Sept 2020 construction projects

The one hour work days seem to be over!

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YhmKvFxxbMHaTkoi8

I'll be adding to that album as projects progress.

Instead of replacing, I decided to fix my 10' shredder so it has a fixed height rather than being hydraulically adjustable.  The lift mechanism involved wire cables that needed to be replaced. A successful fix!  I need to catch up on my shredding.

I have two newly constructed rails, one across the road and one near the house.  Each three joints of pipe, near 100' long.  I expect each rail to support 28E+28W panels and feed a 6kw transformerless Delta inverter.  The Deltas have failed to work on the panels I've been using with transformer inverters and these two new rails will be using panels that are touted to have no such trouble.

A new building, roof only, is going up over the guest house slab.  About 40'x70'.  There will be ~20' north of the slab which might be used for protected RV parking.

9/16/2020

Things go fast when rails are in place and other material is ready to use.  Over the time of two days, I have the two new rails partially populated and producing.  11 panel pairs on one rail and 9 on the other.  The really good news is that the different panels seem to be allowing the transformerless 6kw Delta inverters to work.  The Deltas are both cost effective and well suited to my needs.  I think each will support 26-27 panel pairs.   I have a little exposure to high wind since none of the new panels are well secured.  I have the choice of "doing it right" and  producing more power.  The choice I've made is obvious.  But, I hope to get everything secured in a few days.  I have the 20 pair producing and should have room for a total of at least 54 new pair.

In the afternoon:  I think I have 12 pair plus 11 pair installed and producing.  Started the securing task.  Two weeks ago, I would not have considered afternoon work.  So far, EVERY CanadianSolar panel in new shipment has had to have connector replacement.

9/16/2020

Shed project was completed yesterday.  I've NEVER put up a building which seemed "big enough" in the years following erection.  I may put a high deck in the "away from the brush" (west) section.  Something to shoot hogs from.  I see I can put a trailer under the west end as well as the north.  The height allows rain to blow all the way through; may have to do something about that.

The new Delta rail across the road is REALLY sweet.  A bit less than half the rail is producing near 3kw at times.  That's two combined strings of about 14 on one of the two trackers.  The new Delta rail near the house, not so much.  A shower induced an "isolation fault".  It took a day for it to straighten itself out, but is working now.  Will continue to populate it.

Strings are REALLY troublesome.  I found one bad new panel as I was adding to new rail.  It seems a good strategy is to measure short circuit current with a clamp on amp meter.  Comments solicited.   On strings, one bad panel screws the whole string and the bad one is difficult to find.   My two faced rails make checking panels difficult for both micro and string inverters.

9/19/2020

I'm out of panels for the Deltas.  I believe I have 14+9 pair of panels on one rail and 13+10 on the other.  Of the 8 strings, I have 2 not producing.  Still working on finding the problems.  I have at least two other string problems on older installations.

SO! All new projects near to stopping points.

9/20/2020

Two rats killed.  Three more strings working.  Still have a problem near the pool but that is $.03 electricity.  Total of 46 pair of panels producing on the two new rails.  Room for, I believe, 56 pair.  Production is near 4kw per rail for much of the day.  Might go over 5kw when/if all slots are populated.

Especially across the road, I'm hoping for a new production record of over 300 kwh.  With not perfect days, I've been doing ~280 kwh/day over there.

9/22/2020

Sadly/alarmingly/disappointingly, all transformerless inverters have been down for more than a day due to wet conditions.  The new Signature panels worked several days in dry conditions; that was a notable improvement over the Santan panels.  Not good enough, though.

Regrouping.  The only transformer string inverters that seem to be available in quantity are the SMA/SunnyBox 4kw.  So, I'm considering putting two on each rail even though I think 4kw capacity is more than can be used.  I plan to test a SMA 4kw with two strings: 14-15 E and 14-15W and see how much power might be output.  I'm not sure 15 panels will fit on half a rail but know that 14 will.  I have a few PVPowered transformer inverters that might be used but the specs indicate a voltage limit of about 13 panels.  The SMAs are spec'd for higher voltages.  I can consider dividing the rails into 15 and 13 panel strings; though that might lead to costly mistakes.