In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Bluetti AC500 w/B300K battery for our home backup/supplement system install and review

Discussion in 'Everything Else (off topic)' started by jtakeman, Feb 21, 2025.

  1. bogieb

    bogieb

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    Smoke haze can definitely affect solar gathering. Yesterday, with not a cloud in the sky but visible smoke haze, my rooftop solar produced 43.3 kwh. The day before, with partly cloudy conditions, I pulled in 45.8 kwh. The difference would have been more except that in the afternoon, I'd say about 2-ish, the the majority of the smoke haze was pushed out.
     
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  2. Earl764

    Earl764

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    I’ve been looking at n-type panels that are meant to be better with shading and cloud conditions.

    Have been using the portable panels I initially bought. They work well enough but want to get a panel rated for permanent outdoor installations. Have been positioning my panels in different places in the yard to gauge performance.
     
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  3. jtakeman

    jtakeman Moderator

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    June stats. Still haven't put up more panels. Taxes were more than expected this year and some of the kitty took a hit. Maybe next month??

    Screenshot_20250701-101643.png


    Screenshot_20250701-101752.png
     
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  4. jtakeman

    jtakeman Moderator

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    Finally getting some early sun. Over a week with overcast in the am killed the solar. I could barely get 2kw gathered. Yesterday was the first day in more than a week I gained the 4kw+ I was used to getting. Gonna kill the total for July for sure!!
     
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  5. bogieb

    bogieb

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    The struggle is real with consistently cloudy skies!
     
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  6. Earl764

    Earl764

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    how much have you played with the panels being in series vs. parallel?

    for my setup the docs read as if parallel was the better choice, but series increased my actual input and general production.
     
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  7. jtakeman

    jtakeman Moderator

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    I have mine in series also. Higher voltage with lower amps than parallel. My wire to the house is long and the higher amps was causing to much heat and I was afraid I was going to burn up the connectors. Plus the MC4 connectors are only rated for 20 amps. Parallel the amps were getting pretty close to 25 amps. Series the amps have been cut in half. I've only seen 12 amps at the peek. A bit less worried about melting components now.
     
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  8. T.Jeff Veal

    T.Jeff Veal

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    Nice engineering
     
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  9. bogieb

    bogieb

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    Series is really dependent on circumstances: If one panel will get more shade than another, parallel will keep that shaded panel from dragging down the production. But, if they are next to each other, facing the same way and not over VOC, the series is generally thought of as better from what I've gathered.
     
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  10. jtakeman

    jtakeman Moderator

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    The latest panels have better shade features. With built in diodes that keeps the back flow from the cell in shade from drawing down the others. They also have diodes that can be installed between the panels, Basically an MC4 inline connector with a diode in it.