Solar in the Winter?

[nabsim]

Today I saw these output currents for my setup on van and trailer. A single 100 watt horizontal panel gave less than 1 amp charge. The 100 watt horizontal plus 2 X 150 watt horizontal panels gave 5 amps charge. The 100 watt plus a 150 watt horizontal and a 150 watt panel elevated as shown gave 10 amps charge.

Would expect a big difference on the tilted panel at this time of year and more so in Spain. I think I would have expected a little more from your single flat 100amps but it would depend what time of day it was. I was getting over 2amps but under 3 whenever I looked yesterday on 300w in sun in the uk in the morning.

nowhere near enough for my needs may I add lol

 

[maingate]

Today I saw these output currents for my setup on van and trailer. A single 100 watt horizontal panel gave less than 1 amp charge. The 100 watt horizontal plus 2 X 150 watt horizontal panels gave 5 amps charge. The 100 watt plus a 150 watt horizontal and a 150 watt panel elevated as shown gave 10 amps charge.

Looking at the sky in your photo, it must have been favourable Winter conditions for your resuult.

On these rare Winter days when the atmosphere is clear, the power generation can rise surprisingly high with solar power. The Sun gets to us from a shallow angle and has to pass through a lot more of our atmosphere. I used to track my (angled) solar power output and got some suurprisingly good results on days like that.

 

[nabsim]

Am I wrong to think it would be much better in Spain than the UK though Jim at this time of year? I originally worked on being much further south somewhere along the Med coast in winter, a far cry from where I have been, Scotland and Northern half of England lol

 

[jagmanx]

I believe that even in winter a bright sunny day is good.
You get some power from the blue sky (acting a bit like a mirror) even though direct sun is limited.
It is the "Doom and Gloom" which is the problem.
Find some nice bright street or carpark lights and park up under them from say 4pm (3pm in Scotland) to 10pm to supplement your battery which is powering your heating.
Then move to your sleeping place and turn most things off !

 

[saxonborg]

The TV is our main consumer and as Maingate posted earlier on he uses a smaller TV for winter to give his batteries a fighting chance. My TV is an Avtex rated at 30+ watts, looking around the available 22/24 inch TVs some are rated at around 17/19 watts, so might be worth considering a TV for winter and one for summer when there is plenty of solar available.