My Solar Panel Performance

[GavinSV]

Hi All,
Thought I'd post this graph of my solar panels performance for the past week since it makes an interesting comparison of sunny days versus cloudy days. I'm in Adelaide and the start of the week has been F@#$ken hot and sunny and this is clearly reflected at the start of the graph. However yesterday was quite cloudy and overcast and as can be seen in the graph, the panels produced barely enough to power a light bulb.

The pink shaded area represents the predicted output and the blue lines represent the actual output and is updated at 15min intervals

[gordon_s1942]

For a brief period last year I had a Weather Station that recorded UV radiation and it was interesting to see the printout like GavinSV shows how on a Clear day it literally hits the top almost straight after Sunrise and stays there until the last hour or so before sunset.
Of course this would vary if your panel was either fixed or tracking the Sun which is the optimum of course..
What I would like to see is a graph that somehow records the density of the cloud cover and how it reduces the absorption of the Sun's energy by the Panels.
I must say I like the graphs 'predictions' regarding the Sun's energy as the weather never repeats itself in a usable manner.
I use Christmas Day here in the NSW Blue Mountains for example, back in the late 50's early 60's, we had a shocking cold front pass through and it bloody SNOWED, then we has a succession of blistering heat or like last Xmas Day, cool misty rain.
I do totally support the use of Solar Panels but I believe their use has been blown out of all proportion and people have been deliberately misled by promising them benefits that cannot be achieved.

[leginau]

i live off grid, but i use 80w 1amp panels witch work to my advantage. I dont get high output but i get power in low light and i plan my power usage.7 days of rain kill s me

[gordon_s1942]

i live off grid, but i use 80w 1amp panels witch work to my advantage. I dont get high output but i get power in low light and i plan my power usage.7 days of rain kill s me

That is totally understandable and for those like yourself, you have to go for the Max in everything (Panels and Batteries) to accommodate just such occurrences or have a good generator which in a way defeats the whole idea of having Solar, doesnt it !!
I dont know how Mist and Fog (both different) affect the collection of energy from the Sun but in extreme cases, I have seen it last for many days at a time here.
Late one January years ago we had about 5 weeks that varied from a dull grey overcast to a ground hugging Fog or Mist, the only difference between the 2 was in a Fog there was little moisture to wet you or the ground.
I havent seen it as bad since but with Nature, it keeps to no timetable.

[leginau]

on a cold misty day when the sun break through you get very high amps as panels are cold,but with no light you get zip.i would love some lithium batteries.