Dirty vs Clean Solar Panels | Testing Power Output Loss
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
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I wanted to run a side-by-side comparison between a clean solar panel and a dirty solar panel. My question was associated with power loss and over time how much less energy would be produced by the dirty panel as compared to the clean panel.
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So many TH-camrs and influencers give false and dangerous information but not you. Thank you for sharing responsibly and giving the consumer the best options to maximize energy by hiring a professional solar panel cleaner.
Very reflective substances like white flour will keep the dirty panel cooler, keeping the panel efficiency higher. It would be interesting to repeat the test with darker dust or dirt.
Good point and thanks for the feedback!
Good video! Here in the Arizona desert, a lot of people use 16% degradation as a worst-case loss, due to film, dust, and bird poop. We use a high number, because we get a few dust storms every year, plus dirt devils kick up a lot of dust too. When panels are dirty, they may not put out full voltage, so designing for a little extra voltage headroom helps startup.
I gain about 15 % more output when I clean my panels. I just wet the panels, use Dawn in a car wash soap sprayer and rinse.
Thanks for the feedback!
I'm astonished that the dirty panel produced that much power. I'm the type of guy who would simply by one extra panel for my array of 12 panels so I didn't have to clean it as often.
I was actually impressed as well. One of the viewers did mention that the white powder might have lowered the panel temperature which does help generate a bit more power which could have helped close the gap a bit.
Where I am in Arizona - totally off grid - I see an almost negligible difference between clean and not fully clean panels. Granted, my panels are off the ground and there is no trees around them for pollen, but they certainly get that light layer of grime/dust. I’ve stopped cleaning them as I might see a 1-3% change at most.
Thanks for the feedback!
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perfect job and explanation, Thank you.
Thanks for the feedback!
Good info.
I wonder if car detailing products such as wax or ceramic coating would benefit the surface of solar panels.
Maybe, but it might void warranty on panels.
Might be an interesting experiment 🤔
I put rain-x on a few. I haven't measured the power diff, but the bird 💩 was easier to clean
I use car wash n wax on my panels every 6 months and its made a great difference for me, especially noticed that simple rain washes absolutely everything off as does the garden hose. Much less effort to clean.
I discovered this being beneficial after washing my landcruiser and its solar panel, the wax made a great difference the next time i had to clean it
We live where it doesn’t rain for months and seeing dust, etc on my roof mount panels makes me crazy. But upon cleaning a few panels the panel monitor shows zero difference between the cleaned and dirty panels. No particular conclusion at this point other than visible contamination doesn’t necessarily translate to measurable performance degradation. Still makes me crazy though and might explain why the long established company I had do my design and installation doesn’t have a cleaning interval recommendation.
I have 2 200watt renogy solar suitcases and one all ways makes 1 or 2 ah more than the other. Need to hook up a meter and just clean the dirty one to really see the difference 😮
While PV panels generate energy through the absorption of visible light (mostly), the type of contaminants determine the losses. Because of that, the appearance is not necessarily an indicator of the amount of loss. However the cost of the lost energy must consider the (commercial) cost of cleaning the panels. Numerous tests have shown that cleaning the panels on a regular basis is not cost effective in this scenario, unless it's in an area of high fall out.
New Solar Panel owner here, but not turned on yet. I assume rain is enough to wash panels , so if you have enough days of rain, you should be good?? I live in VA and we do have enough rain, but every so often, like this Spring, we get many days with no rain and a good dusting of pollen. I wasn't thinking about having to wash my panels until this past Spring and seeing this video. Thanks.
I think each region is different and you are right it depends on the frequency of rain but also what type of particles (pollen, dust, etc.) are floating around in the air. You can keep an eye on them and you might only need a cleaning every other year. In areas like California there is a fairly mature network of companies that just wash panels so a pretty easy thing to hire out but In VA that might not be the case.
It will vary from area to area. It is probably worth giving your panels a clean and seeing if it makes a difference.
I live in Golden Valley, AZ. We get some blowing dust and when it rain sometimes the panels get an extra coating of dust/dirt. My panels are on ground based arrays. So, I can clean them easily. I'm going to clean them today or tomorrow because this video reminded me to take a look at them
So I bought a Vtoman 1800 with extra battery, giving me 3000watt hour of power, in case of power outage. I bought a 100watt solar panel. Can I use it through my home window as I live in a cold climate ? Thanks
OK, based upon your data I would say that washing panels once per month is OK..and that is why the big panel farms are not that worried about it, saying use biggest watt panels and do not worry
Yeah, some areas might be once a month. In Illinois we are a couple times per year in addition to clearing off snow if a storm passes through.
Wouldn't the MPPT working to maximize power cause fluctuations in watts incoming at any given moment? If so, measuring the watts at a point in time, risks being inaccurate compared to measuring the total power generated over a decent amount of time. What I mean is that if you measure at a time that just happens to be a short term dip on one panel/MPPT, and a moment later, measure a short term peak on the other panel/MPPT, then you're comparing apples with oranges.
Valid point for sure. I think if I could run the test across say 6 hours or even multiple days ensuring both panels are away from any variability in shading as the sun moves across the sky then the battery percent increase would be a better apples to apples comparison. Maybe we need a round 2 in the future 🤔
With a high quality mppt the dips should only be a fraction of a second.
@@cccmmm1234 I don't think that's true. The systems I've built, using components from various brands including Victron, the power is constantly fluctuating. Not to mention sunlight is not constant either.
@@ripplesandleaves Yes, there will be fluctuations from incoming solar illumination. This is more varied than one would expect. I have never looked at Victron internals, but it could be that, like many products, they do not deserve their status.
From an electrical design and control perspective, I would expect an MPPT to stay within a Watt of peak output. Ie the voltage should fluctuate less than a quarter of a volt.
A high quality MPPT should find the peak within a couple of seconds then track the peak extremely quickly -ie respond to changes well within a second.
@@cccmmm1234 Or, this is normal behaviour for MPPTs, and you learned something you didn't know Which is totally OK and doesn't diminish you. I find learning something new delightful, for what little that's worth. 🙂
How about demonstrating that the panels are equal in output when both clean before demonstrating a delta due to dirt.
Thanks for the feedback!
He did test that on the cooling test and they were identical. It would be good to verify that before every test.
Once when my panels were being installed one of them was propped up against a wall. When I walked by I hit just the right angle and was blinded by the sun reflecting off the panel. Later I got to thinking: that light in my eyes was sunlight that was not reaching the cells! So I wonder: is a nice pristine shiny panel really the best thing?
You tests do show a degradation, but it isn't as much as I would have thought. Maybe it was partly offset by the diminished reflections off the glass? After all, the light does not have to be focussed, the dirt might just diffuse the light and that is all that is needed.
Looks like you are shadowing part of the dirty panel.
I find by running the garden sprinkler on my panels I can easily gain 10%
Sounds like my next test right there! Thanks for the idea!
@@everydaysolar looking forward to it!
6% loss every day is a big difference
Definitely worth cleaning 👍
It is and it isn’t.
LMAO thats not the usual dirtiness a panel will experience on roof or mounted anywhere. I live in desert and the panels get dirty they get washed by rain they get dirty and washed by rain... I do not clean them at all now since i discovered the highest difference i ever got was 3% reduction.
I’m not buying this argument yet. Solar panels of same make and model have different outputs. No two are exactly alike. Until you know a clean panel’s baseline output, these results with the dirty panel are meaningless.
So, side by side and both clean, what are the output differences? If by chance, they produce the same results or close to the same, then I believe your results with one of the panels dirty.
If they don’t produce the same or near the same results, then more study is required.
I’d recommend you rerun this experiment and let the results of two clean panels be your control. Then do the dirty part!