DIY PV solar panels fitting, laws and house value

[camerart]

I would love to have a panel with a satellite tracking motor as used for amateur radio to see how directional they are. There is so much miss-information, who does one believe?

I know we had a 30 watt wind charger or a 10 watt solar panel as the two options to power an electric fence, with a car type battery. And the sheep got through the wind charger powered fence more that the solar powered fence, as only snow stopped solar working during the day, but even in the Falklands known for wind, the batteries went flat more often with a wind charger.

However the small using used to maintain the caravan battery when in storage failed. OK there was a problem with the radio, if power removed and restored the radio went into demo mode, so once the battery voltage dropped once, that is it, the radio ensured it would never recharge it.

Hi,
I have a remote control drone antenna tracker, which would work to control a panel, but I though about it and it can be done much simpler.
The sun's direction is predictable, so a simple slow worm drive would do, with a return. The elevation, could be a long cam type mechanism, that can be changed for a higher profile in summer etc.

PV and wind trubine calculations are difficult, because of the variations.
Re: 'the fence' with some monitoring, it may be possible to heat the panel and melt the snow, but that is specialist and best tested individually.
C.

 

[camerart]

I was replying to this bit of your original post "and shadows on one panel affecting the whole system etc". Get them south facing nearest to 35 degrees and they should make some decent power. If in parallel it doesnt matter if one is shaded as it doesnt effect the output of the other panel.

Hi S,
Yes, sorry, I was kind of thinking more about one failing for whatever reason.

My roof is 210° and and app 45°.
C.

 

[robinbanks]

Hundreds of thousands of homes have solar panels; have they all got insurance problems and issues being sold?

Tracking the sun didn't make an appreciable difference for the hassle in my calcs

 

[camerart]

Hundreds of thousands of homes have solar panels; have they all got insurance problems and issues being sold?

Tracking the sun didn't make an appreciable difference for the hassle in my calcs

1/ I don't know, but most of them were installed by installers, with legal requirements, where mine is more simple, but may have insurance etc issues.
2/ I agree, I think a filed of them all controlled in the way I oulined earlier, may be of benefit, but not for mine, and maintenance on a roof, is different from a fieled.
C.

 

[ericmark]

I though about it and it can be done much simpler.

I seem to remember earth - moon - earth trackers for doing moon bounce, however I was not into Morse code and unlikely voice could do that without silly amounts of power, but seem to remember the guy I knew who did it had stepper motors which followed the moon, and nine yagi beams around 16 elements each, and special dispensation on licence so he could exceed the normal 400 watt.

But likely there are ready made units, or at least ready made instructions.

 

[robinbanks]

Incidentally, https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/ will let you compare tracking PV with fixed using a PVGIS db, predictions for the year for your roof incline etc.. I think tracking added 15% ish for me, not enough to make it worth bothering with

I worked out I'd need a 40kw array to supply all my winter demand; that's huge - I should probably be looking at an install that allows for selling electricity in summer so it can be bought in winter - off grid seems unlikely for this household

 

[camerart]

I seem to remember earth - moon - earth trackers for doing moon bounce, however I was not into Morse code and unlikely voice could do that without silly amounts of power, but seem to remember the guy I knew who did it had stepper motors which followed the moon, and nine yagi beams around 16 elements each, and special dispensation on licence so he could exceed the normal 400 watt.

But likely there are ready made units, or at least ready made instructions.

Hi E,
There is a moon bounce dish not far from me, and I had a demonstration, very interesting. The frequencies used, are pretty high and use waveguides, all very speciallist.
My tracker simply aims a Yagi.
C.

 

[camerart]

Incidentally, https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/ will let you compare tracking PV with fixed using a PVGIS db, predictions for the year for your roof incline etc.. I think tracking added 15% ish for me, not enough to make it worth bothering with

I worked out I'd need a 40kw array to supply all my demand; that's huge - I should probably be looking at an install that allows for selling electricity in summer so it can be bought in winter - off grid seems unlikely for this household

Hi R,
I should do more analysing of data, but I'm going more off my van experiences, as each location can be different from 1/2 mile away. I prefer simply guesswork.
1st, I'll measure the roof, and see how many panels will fit, and they're expected output, then see if I feel it's viable.
C

 

[ericmark]

Moon bounce I saw was 2 meter wave band.