The
Chinese Experiment
In the 15 years I have been using solar
I have experimented with various different
panels, but recently I have only used panels from
the German manufacturer Solara. Recently the
prices of panels from the far east have really
fallen so I have decided to try some and see how
I go. It will be an expensive mistake if they
dont hold up to the Irish weather, but at half
the price of the German panels I am too tight not
to give it a go.I purchased 4 x 100 watt panels and
Ian and I made up another frame. With the help of
Dennis, we managed to put the duct in place,
which runs 60 metres from the garage through the
drain and the hedge into the meadow. The addition
of a post and connection box we were ready to go.
Like the other panels these are wired in series
and connected to a morningstar controller (No.2)
and then on to the 12 volt battery. I went for a
higher wattage panel to combat the loss down the
long cable run.
The new array has
only be in for a week and seem to be producing
well, I have seen over 25 amps into the battery
from this array, at the same time the other
arrays were producing nearly 50 amps, so the new
record is 75 amps from the PV solar. This is
getting close to my goal of 100 solar PV amps
into the 12 volt battery. The next step is to put
up another 4 panels and they are going to be from
yet another manufacturer (unless the Solara price
drops in the mean time), read on for the final
solar installment on page 3.
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(The wires were run
in a duct for 60 metres)
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