I had mentioned that the wireless camera I had set up was running on its own internal battery that was recharged using a Goal Zero panel I plugged it into. The weather has been absolute crap since Saturday when I set it up, however there have been sporadic moments of sun. Camera is reporting back that it is at 67% charge.
The Jacekry, which has been running 24/7 since Saturday, is showing 86% charge, although it has been up and down from that over the last couple days as patches of sunlight show up. I’ll be heading up there Wednesday to do some camera adjustments, but I’m curious to see how long things can go unattended. Worst case, I can run the generator Wednesday to recharge the Jackery but I suspect as the weather improves there will be enough sunlight to keep things going.
Obviously, all bets are off when the snow gets here, although I suspect with a large enough array of panels, setting them at a steep angle to prevent snow buildup will work as long as the loss of sunlight from the steep angle is offset by simply having more panels. We’ll see.
But, for now, about 48 hours into this experiment and its working….so far.
Maybe some bifacial solar panels will shed snow in the winter.
Excellent idea … I think. If I understand correctly, bifacial panels charge from the surface getting direct sun, but they also charge from any sun that’s reflecting onto the back/bottom/down side as well. If you mount angled panels high enough to stay above the snow, then at the least that back/down side of the panel should charge from light reflected off the snow on the ground.
Check the operating and charging temp limits in the owners manual for your solar generator before leaving it at Beta over the winter. Some batteries like Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) need to be kept above freezing.
Any new Jackery uses LiFePO4 batteries. If they get below -4F the electrolyte starts to freeze, which destroys the cells. Also, charging below freezing will damage the battery, permanently reducing capacity.
I recommend removing the system from the site before winter makes it inaccessible.
Zero, I’m in Texas and can’t imagine how one would outfit this to all work through the winter there. I looked at the comments and thought “I better put some Grok AI on this.” LOL Here is the link: https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg_a0fcdaf0-9a57-4c53-affd-c32074741a2f. It is not “the” answer, it is “an” answer. For a fact I am convinced you better look for other options pretty quickly. – Phillip
Could one use a mirror of sorts to direct sunlight onto a panel when it’s not in the sun’s path? Would it contain all wavelengths? Just thinking out loud.
It should work well.
My experience with Colorado solar panels tilted up 54 deg off the horizontal is that heavy wet snow requires pulling it off with a squeegee broom.
Zero;
Have you thought of keeping whichever battery technology you choose in one of your buried tanks? Solar panels will make it obvious that something is there, you couldn’t store valuables in it.
You could lose some watertightness but would pickup ground heat if buried deep enough (or if enough if mounded on top).
Have Reolink solar cameras that don’t like cold weather, I feel your pain.
Hmmm. Thats an interesting premise. The easiest way to test will be for me to leave a bottle of water in the tanks when winter gets here. If it doesn’t freeze, we’re good.