Solar on the roof

Well, it took a lot more work than I was expecting, but we have 3 panels on the roof.
Gravity is the only thing holding them there.
They are not connected to anything at this stage.
But it’s a start and a step in the right direction.

We put a temperature sensor on the back of one of them.
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This way I can tell what the cell temperature is. I think it’s going to be pretty interesting just how hot the panel gets.
I also have another sensor mounted under the panel, so it will be the ‘ambient’ temperature around the panel. Lastly we have our air temperature sensor in the Stevenson Screen on the roof that has been up and running for years.
So, between those three, I hope to get a really good feel for the panel de-rating when it gets hot.

Thankfully we laid out the three panels in the shade under the patio while we got the brackets sorted.

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If we had to do this job in the sun on the roof, it would not have gone ‘smooth’ at all. I’m not super happy with how it came together, but given the budget and tools I had to work with, it’s about the best I could do.

Needed some help from Terry to drag the whole thing up and get it slid onto the roof. It would have been better if I had used connectors everywhere so I could have taken it all up bit by bit, but, eh, we got there.

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So there you have it. 3 panles, all 765 watts…. Now, if I could just get that power flowing into something…. anything… that would be nice….