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08-20-2011, 12:11 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 7,644
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Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
The following is mostly raw footage of my amperage fluctuation as I covered or shaded the panel with various "experimental test objects" to see what would happen. Interesting that you can halve the output with a small piece of cardboard, or zero it by covering less than half the panel. This is all done in full sun, and orientation does seem to matter- although my testing was largely random.
[youtube:vy4l2mjn]
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it was good to be back
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08-20-2011, 12:58 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: SoCal
Posts: 1,071
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
I am surprised how it drops so much with such a small coverage (i.e. cardboard).
Roof rack shadow isn't as bad as I suspected but a rooftop box will likely make it zero, as shown in the half blanket example.
Thanks for posting this!
steve 
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Does anyone really read this stuff other than surfgeek?
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08-20-2011, 05:50 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: GTA, Ontario
Posts: 1,102
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Jage;
Outstanding experiment. That black tee shirt must have been making 20 amps or volts or whatever!
How much did that panel cost you? Almost 10 amps with no moving parts sure keeps the fridge running.
Regards,
Gavin
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"Talk is cheap. Whiskey costs money."
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08-20-2011, 07:01 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Bergen County, NJ
Posts: 219
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
does your panel have bypass diodes? if not, i wonder what youd get with them.
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Red Zeppelin - 2003 Chevy Express 2500 6.0L 2WD RB
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08-20-2011, 08:41 AM
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#5
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 39
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Great experiment. I now have a better understanding of the effects of bird poop on my panels. I need to get up there today!! DocD 
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08-20-2011, 08:57 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Taylor, Mississippi
Posts: 1,648
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Dang!  Ida lost some bets on those tests. Apparently the entire interaction of the panel is required to get voltage. My 15 year old panel really falls off sharply when a little cloud coverage happens. I wouldn't have bet 8" square of cardboard was so severe. Thanks a bunch for some real world understanding of the panels 
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08-20-2011, 09:33 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Washington - Ridgefield
Posts: 4,728
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Shade seems to have less effect than I would have thought. While blocking one cell has a much bigger effect than I would have imagined.
Nice demo. Thanks Jage!
Mike
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08-20-2011, 09:36 AM
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#8
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Site Team
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,293
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Excellent! I love a good experiment. I was really surprised how much of a difference the plastic pipe made if it was laying directly on the panel as opposed to being just above.
The biggest surprise was how you get no amps with a partially covered panel. I wonder if the parts of the panel that are getting no light start acting like resistors so that whatever energy that is being produced by the uncovered panels is being blocked.
I'm just guessing. Is there anyone here on the board who knows about solar cells and would like to comment?
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08-20-2011, 09:37 AM
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#9
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Site Team
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Southern New Mexico
Posts: 10,179
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Well sure it was informative, but incomplete. What's the panel output when the entire solar panel is completely covered? 
Great info, and yeah, surprising results.
Herb
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SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.
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08-20-2011, 10:40 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 477
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Re: Shade, Shadow and Junk on a Kyocera 185w panel
Nicely Done.
I would think multi panels would have better results. For example, two panels or even four panels in parallel...
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