Cleaning solar panels

[alano]

I'm in the process of adding a remote panel in addition to the 2 flexible panels already glued to the top of the camper. I'm parked in mostly shade beside the house and I wanted a base line of what kind of amps are feeding into the batteries so I checked the charge controller and was disappointed to find only 4.1 amps at 12.8 V (been running the fridge and it was quite hot yesterday).

I've had wiring trouble that I thought I fixed so I got my amp-meter out and both panels were pumping out about 2 amps. I noticed that the panels were pretty dusty and had an artistic amount of guano applied so I brushed them off and then rinsed them with plain water using a Handiwipe. Checked the meter again and found 4.5 - 4.4 amps. That's almost 10% improvement. Of course atmospheric conditions might have played a part and I'll have to wait a while to repeat but I wonder if others have cleaned their panels and noted an improvement in performance.

Alan

 

[Ted]

On my Baja trip in March my batteries were struggling to keep a charge while running the fridge. Tested everything and the panels seemed to be working. Next trip was even warmer but the truck and camper, including solar panels, were much cleaner. Had a nice charge at all times. So it appears all the Baja dust really cut down on the efficiency of the panels. Sounds like your experience is similar

 

[wuck]

I've rinsed mine and seen the increase, but I wonder how tough they are. I've seen shattered windshields from cold water on a hot day. It seems like that dark cell surface can get quite toasty. Be careful out there!

 

[ski3pin]

I've rinsed mine and seen the increase, but I wonder how tough they are. I've seen shattered windshields from cold water on a hot day. It seems like that dark cell surface can get quite toasty. Be careful out there!

This was my concern when initially considering hanging a solar panel on our camper roof. We know several folks who staff mountain top lookouts and folks who set up and maintain radio communication sites on mountain tops. These same mountaintops now have solar panel arrays to power the equipment. These are exposed to some of the harshest extremes in temperature and weather and storms and the panels are holding up. This is why I went solar and used a traditional panel.

This is how I clean our windshield and solar panel -

How to super clean your windshield

the rainx really helps keep the panel clean and slick

 

[PaulT]

Solar panels designed for RV roof tops must be able to withstand hours of driving in the hot sun then being doused by a thunderstorm possibly containing hail. Most likely, many of them are covered with Corning Gorilla Glass like your smart phone and possibly your large screen flat panel TV. There shouldn't be a problem using that warm sudsy water required to remove that tasty mix of sap, bugs, bird droppings, and Baja dust.

Do you worry about squirting cool water on your windshield with the windshield washer? Now pouring boiling water on a frozen windshield at zero deg F may be a different animal. Delta temp matters..

Paul

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Mr. 3Pin, very good information! Thanks for sharing!

 

[MarkBC]

This is interesting...but a 10%-effect shouldn't be a make-or-break effect, unless the panels are sized to be just barely big enough for the camper's needs under ideal conditions. And if that was the case, the panels would be way inadequate under non-ideal conditions: on a cloudy day and at times of the year when the sun was lower in the sky -- situations in which the drop in insolation can be a lot more than 10%.

I could imagine a situation, though, when in a full-on dust/sand storm the panels become covered opaquely -- then it could be a significant -- maybe crippling -- effect.

In my own experience I've found that several inches of snow on my panels had a big effect on the power output -- like, it dropped it to almost zero.

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I don't think the hazard, if any, to solar panels on an RV is "weather" falling from the sky. Solar panels are designed to be outside in all weather -- blazing sun and driving rain and hail -- year round. People in the midwest hail states have solar panels.
I might worry about low-hanging limbs on narrow roads hitting my roof-mounted panels...or rocks falling off a slope as I drove by -- if I was the worrying type.

 

[Lighthawk]

Thanks for the info. I've been thinking I should give my PV panel a cleaning. I'll give the steel wool and Rain-X a try.

Mr. 3Pin, very good information! Thanks for sharing!