Hail damage in Texas.
- Thread starter realpinochet
- Start date
Dave911
Solar Enthusiast
Doesnt work in Indiana. But stuff grows here like crazy. Cracks in sidewalks will have 12 inches of weeds. Probably why farm yields are so high here.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Compared to stationary, building out a tilting support system capable of withstanding worst case winds & snow, is quite a bit more complex and costly in my own experience. Stationary doesn't require maintenance that moving parts do.
Maybe they just take the easy route of stationary set up and insurance. I have to think a PV farm will plan on full replacement on a set schedule, say 10-20 years, which may mean to them, if a storm that takes out a portion of the panels in year-8 is a win. (collect insurance payout, and upgrade the PV to the newest/best panels, sell off the old panels that survived the storm, they just move up the replacement date a few years.
works in new jersey and arkansas, so I'm sure it works better there.
Dave911
Solar Enthusiast
Sure ... you have convinced me.
What was I thinking spraying roundup on weeds that don't really exist. Now to convince all of the farmers in the US that Roundup is totally unnecessary and we don't need to spray those weeds because they don't really exist. Tell them that you can save them millions by eliminating unnecessary spraying. This is all in our minds.. obviously. Good luck!
Good to know, now you can join the thousands of other arrays with white rock and the millions of miles of road.Sure ... you have convinced me.
Good luck!
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Wish the rain weren't coming soon this thread reminded me I need to mix up some glyphospate, 2,4-d and surfactant to spray around the current array, the spot for the next array and the driveway.
Don't forget to clean and rinse your tanks good before putting the fertilizer on the lawn and garden.
If there is ever heavy hail forecast in my area I'll tilt the ground mounts damn near vertical and cash in on insurance for the roof mounts.
Don't forget to clean and rinse your tanks good before putting the fertilizer on the lawn and garden.
If there is ever heavy hail forecast in my area I'll tilt the ground mounts damn near vertical and cash in on insurance for the roof mounts.
I’m with you… BUT sometimes stuff happens ..I got caught in a hail storm on a country road last summer …small to very large hail.. never seen nothing like it… I was in my Ram truck driving about 40 ….it got so heavy I slowed down a lot to lessen the impact on the truck … it got ridiculous….Well, since ya asking, I would rather "not get hit" LOL.
I thought it would break the glass…I stopped and parked in an empty church parking lot and just sat there watching it smash me all over…
what are ya Gona do…?
it was loud as bullets ….when it was over there was so much hail you couldn’t drive .. it was like ball bearings an inch deep on the road…
When I got home I discovered the only dents were on flat panel part of the truck body relative to the direction of the hail falling…( uhhh , straight down) All dent's were on the flat part of the hood and flat roof…The angled windshield survived… A Ram has a lot of rolled curves and rounded curves on hood and body … the flat areas took all the impact… the angled body curves deflected the hail and no damage …
In my opinion , Angled pv panels will survive much better the more they are angled from the sky…
vertical would be ideal im guessing..
But , as you say , if you can avoid getting hit by a car…….. or hail I would say that’s a better scenario.
J.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
In 23 years at our homestead, we have had hail only a handfull of times. The one time it was big stuff, I put her car inside the shop, and parked my RAM under a big pine, no damage luckily.
I tilt the PV up for winter, at 72-degrees this is pretty steep, and I have to imagine hail wouldn't have damaging effect, at least the size of hail I have seen.
I was thinking about how those Olympic Ski Jumps fall hundreds of feet, but land on a steep slope, which gradually slows them, without getting killed. Unlike if they landed on a flat area. Maybe my steep PV angle would also reduce the impact of hail on the glass.
I tilt the PV up for winter, at 72-degrees this is pretty steep, and I have to imagine hail wouldn't have damaging effect, at least the size of hail I have seen.
I was thinking about how those Olympic Ski Jumps fall hundreds of feet, but land on a steep slope, which gradually slows them, without getting killed. Unlike if they landed on a flat area. Maybe my steep PV angle would also reduce the impact of hail on the glass.
Dave911
Solar Enthusiast
Tilting it up would definitely lessen the impact. I would be tempted to add some aluminum channel across the top edge to keep it from getting dented up if you are in a heavy hail area.
However the problem with tilting it way up is that around here, high winds often occur just before hail storms. However, If the panels are well supported that probably does not matter.
Yes, that’s what worries me and why I’m using a cover that will stop most hail..my panel's tilt from flat to verticle , but they would be toast if angled up in a strong storm…
if storms are forecast the panels stay flat.
If radar shows bad stuff is coming the cushions go on… and I disconnect the wiring back to the Blue Stuff…and turn it all off …at that point it’s all up the the SPD’s ..I have done all I can.
here in the mtns it’s much cooler than the flat lands and bad storms and hail is comparatively less severe and mainly only in July or august…but it can and does occur.
Like a lightning strike , a lot of what happens is just if your lucky that day or not…
crossy
Solar Addict
Saw this, thought of this thread, sorry ...
alanspurgeon
New Member
I'm putting in an EcoFlow Delta 2 Max with the 400w flexable panels at a cabin. This will be a fixed installation. Here in WA state we can get some hail, about marble size max, but nothing like in Texas (I grew up in Texas and remember it). I'm planning on mounting the panels to a piece of plywood that lets me adjust for the solar angle. If I covered the panel with a plexiglass panel would that affect the output of the panel and how much? Has Will done a video on that?
Brucey
Solar Wizard
I only have small 65W folding panel for experience but it doesn't contain any glass like a regular hard panel and pretty sure hail will just bounce of it
seneysolar
Solar Addict
Yes, it will likely reduce the output. I just cleaned the pollen off my panels and picked up an extra 60W per panel.... In my experience the flexible panels don't reach their rated output anyways, so you'll want to measure power before and after the plexiglass to see. Also plexiglass doesn't hold up in direct sunlight. It will get worse as the plexiglass degrades.
I have seen smaller panels with a "cover" almost like they were going after some sort of artificial cloud edge effect? Interesting experiment i guess
