Balcony solar PV

[Joeboy]

Arrggghhh, the mind worms have taken over! I was messing about post acceptance dodgy test, happily making up DC extension cables and it hit me just how excellent these micros are as one stop compact, mobile power solutions.

Put a commando plug M/F into the mix, tag it back to a CU circuit and its a very quick weatherproof, small form factor background load PV solution in tight spaces, maybe even help lift a kettle

Then the mind worms said "Turkey" and I went "oooh"! A handcarry out and I know where the local PV shops are.

[Joeboy]

We had a few cherry trees, they had went long and straggly competing with the shading trees behind them.

A bit terrifying to deal with as looming over the cabin and bending North which was the opposite of what i needed. No1 & I got the last of them docked back today with use of 3 stage ladder, rope, webbing strops, a comealong and the faithful 36V battery chainsaw. Cherry is SO dense, limb smashers even at small dia if not treated with respect.

The forest is just beginning to bud. Looking forward to seeing it explode this year with all the re introduced light.








An intermittent sort of solar day here but did walk in to the workshop to see 275W displayed output from Enphase Powerhouse post docking! It was I think a momentary peak. So only good for my own PB obsessive nature. Looking forward to a good clear day and maybe see it crack 1kWh daily generation. Any solar chance and its now regularly above 200W.

[Joeboy]

Note to self
20kWh generated at 13.30hrs on 17/03/24.



That's pretty much all I can do to liberate from shading at the moment. I'll start keeping an eye out for the hoped 1kWh day.

[Joeboy]

Had a read up this morning on Enphase Powerhouse Sharp panels.

Found an online brochure from 2013 so that'll do as a manufacture year. A mighty 13% efficiency too! For comparison, the Longi panel I bought from CPS is 20.3% efficient and not a trailblazer. Big advances in a decade eh?

Sharp
90% power output 10yr warranty
80% power output 25yr warranty.

So far we've seen a peak of 53.92% output across the 3 panels. For no more than figure chasing I can hope to see as much as a combined 450W in perfect conditions at their apparent age. I'll adjust that down and hope for 350W at some point in May.

[Joeboy]

The solar day was good, a little hit & miss with some cloud cover.

24hrs to do 1kWh at Enphase powerhouse though!



It's now Workshop Ehphase (PH) as I gave in and ordered another power meter for Hot Tub Enphase (PH). I know myself & I couldn't be sitting not knowing. It's just not me!

I'm quite moved by the 1kWh day gen barrier being broken. A tradeable commodity generated from old bits.

Sorted power connection off the Hot Tub CU this afternoon so it's all inching closer together. Hopefully the new panel arrives today.

[Joeboy]

Keotek meter and Enphase field connection arriving today at some point. While waiting I pretty much finished the job.

DC cable passthrough made up from old stuff in workshop. Fully sealed and stained it later on.



Used a bit of scrap aluminium angle from the battery job frame to make mounting brackets.



Panel on and realised it can be adjustable in pitch. Will retro fit top hinges at some point but got a few degrees off vertical just on flex alone.



The irony is not lost on me that I spent most of the job dodging rain. Although we have had some cracking sunny patches. Reading 41.1V on test. No idea what that converts to but Enphase Workshop was outputting 260W at that time.



SWMBO is OK with it so that's a happy life for me. Ooh, posties just been. Gotta go Enphase field connection has arrived. Let's get this outputting!

[Joeboy]

Well that went well. Had the amp clamp on. Interesting to see the Enphase go through a minute or two of self test increasing slowly then it hit 4A and seemed to take a leap up and down. Sun was constant at the time so assuming a self check/calibration.

At 4.6A indicated on Enphase HT PH i though id just check against No1's panels & app.




He was reading 5.2A off of one panel and 425W.





That works out roughly to 210W per panel at No1's and 185W at Enphase HT PH.

I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed at that so went back out a moment ago and The reading at 14.50hrs is a touch under 5.7A. Being more precise in my arithmetic that gets me up to about 230W at Enphase HT PW.



I'm happy with that at this time of year and this far North. It will be great and much appreciated come Winter Hopefully a clear day about 11am tomorrow and i'll get a better handle on the average.

[Joeboy]

Really grudging the Earth's rotation today.

[Joeboy]

Miserable dreich day up here and starting with 21% soc in the stack due to a EV charging miscalc. A good chance to see what the system as is can now do in poor conditions.

Away to build a waterproof box to mount the Ketotek meter outside the hot tub cabinet for easy obsessional access.

[Moxi]

similarly awful weather here today too, we are sat in the cloud base / hill fog, but the light is diffuse and quite light considering the conditions, we have around 920Watts incoming at present and with a bit of judicious switching off I have managed to balance the house load sufficient to coax a modest charge in to the stack.

Better weather forecast tomorrow but accompanied by 45mph gusts so the commando panels will be put away.

Moxi