The only upkeep and maintenance I have for my solar panels is keeping the weeds at bay and cleaning them off once in awhile. Besides that, they just work. But with some recent rains and spring time in effect the weeds have grown quite a bit around them. We added a lot of lime powder last year to try to make a weed barrier, it worked on the most thick parts but other areas it just pushed through.
If we do not clear the weeds back from the panels they will shade them partially and drop my energy capture potential.
We must be careful cutting back the weeds, as these panels have glass on them. So one wrong move can crack them.
One of us cuts and the other spots to make sure we are not getting too close to wires or the glass.
I think I may try adding mulch, though I worry those could break the panels if they got kick up when weed wacking. So not sure, may just cut back as needed.
We have to do this a few times a year, but in the winter the grass does not grow so we get a break from it then.
Wires like these we have to be careful of, they are coiled up under the panels.
We also have grounding wires going from panel to panel, easy to run into if your not looking. lol
We have started to sleeve all the wires, but wild animals keep stealing the sleeving.. lol rural living problems.
For now its fine, but long term I want to get all the power wires covered.
My foreman makes quick work of the weeds using our Stihl weed wacker.
Takes us about 30 minutes, and we need to do this maybe 3-4 times a year. Depending on the rains.
He clears under the panels to carefully to avoid any wires.. I watch and point out any that are close. With 1000s of watts passing through these wires its good to have a buddy system.
Ah much better, the back panels are not really affected by the weeds, but the first two rows are. With my most recent build we had them installed higher so hopefully clearing weeds wont be as much as an issue. Also not wires laying around on the ground will be a nice change to.
We can see a thick packed layer of lime indeed stops the weeds, but you need 6-8 inches of it.
Carefully he cuts the weeds by the panels.. we hand pull whatever we cannot get safely.
Almost done, and should be good for at least a month hopefully. Wish this row was not so low but oh well. At least I will improve them in future builds knowing this.
Have you ever tried the vinegar/salt/dishwasher soap solution? It would take a ton of it for your needs, but my wife and I tried it out on some weeds in our rocky area and it seems to have done the trick for them. We need to get out and buy a jug of the 30% vinegar solution versus the 5% you find in the grocery store. I think that will make a difference too. It kills everything, but I think it is better for the environment.
I really do not want to add anything into the ground. I may go with a weed barrier and mulch and see how that works.
Yeah, landscape fabric is always good, but that stuff is so expensive. I get what you are saying. I wouldn't want to spray round up or weed killer around there. The vinegar/salt/dish soap thing seems to be a pretty natural solution. Minus the dish soap I guess! :)
You don't want anything shading the panels, but it's a fair bit of work. With ours being on the roof it's not an issue. I do wonder if they will need a clean some time. Some of the cleaners have really long poles that could reach up there. It's been a year and we are currently maxing out the inverter, so should be okay for now.
Indeed, I can tell when the grasses start getting too tall as my solar input drops for sure.
Yeah I should clean them every so often. Its been about a year since they were cleaned last. We get some hail once in awhile and that tends to clean them.. Just hoping they do not get too big and crack the glass.. lol
I assume rain will clean off most of the dirt. We had a tiny bit of snow over winter, but it didn't really cover them. Not that they were generating so much anyway then.
I've not check what sort of hail they would withstand, but we rarely get it very big.
Why not use a weed barrier.. or black plastic.. or weed killer.. gas.. oil.... anything... weed eaters and wires are trouble when combined
Yeah I am just any accident away from hitting those wires. I think I am going to look into some weed barrier.
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Nice rig! In my country most panels installed in fields are raised at least half a meter from the ground so removing weeds it's easier (and sometimes sheep wandering in the same fields do this 😁)
Thanks.. yeah true.. this is our first build. But our newer ones are higher up.. at least a meter up high on the first row and higher on the next up to around 2 meters on the back row.
You could also try to put weed block fabric under the mulch, I found that really effective if you don't have weeds that are very established.
Good point. I should look into doing that.
Quick job. I mowed the grass for about an hour today, but I had an electric trimmer and 3 batteries.
Ah nice.. yeah I really like those weed whackers.
And if you raise them a little higher off the ground, isn't the result more efficient?
Yes, but we have high winds here, so the higher I mount them the more unstable they may be.
I understand. The ideal would perhaps be to create some sort of natural barrier with trees around it to control those drafts and thus be able to raise the panels to take advantage of more sunlight and be more efficient.
Indeed, dates are very annoying sometimes I have to spray it so that the houses die but don't grow again
Ah yeah well I really do not want to use any chemicals.
Nice setup. I've been thinking about getting solar installed. The low maintenance aspect is really appealing. Have you tried putting down landscape fabric with mulch on top? That combo usually keeps weeds down better than just lime alone.
Thanks.. it has been quite the work in progress. Yeah I should probably consider that.
That set up looks really powerfull!! i always wanted to know how many of these panels does 1 house need to live fully of the grid with for example:
1 eletric cooking stove , 1 refrigerator, 1 tv, 1 wifi, 1 antena, 2 laptos, eletric hot water,
Thanks, yeah it is a nice setup. Well to power those during the day maybe a quarter of what I have. But at night you would need batteries.
How many panels is that? and how many batteries could be that?
Ground level panels are such a pain to maintain. Smart learning from experience, the trailing wires are always a tripping hazard too
Yeah if used probably better to mount them up high.
Good advice 👍
I never realized how much work goes into keeping solar panels running smoothly. It’s kinda inspiring seeing how hands-on you have to be
Indeed when they are mounted on the ground there is more work.. Hah yeah it does make you appreciate it more.
Appreciate able work sir
Thanks much
Maybe you need the grass, but I think using chemicals to weed-off is a bit better considering the carefulness applied in clearing the grass with the machine
I could kill the grass that way, but would rather just cut it by hand.
I used to work in landscaping, and used to love using the weed wacker. It was so useful for detail work and cutting around sensitive areas. Its nice you had some cloud cover, much better for summer yard work. It seems like you have a bunch of natural space around you, I wonder how far are your nearest neighbors?
Those weed whackers are great.. a little bit of a learning curve but once I got it they are great.
Yeah I wear love sleeve clothing when Im outside to help with that.
Indeed I do live in the woods.. they are pretty far from me.
Omg....so much work . Cleaning the weed is really important for getting the best results of solar ...we have that panel on roof , but after watching your post i feel how hard it is to maintain it among the greenery...
Yeah during the spring and summer it can get annoying. But in the winter I do not need to do much which is nice.. Oh cool. Yeah most people tend to put them on their roof.