). At first I was super confused why there was such a big difference between the 2 days. Eventually I realized that by washing them with water I was cooling them down.
So for me it was between 15-20% by cleaning my panels. However, each array would be different depending on how its configured (series, parallel, series/parallel). Also the type of "dirt" would have a different affect too. Bird droppings, tree sap, leaves would be different than a layer of dust.
Now after that long winded story. I clean the panels at my cabin about once a year. I wait for a rain and go out with a brush. However, I will go spot clean bird dropping throughout the summer.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 3 Oct 2024 20:52
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Thanks Trav, good to get numbers from a known source.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 3 Oct 2024 23:56
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I have family that lives off grid in the southwest with a diy built system. They said it wasn't really worth cleaning the pannels unless they where really really dirty.
You may se some % increase but if your system is fully charged a few minutes sooner in the day it may not matter.
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 4 Oct 2024 09:56
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Be careful NOT to use anything like Vinegar or chemicals... 1 or 2 "DROPS" of Dawn dish soap in a 20 gallon bucket and use only foam after wetting the panels - nothing abrasive.
TravellerW makes a great point about efficiency & cooling. Roof mounted panels often get too hot to perform optimally.
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mj1angier
Member
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2024 16:01
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Ours get quite a bit of leaf dirt on them (i know but I am not cutting down more trees, lol) so I clean them off every couple weeks. It does help but not sure how much, never did a comparison. Makes me feel better anyway lol
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