De-Icer?

[Sharich]

Living in the Great North East, we have snow. Last winter I had a couple of weeks that I couldn't use my solar due to the snow.
At 70+ I don't see me getting out a ladder and shoveling off the panels. I was thinking of using my pump crop sprayer with car windshield deicer to clear the panels, the spray reaches.
Would this harm the glass?
Sharich

[russ]

The deicer solution needs to be guaranteed to not damage the surface or seals of the panels. For example - Rain-X says they have not tested their solution on solar panels so refuse to comment.

[Sharich]

De-Icer

Thanks', any other thoughts?

[mapmaker]

Thanks', any other thoughts?

The engineers over at Midnite have played around with pumping power back into the panels to heat them up. There are a few discussions on their forum. It does work. It doesn't seem to have caught on in the industry. Maybe its not cost effective... Perhaps we need a govt program to stimulate the panel warming industry

--mapmaker

[Sunking]

The engineers over at Midnite have played around with pumping power back into the panels to heat them up. There are a few discussions on their forum. It does work. It doesn't seem to have caught on in the industry. Maybe its not cost effective... Perhaps we need a govt program to stimulate the panel warming industry

Solar panels can generate power, or use power. Trick is if you want to heat them takes a DC source with a voltage that matches the array DC voltage. Not easy to pull off.

[Shockah]

Maybe its not cost effective... Perhaps we need a govt program to stimulate the panel warming industry

--mapmaker

hehe...

[bcroe]

Living in the Great North East, we have snow. Last winter I had a couple of weeks that I couldn't use my solar due to the snow. At 70+ I don't see me getting out a ladder and shoveling off the panels. I was thinking of using my pump crop sprayer with car windshield deicer to clear the panels, the spray reaches. Would this harm the glass? Sharich

Exactly the same in northern IL, except I had to clear the panels about 20 times
(just at sunrise) to keep the power flowing. Next time I'll try setting them more
vertical, but that won't be a complete cure. Much easier with a ground mount.

I hope to run the snow melting experiment next time, but at the least it will take
a lot of power. My first guess is 3KW DC will let me melt 1 string of the same
size, then go to the next string. Next year.......

Do keep in mind, your panels may run at dangerous voltage. My snow scraper is
11' of insulated pole. Bruce Roe

[Mike90250]

... My snow scraper is 11' of insulated pole. Bruce Roe

Is that wet, insulated pole ?

[SunEagle]

The engineers over at Midnite have played around with pumping power back into the panels to heat them up. There are a few discussions on their forum. It does work. It doesn't seem to have caught on in the industry. Maybe its not cost effective... Perhaps we need a govt program to stimulate the panel warming industry

--mapmaker

Wait. Didn't those solar roadway panels in that "Freakin Video" have heaters in them to keep the snow off. Didn't the government help fund that research?

[bcroe]

Is that wet, insulated pole ?

At 20 below zero, no they weren't wet. Keep in mind, pure water is
a decent insulator, but with a low breakdown voltage. Bruce