Do Solar Panels Generate Electricity At Night?
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- čas přidán 25. 12. 2023
- This is a short video talking about a question i have had for a long while do solar panels generate electricity at night? So i waited up all night for the clouds to part to get the full light of a full moon and used my TIS E217 multimeter to mesaure the voltage produced.
This was filmed in my shed where i have a small experimental solar system with 4 panels. I am hoping to add more in the future. This is the first video with the McHat joke ripped off from David Savery from DSES with a RLF twist using a McCormick tractor of the year red cap or my McHat.
It is also a first video on this channel with a talking head. After a failed zoom meeting on the Electricians podcast i have been working on talking head content.
link to a DSES video with the McHat: • Today at ELEX2019
link to Electricians podcast with my failed attempt: • CHRISTMAS PARTY - ELEC...
Disclaimer: Only work on solar installtions if you know what your doing high voltage dc can be massivly dangerous due to arcs that can be produced if you are careless. i advise not to copy what you see.
This is a video filmed with my new tripod which cost me £7.99 from ebay. Along with my old google pixel 4a and editing with splice
RLF Vacuum Cleaners Lakenheath.
cool video pal!!
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment.
I have 4 100W panels 2P2S I measured 2.1V, on a full moon as well, over here in Halifax Canada. On a Sunny day 2 in series makes around 50V. I Measured the full moon voltage open circuit. I'm not sure about the Amperage.
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. Great to see my finding ere repeatable on other parts of the world. Current would be increabily low
The issue is not voltage but amperage. Volts open circuit measurement is pretty artificially elevated. Without out something drawing that power it's alowed to build up voltage. I would bet most of that voltage was cut off at sunset. Maximum lunar output is less than 1 watt per square meter while solar output is around 1000 watts per square meter. Of note any voltage buildup in the lines will go to your inverter when you get sun. So you are generating some power from lunar output just no where near what you think you are.
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. Voltage and current are both important. You need minimum 50V for the inverter to kick in. I agree open voltage is slighlty inflated as when you load the system the voltage drops. The fact you need just under 100 panels to theroreticaly reach the required thresh hold. Shows how small amount you get from a full moon. My system at the moment is a high voltage low current system running 60v panels.
interesting thanks for the information, how much did your self made system cost altogether?
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. my system was built at the same time the shed was built and wired up but i can roughly break it down solar panels i bought 8 for £150, Inverter was £180 unistrut and other other bits cable, bolts, consumables etc probally another £200
are solar panels worth it ? according to money saving expert it could take 14years for them to pay for themselves . they recon a saving of £400 a year and at a cost of £7000 to buy . genuine question . ive a 2 bed house eco 7 heating which was working fine up until 3 years ago my bill has gone from round £70 month for 12 months up to over £220 a month for 12 months and now my house , which i only run the heaters for less than 5 moths of the year , is not that warm , in the last frosty spell living room was down to 15 degree . without some kind of grant to get a battery and pannels 7 grand doesnt seem worth it
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. In my opinion solar panels are worth looking into. Everybodys situation is different i would always reconmend starting with the basics managing and monitering your installation looking for savings. For example if you already havent swapping lights for led versions good led bulbs can use 10% of the power of incandescent or a third the power of cfl. its a nice cheap starting point. i reconmend purcasing some plug in power meters and looking for vampire loads. cutting half a dozen of the small loads can add up massively. but data is what you need if you contact a solar installer with your data they can design and price a system that works best for you.
It's probably not worth buying that sort of system. It will generate far more power than you can use in the middle of the day during the summer, and not a lot during the winter, and you don't get paid much for exported power. However you can get a quick return with a much smaller system, say a single 400W panel and microinverter (on a shed or low roof so you can install it yourself). That's because your house probably uses 400W or less during daylight hours, so this small system will match your demand whenever it is sunny. If you get 1000 hours of generation a year and pay 30p a unit, that saves you £300 a year, which is about the cost of the panel and micro-inverter - a one-year payback!
A big system might make sense with a battery, so it can power your lights in the evening but it's still only going to be a fraction of your total bill as your bill is mostly for heating, and you don't get much solar at the time of year you're using heating.