Solar install turning out really bad - looking for some help/advice please.

[foo1bar]

but the panels were producing at most 255W at peak and 3 of the 16 where shaded. There shouldn't be any clipping.

3 of the panels were shaded at noon?

That just seems odd to me that you'd have shading at noon, even in winter.

I'd still look at each panel's graph for the day (or isn't that an option?)

[HX_Guy]

To me it looks like clippping.
It looks like it reaches it's max power output from ~11AM to ~1:30PM.

I'd look at each panel's power output - if you have a number of them that have similar flat-topped graphs, maybe that string is reaching it's maximum power.
Or maybe you've reached the max on your inverter. (I don't recall what size inverter you have.)

I wouldn't think shading would cause a plateau like that - I would expect shading to cause the line to be less smooth in the evening or morning. I wouldn't expect a bunch of shading at around noon. My guess is the line from ~9 to ~9:30 is showing some shading impacting your production.

I understood clipping to mean when the power output of the panels is greater than that of the optimizers/micro-inverters/inverter. None of those are (or should be) and issue in my system. My panels are 310W, the optimizers are rated to 400W and my inverter is rated to 12,000W (though only 5250W per string). I have one string of 16 panels which at 310W per panel is 4960W, but the panels were producing at most 255W at peak and 3 of the 16 where shaded. There shouldn't be any clipping.

I think as bcroe pointed out, it's the transition of not only different facing panels, but also of the shade across the panels as the sun moved across the sky.

As you can see in the day's summary of each panel, the 4 along the bottom in the middle were really affected by the shade, but so were the ones to the left and right of them. Plus you have the 11 panels facing east so as those transition out as the sun moves from east to west, but more panels that face south come "online", it creates that plateau I'm thinking?



Another reason why I don't think it's clipping is because my chart from 3 weeks ago looks pretty much the same, except the day was shorter but it still plateaus in the same fashion at a lower power output...so it couldn't have been clipping at ~7.6kW then and at 8.2kW now.

[bcroe]

Had a good production day today, just shy of 55kWh. Graph is a bit strange, normally the curve is supposed to be very smooth but mine isn't...I'm guessing it's due to the partial shading of some panels? About a month left of shading and them I'll be shade free until October.

It almost looks like clipping but I don't believe that is what's happening, or at least shouldn't be happening.



Here is a normal, non-shades curve of a considerably bigger system for comparison (16.0kW).

Don't forget, when you have panels facing different directions, there will be time that
one group in increasing but another is decreasing. That might relate to the curve.

Big clouds today, you made a lot more power than me. Bruce Roe

[foo1bar]

It almost looks like clipping but I don't believe that is what's happening, or at least shouldn't be happening.

To me it looks like clippping.
It looks like it reaches it's max power output from ~11AM to ~1:30PM.

I'd look at each panel's power output - if you have a number of them that have similar flat-topped graphs, maybe that string is reaching it's maximum power.
Or maybe you've reached the max on your inverter. (I don't recall what size inverter you have.)

I wouldn't think shading would cause a plateau like that - I would expect shading to cause the line to be less smooth in the evening or morning. I wouldn't expect a bunch of shading at around noon. My guess is the line from ~9 to ~9:30 is showing some shading impacting your production.

[Alisobob]

solar53.JPG

My output is so different from the "normal" graph you posted... Mine basically plateaus from 11am to 1:15 pm , kinda' like yours. But I have zero shade issues.

Perhaps its the way your style graphs are condensed into a shorter timeline.

...weird.

I'm glad you got everything recrimped.

I was worried about that.....

[HX_Guy]

Had a good production day today, just shy of 55kWh. Graph is a bit strange, normally the curve is supposed to be very smooth but mine isn't...I'm guessing it's due to the partial shading of some panels? About a month left of shading and them I'll be shade free until October.

It almost looks like clipping but I don't believe that is what's happening, or at least shouldn't be happening.



Here is a normal, non-shades curve of a considerably bigger system for comparison (16.0kW).

[HX_Guy]

Today *should* be the last day on the roof for this project. Buttoned up everything, even did a couple things I wasn't planning on but figured what the hell while I was up there.

First started out by painting the conduit on the side of the house, came out looking pretty good...


This was the before...


Next I redid all the MC4 connectors on the roof. As expected, every single one of them was bad in varying degrees. This was probably the worse, cable pulled right out with no effort.


After that I moved the top row of panels over a few inches so they lined up nicely with the bottom.
Mainly for aesthetics but also to cover up the wiring at the combiner box better.

Before...




After...



Leaves me with the perfect amount of space for a future extra panel on the upper left side too.




Painted all the visible parts of the aluminum mount covers. Mainly to stop the refection from the sun...it was like a mirror up there and the heat reflected back was crazy (heat is not good for solar panels, it actually lowers their power output).


Repositioned the conduit on the roof so it sits higher off the roof, and painted it.


And finally, bought a nice big dust mop to clean off the panels. They got pretty dusty in the past month (as you can see on the left side of the panel being cleaned) and I want them super clean for tomorrow's production "test".


Here's to hoping inspection passes on Monday!!!

[alienwulf]

I'am not trying to poke or take enjoyment only not everyone wants to or are even capable of taking over and redoing all the work you have. I for one would not or could not. I made it very clear to the company I hired things would go as spelled out in the contract
or legal action would sue in a heart beat. I take my hat off to you for the work you have done and your understanding of what was involved since I believe few could or want to. Your case is far from the norm that I have seen.

[HX_Guy]

That looks great! Now put those plastic nuts on pretty tightly and you are done.
Seems like the ones I saw before had a pretty wide gap between parts. Bruce Roe

Yeah I'm pretty impressed with the Amazon tool, it has a very nice, smooth mechanism and the crimp is great, very very tight and secure.

The MC4 connectors I got on Amazon are also nice, the plastic nut screws on flush with the connector body for a good fit.

[HX_Guy]

We've been over this territory. I didn't intend to rub your nose in it - but to say, how can he stay in business with shoddy work like this?

I'm sorry you didn't quite cross the finish line today. I'm glad you scraped that paint off finally - that was my single tip for you in this entire episode, about a month ago.

We have been over it numerous times...and I didn't take it as in you were trying to rub my nose in it at all. Others though keep poking me about it though and honestly I don't get why, it's almost like they get an enjoyment out of things going bad for me here, maybe a certain satisfaction of "I told you so!"...like that helps anything at this point.


Hopefully Monday this will all get wrapped up, it's so very close.

[Living Large]

Hard to know his quality of work beforehand, especially after talking first hand with his pas customers who were happy with them systems.

We've been over this territory. I didn't intend to rub your nose in it - but to say, how can he stay in business with shoddy work like this?

I'm sorry you didn't quite cross the finish line today. I'm glad you scraped that paint off finally - that was my single tip for you in this entire episode, about a month ago.

[HX_Guy]

Hard to believe anyone would hire him..

Hard to know his quality of work beforehand, especially after talking first hand with his pas customers who were happy with them systems.

[silversaver]

Hard to believe anyone would hire him..

+1

guess who did?

[alienwulf]

Hard to believe anyone would hire him..

[Living Large]

Good lord how is this guy even doing work on people's homes???

So I already had the intention to redo all the plugs that he put together since I found two that were loose...never thought that every single plug he did would be garbage though!

Check this out...this was a "crimped" connection. Freaking wire looks freshly cut and like it's never been crimped ever.

This doesn't surprise you at this point, does it? I would have fully expected this based on what you've reported previously. Nice repair.

Hard to believe this guy is in business.