Be gentle with me, advice greatly received.

[Tookey]

.........er, others can also provide moral support from the sideline

 

[susarich]

Looking again at panels after measuring the area i will have between my two fan IF i put them where i want them to go. I have a gap of 180cm X 120 cm

 

[wildebus]

Something to bear in mind is the effect shading has on a panel. You only need a small area of a panel shaded for the ENTIRE Panel output to be wiped out.
So when you are measuring right upto fans and vents, consider if they will cause a shadow? You might actually get better performance from a smaller panel that does go really close to a vent?
For the space you have, you can get a very decent solar array there even if you do not use the entire space ?

 

[SquirrellCook]

Something to bear in mind is the effect shading has on a panel. You only need a small area of a panel shaded for the ENTIRE Panel output to be wiped out.
So when you are measuring right upto fans and vents, consider if they will cause a shadow? You might actually get better performance from a smaller panel that does go really close to a vent?
For the space you have, you can get a very decent solar array there even if you do not use the entire space ?

I think David means not close to a vent.

 

[susarich]

I think David means not close to a vent.

Yea i realised after i read it a couple of times. X

 

[wildebus]

Yup, avoid shadows
On my own Roof I mounted the panels right between two vents and very close. They work great but I have to aware that if I have the front Vent open AND am parking facing south, I'll likely shadow a panel. But my roof space was limited and the panels were raised up a few inches (so less effect). If I could, I would have moved further but Hobson's Choice.

 

[SquirrellCook]

Betty's roof has lots of furniture, and the max fans cause the biggest shadows of all. It's just being aware of them.

 

[wildebus]

Betty's roof has lots of furniture, and the max fans cause the biggest shadows of all. It's just being aware of them.

wise words
If you know the potential pitfalls, you can then manage them.

In my case, because I know there could be a potential shadow from either 400mm vent in the front and back of the middle panel, I cabled then up in parallel so the two outer panels would still work with no knock-on effect.

(The chance of shadow is fairly small because the panels are above the vents, but if the vents were fully open it is possible)

 

[Nabsim]

Lower sun late and early in the year would make the shadow effect worse and more likely, it’s why I went parallel and always would on the van. Exception being small panels where I would go serial and parallel, it’s worth the extra wire in my opinion.

 

[SquirrellCook]

With the Betty build I took into account of the location of any shadowed areas. And grouped my panels in three. Each with its own controller. The panels are in series to harvest that last little bit.