Cleaning solar panels

This thread I found interesting: Cleaning solar panels

I hose my panels down once every 2-3 months in the dry season. No soap/detergent and no brush. Worked fine for me for the last almost 7years.

Maybe once a year I will remember. Water, sunlight liquid, and a good old “squidgee” like you’d use to clean car windows.

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Any opinions/experience on a high pressure hose??

My Karcher high-pressure hose has a setting for windows… I would assume that would be fine.

(The window setting is MUCH lower than paving btw.)

I saw non tier one panels with fine cracks, the high pressure water entered the panel and caused delamination. On normal panels you should be okay.

A better question would be, is it necessary?

Indeed! There seems to be a lack of consensus on the matter. The honourable Fluffy says he can’t detect any difference between clean and dirty panels but he has a window cleaning contract to clean them regularly…
I cleaned my panels today and will wait till tomorrow to see if there is any difference :thinking:

I have tested this and get about 10% extra when cleaning…
I cleaned very dusty panels @ 12:00 and got 10% more directly afterwards!
Common sense should support this as well I guess. Dirty vs clean windshield is a good example :wink:

Maybe I should have added more detail. Is high pressure washing enough, or is just a hosepipe enough?

I use bucket and “squeegie”…

How much did your cleaning just cool them down? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Almost none… I don’t clean during the peak times anymore… they are to hot (burn hazard hot) and the water just evaporates! I also don’t spray water with a hose (drought and all ;))

Oh I understood you cleaned them at 12:00pm per your previous post?

Anyways, I also (get my gardener to) clean mine early in the morning, before the sun is hot. I’ve not noticed that it makes a measurable difference in performance, but they’ve also not been very dirty. I do it for aesthetic reasons mainly. I don’t want to see bird droppings on my panels when I look up at my roof.

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aaaaaa Fluffy… ou Fluffy. If Fluffy says the sun rise in the North then allot of people will say, yes master… And he will stay on it. @TheTerribleTriplet favorite on the 4x4 forum. Sorry, but that’s how I see it, you will say something that you know is correct, he will say something ells again.

Does anyone know what wavelength of the solar photovoltaic spectrum PV panels generate their power from?
I’m aware that it’s not the sun’s heat that we feel in sunlight…

Ja-nee! The sad part is that he’s clued up on a lot of stuff but to sift the good from the bs is a challenge.
When I have challenged him I refer to him as ‘Oom Fluffy’ (This calms him down a bit…)

Cleaning panels makes a deference. I got myself one of that Blue Aluminum Telescopic Swimming Pool Pole that is 6m long, with a soft brush and a sprinkler head on front. Normal water and late afternoon when cleaning the panels.

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me and TTT had him so frustrated one day, you can actually hear him how he hits his keyboard.

Only the once… never again :wink: