Solar Panels
Last month was mostly cloudy and overcast, and we kept buying electricity instead of using the power we generate, so drastic measures were called for....i.e digging the spare panels out of the barn and hooking them up. QUICKLY.
Here they are, cranking out power and giving us a surplus.
The cattle trailer is used to provide a wind-break. The panel on the little Harbor Freight Trailer was running on a Chinese 115 vac grid tie inverter, but it quit working. (That is the second one that failed!) It will be removed from the trailer and installed on a fence post so it can be pointed East in the morning, and South in the midday and mostly West in the late afternoon providing about a 20% power gain over a fixed position. The panel on the trailer now feeds into an Enphase M215, which is more efficient and reliable than the Chinese stuff.
The blue armored flexible electrical conduit had to be spliced together to reach the trailer, so junction boxes are located in the half concrete block. It feeds 240vac to the string of six Enphase M215 Micro-inverters located under the six panels. The trailer needs to be located a bit further from the barn because late afternoon sun doesn't reach it because of the shade from the barn.
With these panels working, my total is now 25 solar panels, with 21 of them being in the 240 to 250 watt range, and 4 very old Kyocera 140 watt panels (lucky to get 350 watts out of all four). I'm a firm believer in Enphase Micro-Inverters.
I will continue this article, showing some of my early installations, but I was asked for a photo of the latest additions, so here are the two photos.
Neighbor Willie McKemie (10 miles away) has been installing PV on what he calls a "Hitching Rail" ground mount. Here are some quotes from what he posted recently on the Austin/San Antonio Tesla Forum:
Questions: "What does the .$45/watt include? The panels, inverters, & all other misc items needed? Ground mounts?" and "Your solar panel installation size in kilowatts?"
Answers: "I recently made a guesstimate in blog post. 250 or so ~250 watt panels
on three meters." and "The evolution of my "hitching rail" mounts is somewhat documented in
other blog posts. This is not something you would consider doing in an
urban/suburban setting. Everyday, I am thankful to no longer live in
Austin.
The last panels I bought were $53.37 for 245 watt delivered.
Enphase M215 micro inverters are around $35 each delivered. They are a
good match for <= 250 watt panels.
The gottchas are the Enphase AC drop cables. $12-$18 per drop. I've
figured out how to use cheaper 3 phase drop cable. 2 out of every 3
drops usable.
I now think oil field pipe is the best way to go for the rails. I
recently bought a good supply of 2 3/8" 33' joints for $15 each. I've
paid as much as $20 for other buys. Recent rails are 3 joints screwed
together and can be supported by 5 4.5' posts (driven to a ~2' height)
cut from the same material. So, $60 worth of pipe will support about 28
panels. Scrap/surplus metal roofing is placed under the panel edges
that sit on the ground. For weed block and easy mowing/trimming.
No detail offered on all the AC wiring, breakers, conduit, etc. But,
around 100' of 10ga romex to support 25-30 panels.
I've done two 2 posts supporting six panels mounts. VERY expensive
compared to hitching rails. But nicely up in the air and out of the
way. You should be able to find some photos in my blog."
End of Cut-n-Paste from Austin-San Antonio Tesla Forum.
Last week Donna and I loaded a chainsaw and some chains into the old Dodge and headed to Dale to collect a telephone pole, a stack of 30 year old heavy-duty fence posts, and a hunk of oil field pipe (larger in diameter than the 2 3/8" pipe he is now using). We cut the pole into 4 equal pieces, and loaded the posts into the bed, then suspended the pipe under the truck on the chains, with plenty of pipe sticking out ahead and behind the truck.
Then used the post hole digger to drill some holes ten feet apart.
We examined the posts and selected three of the "most defective" and cut them in half, and planted them in the holes. At first, I was going to worry about getting the tops all equally out of the ground, but the ground is rough, so I decided to plant them, and come back with the chain saw and make adjustments as needed.
After seeing my post holes so close together, Willie's opinion was that they are way too close together. (Yes, I agree, but they are planted.) Here is some of my reasoning: Assume 20 sixty cell solar panels on 66' of pipe. The 60 cell solar
panels are all around 65.8 inches in length by 39.4 inches in width.
This means it takes up a total area of about 18 square feet.
20 X 18 = 360 square feet
Comparing to an antique airplane:
My PA-22 airplane has a wing area of 147.5 square feet and a take-off
weight of 1650 pounds. (Gross Weight: 1950 lbs) Best angle of climb
speed MPH 70
Therefore, if a 70 mph straight line gust of wind were to hit my
hitching post array, if it had 20 panels, the lifting force could be
as much as 4881 pounds. (2.4 times the wing area of a PA-22.)
With that in mind, I need to secure the oilfield pipe to the wooden
posts using (fill in the blank).
I was thinking of using galvanized steel strapping that is used to
hang pipes. It comes with holes in it, so I could wrap it around the
pipe and nail to both sides of each of the wooden posts.
Meanwhile, two of the Telephone Pole pieces have been planted at the front gate to improve the fencing situation there. In the past, we have had to remove posts for various large tractor trailers making deliveries or things like Bulldozers, etc.
June 1, 2019 The Hitching Rail is installed but I am not happy with the large 10' overhang on the heavy oil pipe, so I am going to stand a post on top of a concrete pad, and strap a post to the end of it. I am now tackling the "dangling microinverter problem and have found a good solution in Menke Depot. We used some very heavy duty "smaller than normal" steel studs to frame in the facia under our 4' roof overhangs on the concrete house. They were so thick than we could not use the self drilling screws to mount them, and instead had to drill each and every hole before inserting the wood screws. I've cut these studs to 39" lengths, being careful not to get any of the big holes in the studs in the wrong spots. There are some oblong 1/4" holes in the PV panels, so putting a matching hole set in the studs will allow them to be bolted to the panels, and this will hold the microinverter which is mounted to the steel stud. I will be using some of the 700 1/4-20 bolts to bolt this all together. Unfortunately, each bolt needs to be cut to a shorter length with a hacksaw.
It also seems that the opening in the steel stud can be put over the steel pipe which should help hold it in position. Need to get some photographs up here!
Photo of the microinverter mounted to the PV panel:
Photos of the assembly mounted to the Hitching Rail (June 7, 2019)
Photo of the rail and the active panels near the cattle trailer. These need to be moved to the Hitching Rail.
When all of these are connected to the grid, the total will be 33 panels.
June 11, 2019 update. The panels have been moved from the cattle trailer area and are now tied to the hitching rail. 12 of the 14 panels are hooked to the 240 vac, but the other two are waiting for more cable which was shipped this morning. It has been overcast all day, with light drizzle now and then, but still getting several amps added to the 240 vac line in the barn.
For June, they should be closer to almost flat. I need to figure out a way to raise the bottom of the 14 panels.
August 17, 2019
The hitching post rail now has 18 panels producing power during this drought and heat wave. Day after day over 100° F, with the Mini-Split running almost all day, and several electric car charging sessions, and it (in combination with the other panels located on the house circuit) is still exporting a small amount of power to the grid. I believe I can add 3 more panels at 90° to this array to collect more of the early morning sun, which will flatten out the power curve. This is how it looks now:
In the photo above, I am using cement blocks and protein feeder tubs to elevate the lower edge of the panels.
Here they are, cranking out power and giving us a surplus.
The blue armored flexible electrical conduit had to be spliced together to reach the trailer, so junction boxes are located in the half concrete block. It feeds 240vac to the string of six Enphase M215 Micro-inverters located under the six panels. The trailer needs to be located a bit further from the barn because late afternoon sun doesn't reach it because of the shade from the barn.
With these panels working, my total is now 25 solar panels, with 21 of them being in the 240 to 250 watt range, and 4 very old Kyocera 140 watt panels (lucky to get 350 watts out of all four). I'm a firm believer in Enphase Micro-Inverters.
I will continue this article, showing some of my early installations, but I was asked for a photo of the latest additions, so here are the two photos.
Neighbor Willie McKemie (10 miles away) has been installing PV on what he calls a "Hitching Rail" ground mount. Here are some quotes from what he posted recently on the Austin/San Antonio Tesla Forum:
Questions: "What does the .$45/watt include? The panels, inverters, & all other misc items needed? Ground mounts?" and "Your solar panel installation size in kilowatts?"
Answers: "I recently made a guesstimate in blog post. 250 or so ~250 watt panels
on three meters." and "The evolution of my "hitching rail" mounts is somewhat documented in
other blog posts. This is not something you would consider doing in an
urban/suburban setting. Everyday, I am thankful to no longer live in
Austin.
The last panels I bought were $53.37 for 245 watt delivered.
Enphase M215 micro inverters are around $35 each delivered. They are a
good match for <= 250 watt panels.
The gottchas are the Enphase AC drop cables. $12-$18 per drop. I've
figured out how to use cheaper 3 phase drop cable. 2 out of every 3
drops usable.
I now think oil field pipe is the best way to go for the rails. I
recently bought a good supply of 2 3/8" 33' joints for $15 each. I've
paid as much as $20 for other buys. Recent rails are 3 joints screwed
together and can be supported by 5 4.5' posts (driven to a ~2' height)
cut from the same material. So, $60 worth of pipe will support about 28
panels. Scrap/surplus metal roofing is placed under the panel edges
that sit on the ground. For weed block and easy mowing/trimming.
No detail offered on all the AC wiring, breakers, conduit, etc. But,
around 100' of 10ga romex to support 25-30 panels.
I've done two 2 posts supporting six panels mounts. VERY expensive
compared to hitching rails. But nicely up in the air and out of the
way. You should be able to find some photos in my blog."
End of Cut-n-Paste from Austin-San Antonio Tesla Forum.
Last week Donna and I loaded a chainsaw and some chains into the old Dodge and headed to Dale to collect a telephone pole, a stack of 30 year old heavy-duty fence posts, and a hunk of oil field pipe (larger in diameter than the 2 3/8" pipe he is now using). We cut the pole into 4 equal pieces, and loaded the posts into the bed, then suspended the pipe under the truck on the chains, with plenty of pipe sticking out ahead and behind the truck.
After seeing my post holes so close together, Willie's opinion was that they are way too close together. (Yes, I agree, but they are planted.) Here is some of my reasoning: Assume 20 sixty cell solar panels on 66' of pipe. The 60 cell solar
panels are all around 65.8 inches in length by 39.4 inches in width.
This means it takes up a total area of about 18 square feet.
20 X 18 = 360 square feet
Comparing to an antique airplane:
My PA-22 airplane has a wing area of 147.5 square feet and a take-off
weight of 1650 pounds. (Gross Weight: 1950 lbs) Best angle of climb
speed MPH 70
Therefore, if a 70 mph straight line gust of wind were to hit my
hitching post array, if it had 20 panels, the lifting force could be
as much as 4881 pounds. (2.4 times the wing area of a PA-22.)
With that in mind, I need to secure the oilfield pipe to the wooden
posts using (fill in the blank).
I was thinking of using galvanized steel strapping that is used to
hang pipes. It comes with holes in it, so I could wrap it around the
pipe and nail to both sides of each of the wooden posts.
Meanwhile, two of the Telephone Pole pieces have been planted at the front gate to improve the fencing situation there. In the past, we have had to remove posts for various large tractor trailers making deliveries or things like Bulldozers, etc.
June 1, 2019 The Hitching Rail is installed but I am not happy with the large 10' overhang on the heavy oil pipe, so I am going to stand a post on top of a concrete pad, and strap a post to the end of it. I am now tackling the "dangling microinverter problem and have found a good solution in Menke Depot. We used some very heavy duty "smaller than normal" steel studs to frame in the facia under our 4' roof overhangs on the concrete house. They were so thick than we could not use the self drilling screws to mount them, and instead had to drill each and every hole before inserting the wood screws. I've cut these studs to 39" lengths, being careful not to get any of the big holes in the studs in the wrong spots. There are some oblong 1/4" holes in the PV panels, so putting a matching hole set in the studs will allow them to be bolted to the panels, and this will hold the microinverter which is mounted to the steel stud. I will be using some of the 700 1/4-20 bolts to bolt this all together. Unfortunately, each bolt needs to be cut to a shorter length with a hacksaw.
It also seems that the opening in the steel stud can be put over the steel pipe which should help hold it in position. Need to get some photographs up here!
Photo of the microinverter mounted to the PV panel:
When all of these are connected to the grid, the total will be 33 panels.
June 11, 2019 update. The panels have been moved from the cattle trailer area and are now tied to the hitching rail. 12 of the 14 panels are hooked to the 240 vac, but the other two are waiting for more cable which was shipped this morning. It has been overcast all day, with light drizzle now and then, but still getting several amps added to the 240 vac line in the barn.
August 17, 2019
The hitching post rail now has 18 panels producing power during this drought and heat wave. Day after day over 100° F, with the Mini-Split running almost all day, and several electric car charging sessions, and it (in combination with the other panels located on the house circuit) is still exporting a small amount of power to the grid. I believe I can add 3 more panels at 90° to this array to collect more of the early morning sun, which will flatten out the power curve. This is how it looks now:
Gracias!
ReplyDeleteIt seems photos directly posted to Blogger have limited resolution. Ones linked to photos.google seem to have full resolution. Of course, you can not see the photos.google photos as part of the post.
As I understand, you now have at least 6 extra M215s. And no extra panels.
For that cluster of six panels, eight 3 phase drops should work.