Homemade Solar Panel Cleaning & Maintenance
Once you have your homemade solar panel installed in place, you might be worried now about the time consuming and costly regular maintenance as well as cleaning for your homemade solar panel. Solar panels use in households is rigid and there are no moving or mechanical parts on it. If you make the solar panels, yourself, you can tell those are sealed for dust and water. So maintenance required is minimal and occasional but you have to check from time-to-time if you dirt are building up quickly, that’s the time you will do a solar panel cleaning for maximum possible performance and power output of the solar panel array.
The condition of your area affects on how often you will have to clean your homemade solar panel. This depends on weather conditions and whether your place has a lot of trees around your yard, falling leaves and small twigs can fall on the surface of the homemade solar panel. For instance if you live in a region where heavy snow falls on winter occurs. Or, your area is frequently visited with storms and typhoons. All these conditions can affect your solar panels’ efficiency. These acts of nature we cannot prevent, these can cover the significant portion of the homemade panel, preventing sunlight to directly hit on it, thus reducing the energy conversion.
At all times solar panels should be fully exposed so that it can receive the sun’s direct light, so it can convert energy efficiently. The surface of the homemade solar panel should be kept clean always as possible. Overtime, this can accumulate dirt through the conditions mentioned above and can cover the solar panel’s surface and you may observe power output reduction. We have to check it from time-to-time if its surface is somewhat dirty. If you find that your homemade solar panel have been covered by some foreign objects, you have to clean the solar panels. A visual inspection of the surface will show if it needs cleaning.
For falling leaves from the trees, swiping it with a broom will do the trick. Bird dropping is also common to be on the surface of the panels at the same time dirt and dust can also be accumulated, especially if the season is changing from wet to dry. Cleaning this type of dirt do not require special skills, equipments or chemicals. There are simple ways to clean it and materials can be readily available on your kitchen.
Remember that the solar panel’s solar cell is inside or under the tempered glass, it is sealed. So, what you will be cleaning primarily is only the glass surface. Using a car wash brush will do the job. You may use water or warm water and dish washing soap with the car wash brush in order to easily remove the accumulated dirt, especially bird droppings which are sometimes hard to remove without water. Do this to all the solar panels you have. You don not need to do this everyday or every week. Do this only when you see the surface needs cleaning. Clean homemade solar panel surface means efficient energy conversion. The solar cells itself, theoretically can last up to 25 to 30 years.
Of course, the homemade solar panel is not the only component in the system. If you have an off grid system, it will include storage batteries and perhaps a back up generator. These components will require more monitoring and ongoing maintenance than the homemade solar panel itself. It’s always a good idea to plan for regular inspections to make sure that your entire solar energy system is properly and efficiently running at all times.
If your homemade solar panel is tied to the grid, you will still have an inverter as part of your system. It converts the electricity that your solar panels generate into alternating current that your appliances can use. Even though it has no mechanical parts, it is an important component and should be regularly inspected.
Also, do not forget to inspect from time-to-time your electrical wiring that connect the solar panels and the inverter.
