high output solar panels?

grizzlyj

Tea pot tester
I know a 12v panel is much more in reality. What I need to check is why the MPPT says 36v input is ok. If my 12v panels do have for instance a 20v max then the MPPT might quote a figure closer to 20v rather than the slightly odd exact figure of 36v. And a fitter suggested I connect three 12v into the 36v input, so wasn't my initial thought, I just need to check his "expert" knowledge :)
Edit so I meant I need to check if the MPPT 36v is exact or nominal
 

Trestle

Active member
To improve the efficiency of solar panels you can put a phase change material (bag with salt water) on the back.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778813001539
I would like to do something like this but I need to engineer my box and contents before I focus on improving solar performance.


On my Airstream I had 520 watts nominal of solar. We were at altitude camping up by Purgatory near Durango. A big storm rolled through, followed by sun. For about 5 minutes my panels were putting out just over 630 watts. Investigation revealed that all of the water drops beaded up on the panels, and were magnifying the intensity of the sun like a bunch of little magnifying glasses. Subsequently thought about dorking with those stick on magnifiers that let you see a wider path through the rear window of a camper. The old school ones you see from time to time. Then I got distracted on something else, and lost interest. Never got around to it.
 

aernan

Observer
that's a fun idea. Is it possible/feasible to use large fresnel lenses to beam and concentrate power onto the panels? I wonder how much the panels would heat up.
 

Coachgeo

Explorer
that's a fun idea. Is it possible/feasible to use large fresnel lenses to beam and concentrate power onto the panels? I wonder how much the panels would heat up.
way too much. I doubt it was the magnification that helped from the rain water anyway. It was most likely the bouncing of light onto the cells from so many directions via the curvature of the raindrops. This put more sunlight in more places. Also probably helped a lot that the losses due to heat were minimalized... thusly raising the efficiency a good bit.
 

aernan

Observer
I wonder if I could take some surplus water and mist it onto the back of the panels to control surface temps in hot climates.
 

Coachgeo

Explorer
I wonder if I could take some surplus water and mist it onto the back of the panels to control surface temps in hot climates.
12+ pages of discussion on that topic....... https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/foru...led-solar-panels-for-significant-output-boost

that being said..... they make cheap solar pool heaters that are essentially tube passages in a plastic blanket ... wonder if you could attach blanket to back of panels to absorb heat away... and pump water to a radiator to dispel the heat and then back up to panels? If your lucky enough to be near a stream.... thru a coolant heat exchanger laying in the water.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Wave-NS...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W9PCRXQV2DFY5EH7RMVX
 

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