Solar Flares

dhill
dhill Solar Expert Posts: 47 ✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Any reason that I should worry about my power station???

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/12/13/solar.storm/index.html
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Solar Flares

    also http://www.sec.noaa.gov/today.html

    The effects will be picked up by longer runs of wires, and the closer to the poles ( N, S) you are, effects increase.
    That, said, it's often only large power grids, with runs of hundreds of miles, that get affected. It's sort of like nuclear EMP effects. Likely by the time it takes your system down, you will have much bigger problems. The inverters should be pretty tough, since they should be able to take occasional power line spikes, which are known to exist. I'm not sure what the ultimate panel breakdown voltage is, likely it's a panel contates to panel frame insulation, to prevent shorts to ground, I don't know if the panel PN junction is easily damaged, I suspect not, as they are often covered in plastic, installed in hot/dry locations with no electrostatic warnings.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | 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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  • dhill
    dhill Solar Expert Posts: 47 ✭
    #3
    Re: Solar Flares

    Thanks, Mike. I find this stuff really interesting, and in this my first full year of being off grid, I've had a couple of anomalies in my system to make me curious as to what is going on. Two nights ago, my generator came on to pump up my battery bank. After a full day of charging with my panels, for some reason, my usage that evening was enough to draw the batteries down to the point the generator kicked on. Funny thing was, I hadn't pulled any extra loads than what I normally use. I'm not sure where that extra power draw came from so I'm going to blame it on a solar flare or on aliens.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Solar Flares

    you should pursue finding any unexplained draws upon your battery bank as there is an explaination, but you just have to find it. do not be alarmed by the solar flares as they are a regular occurance as they are storms that are on the sun. the earth's magnetic field and our atmosphere protect us from this. those in space have to watch for the very strong ones as there isn't anything to protect them from the full effects of it. very little if any of the flares make it to the earth's surface except at the poles. the stronger ones do go further into our atmosphere and become visible as the northern lights and there has been some strong enough to produce northern lights into the southern states in the recent past with little detrimental effects. if you want to worry about something then worry about the emp from a nearby lightning strike as this is a more realistic threat to a system.
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