Made 7.1% today

[moneymaker]

OT: Ask me how!
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Just by cleaning my solar panels.

Looked at a nearby system,took the ratio of what they produced today compared to yesterday,assumed they didn’t wash their panels today or yesterday. Calculated what I should have produced then compared that to what I did produce. Since washed the panels this morning that gave me a 7.1% increase today. Now how long that will last depends on how quickly they get dirty. Is hasn’t been too long since we’ve had rain so i imagine the dirt builds up rather quickly,since the next 3 months are peak production season was a good use of my 30 minutes I think.

[livinincali]

I actually thought about this as a decent business plan for some young enterprising individual. You could probably make about $30/hr washing solar panels if you had some decent marketing.

[svelte]

Hmmm.

Well maybe you live in a spot where your panels get extra dirty.

I did 68.8 kWh yesterday.

My best day June 2015 was 71.8 kWh, and it was later in the month. My panels were installed in June 2015. Since days are getting longer, I bet I hit that again later this month.

And I have yet to wash my panels in 12 months of use.

I don’t think washing my panels would get me much at all if anything, and evidence is it definitely wouldn’t be 7%.

[moneymaker]

From the ground they don’t look dirty but if you get up close you will see they are. I did not clean the little tiny yellow spots off (bee poop?) as that was minimal. If you go on enphase website https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public_systems you can see public arrays and how they are producing

[svelte]

[quote=moneymaker]From the ground they don’t look dirty but if you get up close you will see they are. I did not clean the little tiny yellow spots off (bee poop?) as that was minimal. If you go on enphase website https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public_systems you can see public arrays and how they are producing[/quote]

I wasn’t judging by what they look like from the ground. I was judging by power output.

To get back to my best output from June 2015 (71.8) from my output yesterday (68.8), I would have to increase my 68.8 by 4%, not 7%.

And I’m betting that later this month, I come close or match my best June 2015 day (71.8) since the days get longer in June.

I’ll post again later in the month when more days have passed. It will be especially interesting on the same day of the year as my best day in June 2016 (6/19).

Also, I have SolarEdge, not Enphase.

[no_such_reality]

7% of what? 30kwh? 70kwh?

What’s that worth? $1.96?

[moneymaker]

[quote=no_such_reality]7% of what? 30kwh? 70kwh?

What’s that worth? $1.96?[/quote]

About a $1 a day, which adds up. Got 41.4kWh yesterday

[moneymaker]

svelte you are comparing output on different days. I am talking about a more scientific way to measure output.If my neighbors output was 19.1 on Wednesday and 27.4 on Thursday and my output was 26.95 on Wednesday then assuming the same clouds and weather for 2 people in the same neighborhood then my output should be 38.66, but if after cleaning them in the morning I get 41.4 then I got 7.1% more electricity than if I had not cleaned them that morning. The way you are talking you are comparing day x1 with day x2 which involves too many variables. The number of panels or type or age do not even come into play with my way. By the way if I were to maintain that output over the summer it would save me $100.

[svelte]

[quote=moneymaker]svelte you are comparing output on different days. I am talking about a more scientific way to measure output.If my neighbors output was 19.1 on Wednesday and 27.4 on Thursday and my output was 26.95 on Wednesday then assuming the same clouds and weather for 2 people in the same neighborhood then my output should be 38.66, but if after cleaning them in the morning I get 41.4 then I got 7.1% more electricity than if I had not cleaned them that morning. The way you are talking you are comparing day x1 with day x2 which involves too many variables. The number of panels or type or age do not even come into play with my way. By the way if I were to maintain that output over the summer it would save me $100.[/quote]

Wait, what?

You compare different roofs and think that is more scientific?

I don’t know what to say. Except maybe you own or plan to own a panel cleaning company.

[moneymaker]

No I don’t own a solar panel cleaning company but I did get 41.4kWh yesterday. I am assuming the nearby system was not cleaned and no trees trimmed so there is potential error, I too was surprised I thought I might get 4-5% but was pleasantly surprised to get over 7%. As anyone that has solar knows each day is different, maybe you live in a cleaner area with less dust svelte. I did use the spotless water system so that there would be no residue afterwards.

[Reality]

Insufficient data. You haven’t established that your output and your neighbor’s consistently change by the same % from day to day in the absence of one of you cleaning the panels.

Maybe you are getting more than the 7%, maybe less. For sure nobody knows.

[Author]

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