DIY Solar Powered Firewood Rack From Recycled Materials Part 1: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-27RRDqZcV3Ah.htmlttps://ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-27RRDqZcV3A.html Click here for the inverter circuit diagrams, and project details on my website: projectswithdave.com/diy-off-grid-home-solar-system/ Solar Clearout- Affiliate Link: solarclearout.com/?ref=PWD Click here to see the real time monitor: projectswithdave.com/daves-off-grid-monitor/ See more projects and get my FREE Solar Financial Calculator on my website ProjectsWithDave.com: projectswithdave.com/ Vertical Bifacial Solar Panel Winter Test Result: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5AVO1IyfA9M.html
I know this video is a few months old however i do not see a link for the panel ground clip and end ground lug. That’s a real clean way to ground all the panels if you are not doing it at the super struts.😊
By connecting the ground into the house you both created a ground loop and increased the risk of your system. Your panels should be grounded at the panels directly into the ground from the combiner box. And then your internal system should also be separately grounded with no connection between the two. There’s lots of tests online for lightening and this minimizes damage while also being code and eliminating ground loop issues.
Bravo. I've been studying and learning solar for a while now. Have yet to take the plunge. But I thought your video was fantastic. I love every aspect you covered. Literally every aspect. Including your consumption and your weather pattern and choices you could be making if you were off grid. I love your style and I love your commitment. I hope others can find your work and appreciate it like i have.
OK here is an interesting thing I heard last week bifacial panels placed vertically as in totally vertical.. Then place them east west so that you get morning full sun and afternoon full sun.. hear that they produce more due to the reduced heating of the panels placed where they get much much hotter. Would love to see you put up an array like this and figure out just how much more efficient they are than the typical tilted array
I'm on it. I installed a small vertical array and started taking data right before the winter solstice and will collect data through the summer solstice to compare back to back with my 30deg mounted bifacial panels. If you are talking about the video on Undecided with Matt Ferrell, he didn't do his own testing, he is just citing results from other sources. He mostly focused on voltage differences due to temperature variation, but didn't really show any back to back performance comparison. So far my results show up to double the output in snowy conditions and somewhere around 64% of the output on a regular sunny day. I plan to show some "first look" results soon. Stay tuned!
@@ProjectsWithDave that is why I asked I saw the same video.. thought it interesting that they kept saying e/w placement.. well is that facing south or are the plane of the panels facing east and west.. This would make more sense to me as they would get full sun all but at noon, on one side of the panel or the other.
Don't forget the steeper angles also help to shed snow, my 40*ish array self cleans ~90% of the time, my 30ish degree array needs help ~80% of the time
@@ProjectsWithDaveI've never had to manually remove snow having steeper winter angles. Snow remains on all my neighbor's fixed roof panels for several days after storms. Snow on panels = 0 watts.
mmmmm, not an electrician , did you address the grounding issue in comet below? I do appreciate your laugh and your like of tools, also your in depth explanation. not to forget the coolness factor of your own energy
I'm more of a fan of Earth grounding about 25 yards from the panels and not connecting to the house Earth ground..Man you've got every gizmo under the sun...Nice job..
@@ssoffshore5111why is it a bad idea ?? Just curious….. and if it’s not grounded and let’s say lightning hit the panels what’s the worst that can happen???? I ask because I had a friend who added a back yard shed and grounded it to the main house yet somehow it caught fire
They make a feral design for two wires. The plastic skirt at the bottom looks a little different than the ones you have be sure to thread the wires all the way through the feral when you crimp it and then cut them off flush when you’re dealing with breakers. 16:48
USAF taught me two important things about working with electricity: 1. Remove all jewelry! That wedding ring makes a real fine conductor. One hand for the work, one hand behind your back to prevent a path to the heart in case something is "hot" in the box.
Off grid with an electric car would be a challenge. Cars consume a lot of power, but you can always supplement with some solar to reduce your electric bill.
An Arduino or Raspberry Pi and a strong servo motor, you could automate your panels kinda like the ISS to where it follows the optimal sun track automatically.
Add some LDRs and now you can say which servo motor goes where, and resets back to a predetermined starting position for next day. If the day is so overcast that those don't function well, revert to a pre-defined position schedule. Although more useful for smaller free standing panel setups.
@@andrewwylie9259 with the new AI scripts and visual censors, you can use a PI to literally run your entire day to day operation. Like you said you can move single servo's to specific angles. It's gonna be a crazy future.
Dave, you’ll be caught up with me soon. 47,000 W PV. I can barely run my 80 gal hot water heater and lights right now as dark as it is. I’m using a wood burner to heat with up until these last few warm days when the heat pumps aren’t running. If it gets cold again, I’ll light the wood burner up. As soon as the sun comes out though, I can recharge my battery in about a day and a half.I’m at 70% or so.
Winter is a challenge when you live in a location that gets more than a week of cloudy days in a row, it gets hard to sustain the loads with just solar.
Nicely done! Not bad for December. Even down here in the sunshine state (Florida) this December was extra cloudy as well. Man that hole puncher makes it look like it came directly from the factory with those holes al ready in place. Your gonna love that toy!
Dave would you be up to entertaining an eco worthy solar tracker vs a fixed mount array. I've been thinking about four trackers with three 400 watt panels per (4.8kw). They advertise a 40% increase because of tracking and I'd like to see a proper comparison and you're definitely in depth TIA.
For analysis it might bei interesting. For real world use the panels are so cheap compared to the complexity of a tracker (moving parts) that if you have the space it's actually much cheaper and easier to simply oversize the system.
Dave, I have watched all your videos and I think you might be the person I am looking for for a bit of advise if that is possible. How do I get in touch with you? Thanks.
Thanks for your support! You can contact me through my website, but If you are looking for system advice, unfortunately, I don't have the capacity for supporting individual requests. Website contact link: projectswithdave.com/about/
would be nice to see how much extra with mods you can get out of bifacials on cloudy days. only seen one yt channel with a shiny wall behind seem to work well but could be improved👍👍🌞🌞🌞
I'm working on some bifacial results with vertical panels. You can see the impact of snow on bifacial panels in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YZWeCUzu0yQ.html
You can use DC Disconnect switches at the array. You need to confirm code requirements in your area. My first array passed inspection without even a disconnect. I just installed a junction box, which I later upgraded slightly with better connectors. You can see the upgrade here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uS8cqppAy7s.html
You obviously did not consult a structural engineer when you designed this thing. You failed to consider wind loading. A good stiff wind and your solar array will wind up on your neighbors property.
It was mostly made from free recycled materials like the power pole cross timbers, or significantly discounted dents and bents components like the solar panels. Unfortunately, I didn't do a detailed cost breakdown for this one.
You can see the cost breakdown for my main array here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PNTO83FvaL4.html You can see the cost breakdown for a battery backup system here: projectswithdave.com/battery-backup-for-home-diy/
