Solar Woes
Solar Woes
So, as you may know by now we are mostly off-grid (no electricity connection, no gas connection, no sewerage connection and only mains water) and have up until this point been reliant upon the generator for powering tools and lighting. With the installation of our solar panels and the battery bank control cabinet, my hope had been to use the occasional appearance of sunshine in Yorkshire to recharge the batteries. Two issues with this are (1) Yorkshire isn’t renowned for its sunny climate and (2) the hall roof was pointing in the wrong direction! To make the most of the sunshine, we would need to rotate the whole building 90 degrees which, although possible, is a bit over the top. Alternatively, fit panels to the front roof to make use of the stronger afternoon sun, ruining the appearance of the building.
That is, until the whole planet, quite unhelpfully in my view, moves around the sun and the angle of light hitting the panels is reduced. I wasn’t sure quite how much difference this would make but trying to install and test solar panels in the Yorkshire winter, I’m starting to understand.
Looking at the inputs I’m only getting 5v on the solar panel and nothing once the fuses are installed so it’s becoming clear to me that I’ve either wired something up wrong or this was a massive mistake. I’m bouncing between the former and the latter but you can be sure I’m going to try everything I can before I accept it!