Watt Readings on Classic and Kid

Zakarume

I dont know if anyone has this issue or not. I drained my batteries down to 74% last night. Today the sun is out and my Main array is only 960 watts but at times the Reading on my Classic 150 goes above 960 watts and my kid has a single 250 watt and at times it also goes above 250 watts. Is this ok or not?

vtmaps

Sure it's OK... I assume you are in a cold location.  When we have a crystal clear day with temperatures near zero F, I often exceed the nameplate rating of my panels.   That's one of the reason you multiply your Isc (maximum current from the array) by 1.25 when you spec out the wire size and circuit breakers for a solar array.

Many have written that if your panels are nearly vertical and there is snow on the ground, the snow can reflect sunlight up onto the panels and give very high outputs in cold weather.   My panels are near vertical and some of my highest outputs have been with snow on the ground, but I'm not sure how much is the snow and how much is the cold.  At this time of year, I could do much better than near vertical (in terms of aiming at the sun), but I prefer to have the snow and ice slide off a steeper slope.

By the way, moments of very high output can occur at any time of year.  They are caused by edge-of-cloud events, and are brief.

--vtMaps

Zakarume

OK thanks. Not complaining can always use the extra watts coming in for charging. I have also noticed that since switching to the Classic i bring in more watts than the Kid. Well worth the extra money to get it