Walloper Lake, BC

In May 2008 I connected up the four solar panels and the charge controller. I used Kyocera KD180 panels and a Xantrex MPPT60 to for controlling the charge to Trojan T105 batteries. I use a Xantrex ProSine 2.0 to produce AC. So far, am extremely pleased with this setup.

The following are a couple of plots showing the performance to date. I will update this info periodically. I'll improve the graphics as well.

This plot needed a little explaining. The left axis shows the maximum peak power output of the panels. This is a short time, or instantaneous, maximum. The daily average (not shown) is much less. The data is shown in the blue bars with the highest just under 700 Watts. Since I have a total of 720 Watts rated potential power I think the panels are producing as specified. As expected it shows a cyclic trend with higher in summer and less in winter. The periods of no data in Dec / Jan are due to he panels being covered in snow, hence no output.

The right axis shows the theoretical kWhrs potential at this site. This is what might be expected if the panels were producing maximum power into a full time load. Since I have batteries, and very light loads my total energy consumption is much less. It is plotted here to show the expected shape of the curve and is scaled only for visual comparison.

My set up is far from optimal, the panels are fixed at a shallow angle facing west and experience partail shading throughout the day due to the trees. None-the-less, as an experiment in off-grid energy I'm very pleased