Is There A Difference In Solar Panels?
© Copyright 1993 By Charlie Collins From
"Ask Mr. Solar" Column Published 1/31/93 Daily Spectrum
Question:As you know we recently upgraded our solar electric panels to
American made ones. We were very surprised in the difference in power and wonder why.
Joe Priest, Kolob
Mr. Solar: Joe, each type of solar electric panel is manufactured for a
specific purpose. Some are engineered for trickle charging a car battery and others
are made especially for alkaline batteries. As I am sure you are aware there is
quite a difference in the float voltage for the different batteries and therefore
you will need solar panels that are compatible to the batteries that you have. In
other words you will need a proper balance between the batteries and the solar
electric panels. It is possible to have larger than needed power for lead acid
batteries and then use the same panels for alkaline batteries. However the reverse
is not good. This is why it is so very important to use the proper building blocks.
The major difference is the voltage at which they will charge. You see lead acid
batteries will only take 14 volts and more will harm them. If you use a higher
voltage battery such as an alkaline then you must have a higher voltage panel.
As you are aware we recently replaced your Kyocera panels with the UL approved
American made Siemens ones. As you will recall your Kyocera panels were producing
3.5 amps and to your surprise the Siemens immediately started producing 4.5 amps
each. This is an increase of approximately 130%. This was done at your home in
Kolob using the same batteries and solar electric tracker. In addition to the
increase amperage you also noticed that you are able to charge your batteries
at a full level rather than only partly.
As we have pointed out to our readers at times it is more expensive to buy cheap
imported products than high quality American made ones. As you have learned from
the change in your system the American Made ones actually produced much more and
therefore are much more economical even at a higher price than the ones which are
made in Japan.
Solar Equipment Problems - Suitcase Salesman
© Copyright 1992 By Charlie Collins From
"Ask Mr. Solar" Column Published 7/26/92 Daily Spectrum
Question:
We purchased a system from a local dealer and realized that the equipment that
we bought wound not do the job as promised. We soon discovered that others
that had purchased form this dealer were also unhappy. Will you please help
us straighten out our mess?
Tom Cheney, Parowan, UT.
Mr. Solar: Tom, we are very sorry to hear of your problems with your solar
electric system. We are quite distressed with your letter and the apparent distress
that you are having with your system. The problem that you are having has been a major
problem with solar electric systems in the past. There are a few "salesman or dealers"
who will take advantage of unaware customers and fleece them. This is true in any
business, but in time they are usually weeded out. As I am sure you are aware of
the old saying "one rotten apple in a box will destroy the whole box". Well Tom
that apparently happened in this case. We are truly sorry for your experience.
We would be happy for you to visit the Do It Homestead and learn first hand how we
feel a solar electric system should be installed. You will see a dependable system
correctly designed with all the proper building blocks. When a solar user uses
these components and connects them correctly with the proper size wires and fuses
as well as switches then the user can expect years of trouble free service.
After you have visited us then we will be happy to go with you and make any
suggestions we feel proper to get your system up to code and on line. We do hope
that we will be able to work this out and that you will enjoy all of the benefits
of a clean trouble free solar electric system.
Whenever you or your friends desire to have a solar electric system we hope that
they would contact a solar professional who actually lives on solar electricity.
They should then visit them and see for themselves how their system is hooked
up and what fuses as well as other safe guards they have. If they wish to learn
more about the dealer they are planning to work with they should contact the local
building inspector to learn what they know about that person.
Tom installing a solar electric system needs to be done only by someone that
completely understands solar electricity. If you or your friends use a con artist
than you will probity get brunt. Our main concern is that our friends in Southern
Utah enjoy all the benefits of solar electricity without the pitfalls of dealing
with people who don't realize and know how a total system should operate.
Can you repair Solar equipment?
© Copyright 1993 By Charlie Collins From
"Ask Mr. Solar" Column Published 2/21/93 Daily Spectrum
Question: What is the life span of the Solar equipment, and can
it be easily repaired or replaced?
Jim Henning - Virgin, Utah
Mr. Solar: Jim,Solar equipment life spans varies with the components of
which there are three major parts in a system:
1- solar cells,
2- batteries, and
3- inverters.
Jim, we really do not know the life span of solar cells. As you will recall, NASA
has had some powering satellites since the 1950's and they are still working in space.
There are many manufactures of solar panels all over the world and they guarantee them
for at least 10 years, some for 12 years. Their guarantee states that if a panel fails
to produce 90% of it's rated power any time before that time period they will replace
it, it is not prorated. This is very straight forward, as there are no moving parts in
the panel; therefore nothing to wear out. In time, 40 - 50 years perhaps, the cells
would decrease the amount of electricity they are producing and one would either
need to add more to regain the loss or use less power.
As far as batteries are concerned, this is the weakest link in any solar system as
they detonate over a much shorter time period. The best advice that I can give anyone
is to consider using new "pocket plate" nickel cadmium batteries because they do not
have the memory that lead acid ones do. Industrial Lead acid batteries life span is
approximately 5 to 7 years on a straight line deterioration and have to be replaced.
There is no way that you can recondition a lead acid battery. The reconditioned
Ni-Cad batteries which come with a one year warrantee and do not have a memory
means that you can recondition them at any time you wish. There are some that
have been in use now for over 50 years. The major problem with them is the cost.
They are quite a bit more expensive than lead acid, but in the long run they are
well worth the difference in cost, as they last 3 to 4 times longer.
The inverters are the other major cost of a solar system and with the advances in
technology the ones of today have come quite a long way. However, like any electronic
piece of equipment, they can fail. I would recommend that you buy one from a large
manufacturer who stands behind his work. I would recommend that you look at all of
them and decide which is best for you. All inverters can be repaired at the factory,
and I would like to say, that all of the manufacturers are very easy to work with and
wish to have happy customers. Jim if you or any of your friends are having a problem
with any of your solar equipment, please drop us a note explaining in detail what
your problem is along with a SASE and we will be glad to give you our opinion on
what action we feel that you should take. Our concern is that all users of solar
electricity be happy and fully understand their system so that solar will not get
a bad rap which it does not deserve.
Dear Mr. Solar -
We are building a resort here in Ecuador, South America over looking the ocean. We want to use solar in our cabins to power the lights and fans. We have a salt spray from the ocean and are wondering what effect this will have on the solar panel racks. Would you please check into this and let us know what precaution that we should take for this equipment to last a long time.
Thank you, Patricio Tamariz
Hello Mr Tamariz
I checked with Solarex in regards to their structure and this is what they said:
"..... while some pitting of our frame will occur in a salt air
environment, the pitting will not be significant enough to affect the
module's performance (mechanical loading as specified by the CEC 503 and JPL Block V standards) during its warranty period (10 years for VLX-53, 20 years for MSX-53). All of our modules with aluminum frames use corrosion resistant alloys either type 6061 or 6063. These alloys will resist salt induced corrosion and the amount of material corroded away will not affect the module frame strength significantly over the warranty period."
I feel that this would be the same with all manufacturers of solar modules, however there may be a problem with the mounting structure. Most solar Racks are fabricated largely from mild steel in various forms. Since these are dissimilar metals there will be electrochemical action between the two metals in the presence of the salt water electrolyte. In this situation, the aluminum will corrode away in preference to the steel. This is the way galvanizing works and is a form of cathodic protection for the steel. Unfortunately, it could rapidly eat away the aluminum module frame in spots where contact with steel occurs. This phenomenon is why solar panel manufactures use aluminum for all of our standard module structures.
This can be avoided by electrically isolating the two metals with insulating washers, bushings, etc. but this is often difficult and requires a high level of care in installation. However this is usually not feasible and therefore I would definitely recommend that any installation in marine environment use corrosion resistant aluminum or stainless steel alloys for support structure. Please note that these need to be specifically salt water resistant as some inexpensive types of either of these materials will corrode in salt water. Aluminum will also look much better if finished with anodization. Mild steel may be OK, if it is heavily galvanized and probably painted as well.
I hope this answers your question and for practicable reasons I would purchase an aluminum rack.