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shade-tolerant collectors?

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  • shade-tolerant collectors?

    Hi Folks,

    I'm new here. I am shopping for components to add solar battery charging capability to my pickup truck camper. I think I have everything figured out except which collector(s) to get. I'm thinking of about 150-200 watts, 12 volts, probably 2 panels.

    Because this is a camper and can move around, passing under trees, shading of the collector may be the biggest issue. I know that for some collectors, when one cell is shaded, the output of the whole array drops to that of the shaded cell. And, some collectors have a couple of zones and bypass diodes, so that only half the collector is disabled by a single shade cell. But, I have also heard of collectors with a diode in each cell (or some other mechanism) that prevents this behavior.

    Can anyone direct me to a source these? I started looking at what's available, but there are an overwhelming number of possibilities.

    Thanks in advance for any help...

    - Bernard

  • #2
    While what you've been told is possible I know of no one that makes them. It's to costly for a very small market.

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    • #3
      solar panels do not work in cloudy conditions, dappled shade, or any shade. Diodes help a shaded section of a panel to be bypassed, but with more than a small amount of shade (10% of panel) there is too much lost, and the panel shuts down.
      Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
      || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
      || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

      solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
      gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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