camelot-forum.co.uk

Hello all
we have a few members who are only now dipping their toes in the pv pool... including me.
This thread is intended as a home for basic things which might be obvious to others but not to all, and as many have said, "the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!"

My first / opener is "what happens to an over-sized array in high summer?"
I can see the value of having lots of panels in winter (even if they don't generate very much) but especially in spring and autumn. Several people here seem to say that you can never have too much...

If your export is limited and your battery gets refilled easily in summer, what happens when the big array wants to produce far more than there is any use for?
Can the system just stall? The export gadget might be sending out as much as is allowed, but if the battery is full and the immersion can't safely take any more can the generating end of the system cope with un-released pressure? (i.e limited output from the system but rising volts on the DC side just going nowhere?

I have never seen any suggestion of dumping surplus volts/amps down the earth rod...
Thanks
A

AE

A good idea for a thread.

The panels under the influence of light but with no or low load simply heat up and de-rate proportionally.

The heat they radiate is much less than a solar thermal system - I can put my hand on the back of my panels when in full sun and under no load and they are cosy warm whereas I know if you did that on a solar thermal system in the wrong place you risk burns.

Hence you can safely go away and leave the panels switched off if you like without harm or detriment.

Moxi