Anyone with good cleaning tips?

[Ian S]

Update:

S.P. Monitor still has holes in data of the type Ian may be familiar with from what he's written.
I'd expect resolution by morning. 01/15/2014. (?)

Odd, I've had no hiccups in the SP monitoring data in months. Different servers perhaps? Any missing data has always turned up once things were back to normal.

[J.P.M.]

Odd, I've had no hiccups in the SP monitoring data in months. Different servers perhaps? Any missing data has always turned up once things were back to normal.

Mine seems to hiccup 1X-2X/day. I send e-mails and no response. Missing data usually shows up next morning. Monitor seems of little use for real time data. It's always at least 20 min. behind even when working. Maybe I'll start walking up the chain of command. If no satisfaction, I'll scrap the S.P. monitor and bad mouth it if anyone asks.

[J.P.M.]

i should add that if it weren't so early in our solar life, i don't know if i'd care. i find myself trying to save energy (like turning off lights even if i leave the room for a few minutes and come back) after getting solar, which is ironic given that i didn't do that before. i'm obsessed with getting "negative" use days which is more entertaining than useful

we are way over production for December (about 40% more than expected) and on pace to go way over for January too, so i guess i shouldn't worry so much. i have a neighbor who has had her panels for 5 years and said they never even touch them and it's fine. so i suppose that is what i'll end up doing in another year.

but our big array is right over the garage and it's just very noticeable when you pull up to the house and see how dirty it is. i don't think i could help but hose them off. who knew that my grey-brown concrete tiles hid dirt so well?

This may be an example of: "if you want to get better at something measure it often". It raises the visibility in your mind. Like weighing yourself every day to lose weight. Read your meter every day at the same time. record the reading. I bet your usage will decrease.

[silversaver]

Not sure about SP monitoring, but my Locus report instantaneous output update every 5 min, power generated every 30 min.

I have compare my Locus monitoring with another SP monitoring under kiosk mode, it seems like SP report every 15 min or sometimes every 30 min.

[inetdog]

Not sure about SP monitoring, but my Locus report instantaneous output update every 5 min, power generated every 30 min.

I have compare my Locus monitoring with another SP monitoring under kiosk mode, it seems like SP report every 15 min or sometimes every 30 min.

If the boxes do not contain much storage for information, then some of the data accumulated while the servers are down may be permanently lost.
If the web server side is down but the data server side is up, then you will probably be able to see the historical data once the web side is back up.

And of course if the database itself crashes, there may be some permanent data loss, depending on how good the application design is.

[Ian S]

Mine seems to hiccup 1X-2X/day. I send e-mails and no response. Missing data usually shows up next morning. Monitor seems of little use for real time data. It's always at least 20 min. behind even when working. Maybe I'll start walking up the chain of command. If no satisfaction, I'll scrap the S.P. monitor and bad mouth it if anyone asks.

Mine used to be 20 minutes behind but recently, it been less than 10 minutes behind. I can count on one hand the times data's been "lost" over the last year and a half. Worst was when it went for half a day but all the data was recovered by the next day. I wish they'd update their Android app: it doesn't play well with Jelly Bean. It crashes if you try to load previous days' data. Works fine on Gingerbread which I still have on my phone.

[J.P.M.]

Mine used to be 20 minutes behind but recently, it been less than 10 minutes behind. I can count on one hand the times data's been "lost" over the last year and a half. Worst was when it went for half a day but all the data was recovered by the next day. I wish they'd update their Android app: it doesn't play well with Jelly Bean. It crashes if you try to load previous days' data. Works fine on Gingerbread which I still have on my phone.

It sent off another e-mail. Will report what happens, if anything. More of a PITA & sloppy than anything. Thanx for the info.

[bando]

JPM- for what it's worth, here are my last four days since cleaning. You are right about yesterday being slightly less productive (it seemed to be a little foggier in the early AM that day and mild Santa Ana winds):

1/12 50.14
1/13 50.68
1/14 50.00
1/15 50.79

[J.P.M.]

JPM- for what it's worth, here are my last four days since cleaning. You are right about yesterday being slightly less productive (it seemed to be a little foggier in the early AM that day and mild Santa Ana winds):

1/12 50.14
1/13 50.68
1/14 50.00
1/15 50.79

I'm still fooling w/ the data. Nothing firm yet. I'm comparing my 01/13 "dirty" array and 01/14 "cleaned" array. My output went from 23.88 kWhrs. to 24.19 kWhrs. day/day, 01/13 to 01/14/2014. But, the amount of horizontal irradiance as measured/recorded was nearly identical both days, a bit more on the 14th as measured on a horizontal surf., and a bit more on the array on the 14th when adjusted for the array surface orientation and slight changes day/day in the solar incidence angles by something like the increase in output. The 14th was warmer and windier than the 13th and those things need to be considered, one tending to decrease output, the other perhaps (probably ?) tending to increase output. The takeaway for now is that my cleaning experiment has resulted in a visually cleaner array, but I'm not sure I can quantify the benefits, if any, YET. The differences may be too small to quantify as they may be lost in the mud of the rest of the variables. Sometimes things like this have some similarities to separating fly crap from pepper. Stay tuned.

[J.P.M.]

JPM- for what it's worth, here are my last four days since cleaning. You are right about yesterday being slightly less productive (it seemed to be a little foggier in the early AM that day and mild Santa Ana winds):

1/12 50.14
1/13 50.68
1/14 50.00
1/15 50.79

Further to all this cleaning stuff and not directly related - I JUST HAPPENED TO NOTICE:

1.) Bando's output seems to be a somewhat constant multiple of J.P.M.'s (mine), at least on clear days, something like 2.1 times J.P.M.'s, +/- a bit, at least for 3 consecutive, mostly clear days, with nearly identical irradiance.

2.) Bando has an 11.76 kW system, non Sunpower.
J.P.M. has a 5.32 kW system, Sunpower.
therefore,Bando's size is 2.21 times J.P.M.'s

3.) Bando has split array with 2 off south orientations.
J.P.M has 1 array 195 az., 18.5 deg. tilt.
Looks like both have some late afternoon winter shading.

4.) I'd suggest from the above if Bando's orientation were the same as J.P.M.'s, that Bando's output per installed kW might be about the same as J.P.M.'s.

Perhaps this is anecdotal, but it seems to lend some support to my opinion that any well made system using decent panels will probably perform close to or about as well as a Sunpower system, probably for a lot less money.

I maintain that Sunpower's good stuff and perhaps necessary if space constrained, but if not perhaps not as cost effective by far when compared to other quality systems that will likely last as long or longer than the owner will be in the house.

I'm just sayin' ya' know ??

[Mike90250]

I spray mine down early AM, with plain water and jet stream nozzle. I do it while the overnight dew is still on them.

If you have hard water, the Mr Clean Car Wash Kit has a DI rinse cartridge, but not much pressure for distance.

[Volusiano]

I spray mine down early AM, with plain water and jet stream nozzle. I do it while the overnight dew is still on them.

If you have hard water, the Mr Clean Car Wash Kit has a DI rinse cartridge, but not much pressure for distance.

Good point that cleaning should be done when the panels are still cool enough.

I used to use Mr Clean car wash kit to wash my car and rinse with the DI cartridge. I think they've discontinued selling it for a while now. You'd have to position the nozzle about an inch away from the surface because the spray is very weak in a vertical line (to conserve the DI life).

[frizzlefry]

I'll have to go find the research and analysis and was done on panel cleaning but I believe it was on the order of 1% or less difference on production numbers in the long run. I definitely don't plan on hiring someone to clean the panels as it just extends the ROI time frame but if there's excessive ashes, and no rain in sight, I may be inclined to hop on the roof with a hose. But so far from what I can tell, my max output hasn't changed much over the past couple of weeks. 34-36kWh per day for the high output days. Im not going to sweat even 100-200kWh difference in a year. That would be around $13-26/yr.

[silversaver]

very nice point. Just got myself a 22' Werner alum multi-position ladder from Home Depot that should take care the access to roof.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Werner-22-ft-Aluminum-Telescoping-Multi-position-Ladder-300-lb-Load-Capacity-Type-IA-Duty-Rating-MT-22/100658955

I should be able to reach all the panels on the roof with brass nozzle, but the water is coming from hard water garden hose. I'll try to connec to the hose that were through water softener from home, hope I have enough water pressure to reach the top of my roof from side of house. I don't really want to walk on the roof.....

[bcroe]

Washing Panels

All this talk of washing panels is scaring me. Sure single panel/micro converters don't generate
much potential. But my strings run 360 to 410 VDC. The only thing between that and everything
else is a thin layer of transparent insulation, and the hopefully waterproof wiring insulation. Just
one slip & fall into a panel could connect you to it. Water in the picture just multiplies the risk.

Mostly relying on rain for cleaning here in ILL. There is a LONG poled brush, but the whole length
of it is made out of insulating material, not metal. And no ladder involved. Bruce Roe