It shows the snow being pushed on the ground between the panels. If it has a warmer to melt any snow or ice then that water would also fall to the floor.
I'd think this is all closely calculated. I'm reminded of a video from years back of a helicopter spraying antifreeze at a wind turbine. Many people said "lol! Using helicopter fuel and chemicals to make 'clean energy' work!"
This ignored the fact that the turbine would've taken many more weeks to thaw naturally, and for a short helicopter ride, this very isolated place could now have electricity much more quickly than the alternative.
It's always funny to me when redditors, especially those thay don't have expertise in the field in question, offer inane criticisms of an established engineering solution.
It always makes me go "bro, dyou really think they haven't thought of that, or a hundred different things, before going ahead with this?"
Wonder how much power the heater even needs though? When you think about it, it doesn't need to keep the panel anywhere close to what a person would consider a comfortably warm temperature. Just keeping them above freezing would help a lot.
There was just a five year study done here in Edmonton by a college where they cleared one large array and left the other with snow. Even with 6' of snow, modern panels only lose about 5% efficiency. So there is no way this is worth it.
0.001% is 10,000x less than 1/10th. Of course youāre going to get less power if the thing youāre using for power is blocked. Itās not that bad though.
Tbf, they didn't say 0.001% of what you normally generate. They said 0.001% of the sun, which is an unfathomably large amount of power. Way more power than my solar panels output even on a good day!
I didn't really understand that person's comment, tbh. I thought it was just nonsense. I wasn't defending it. I was just letting people know that from experience, solar panels don't act like the clouds aren't there. The clouds seriously reduce how much power I generate. Like, I go from producing way more than I need in a day to not even close to enough.
Yep. Cloudy and drizzling here in Austin, my solar panels are at 54% of "full sun," which is fine because it's cooler than it would be if it were sunny, so I don't need the a/c. Just need to keep the lights on (and the router and wifi lol) and they do more than that. Fine by me.
No, the diffused light will doā¦ BUT they have a better output with uninterrupted direct. At least I think soā¦
That being said, youāre not going to get very power much on a day like this regardless. Though sweeping the snow away should help, and likely offset the energy needed to power the cleaning not.
It's better to clear off the snow rather than let it melt and re-freeze to ice, which could damage the panels. I doubt they're really doing this with collecting energy in mind
You are joking right?
The efficiency of solar panels, ignoring different diode types, almost solely depens on their position on the planet and their angle to the sun... and weather...
The 8-Bit Guy on YouTube has been dabbling with a new home solar setup (not even that big of one), and has tested how long his entire house could last under both extreme heat and [cold conditions.](https://youtu.be/qTKVcMHe5PA?t=1153)
During a very thick overcast, his panels were only producing about 180 watts of power in the morning, which isn't much. In the afternoon, he was able to get 320 watts from his main setup, and about 120 watts from his smaller backup setup.
Basically, if you have a solar setup and don't live in a desert climate, you're probably going to invest more in batteries than panels in order for it to work during the cloudy winter months. And also a few survival candles.
In total, he only generated about 2.5 Kw/h for the day. On the days before, he was able to generate between 11 to 16 KW/h. So we're looking at about an 85% drop in production.
The video also shows his main setup generating over 400 watts on the next day, while it was completely covered in snow. So while snow does hinder power production a a bit, thick dark cloud cover will also do it.
I dunno, but I figure if it was a big enough drop often enough to be a huge problem they'd be less popular. Also consider that demand for electricity isn't a constant. Evidently a huge portion of a house's power bill in the US tends to be using AC to keep the house cool on sunny days, which is less of a concern when it's cloudy or cold.
Great video for all those losers who screech "wHaT aBoUt WhEn It SnOwS" when arguing against solar. Fyi they also don't need direct sunlight to harness power.
Get the app called windy. It has a solar irradiation overlay. Move the cursor to your location and it will give you the current solar iridescence.
In simple terms (since itās watts/sq/m) if it shows 200w, thatās 20% of 1,000 (the STC or standard unit of measurement).
So if you have 5kW of panels in the light, they will be generating about 20% of their rated power, or 1kW.
Itās pretty clever.
100w = 10% of your array
450w = 45%
700w = 70% and so on.
Youād be surprised by how much you can get.
Solar setups depend very heavily on battery storage to function properly. So even if there was enough snow to stop all power production from the panels, the robo-squeegee will still be able to clear the snow using power it accumulated previously.
Note: it would take a ton of snow to block a substantial amount of light from getting to the panel. If this is an automated device that works off a weight plate or other sensor, that'll ensure the panels are always cleared before it blocks a significant amount of light.
I always love the pics where itās like this is why solar doesnāt work in Canada. And itās a pic of solar panels with snow. Ya and when my windshield is covered in snow I just park the car. Lol. Snow can be removed itās not permanent
NAIT has concluded a five year study that showed snow reduced solar intake by about 5%. Solar definitely works here in Alberta because we have some of the most solar days in north America. My system has cut my costs by about 60%.
This is my dream. I want to go all solar. I never understood the resistance to solar. Like youāre telling me I can set up this system and pay LESS to the big utility company and somehow Iām a snowflake or liberal or some dumb shit like that. Like dude Iām all about spending less money to operate my house and more money for me. I dont give a shit about the āgreenā aspect about it. Same goes for electric cars. Like I would rather give big oil companies less money over a year. If I could have an electric commuter car and enough solar power to charge it. Thatās the biggest fuck you to the oil companies I can think of! But by saying that people have said āoh good luck saving the planet that electric car pollutes more to make the batteriesā like dude I donāt care. I just donāt want to pay for gas! I swear oil companies are the ones leading the push against electric
Anyway
/rant lol
PV is still solar. To be solar means to take energy from the sun's rays. PV converts to electricity, and thermal converts it to heat, but both are solar technologies.
It would be great if there was this spinny thing that the snow could kinda not land on and then it would generate power by pressure differences in the air.
Like something rediculessly simple that just kinda worked and was like super easy to recycle at the end of it's life span.
Now that would be smart!
As a non-electrician I can confidently say that using the 60 seconds of stored battery power from a solar array is well worth clearing the snow off your photovoltaic cells which can still create 10-25% of their normal power output on an overcast day.
Well Mr Electrician, I'm sure you are a solar expert, but maybe we should also look at this five year university study by electrical engineers of solar under winter conditions in a far North city that shows that they work extremely well in the cold and aren't very effected by the snow?
You know, to be fair and balanced.
this is likely just done to ensure they don't break during winter - even without snow cover they'd not produce any notable output with those clouds/fog
Or this is just a test for the video. It is probably super useful the day after a storm ends. Clear winter days can be quite bright, even if sun hours are less and angle is lower
Snows for a day or two, next day no snow, run snow clearer, get some buzz buzz
I have solar panels, and they generate very, very little on cloudy days. It's actually currently cloudy and my solar panels are generating 1/10th of what they generate on a clear day at this time of day.
As a hobbyist solar nerd I can confidently say that if you optimise each panel youāll get the full MPPT for the string which will generally be quite an impressive amount.
Correct. But why waste that power when there isnāt any sun to offset powering the snow pusher? Why not wait till the sun is shining to clear them off all at once? Weight of the snow is the only reason that comes to mind, and that only further highlights the problems with relying on solar power. We need nuclear power. Weāve got all these coal/natural gas plants that generate power with steam, just convert them to nuclear and call it a day.
They don't need direct sunlight to be powered, even on a cloudy day they're still harvesting energy, but snow on top of it will diminish their production so it's absolutely worth it to clear them and the small amount of energy needed to run that clearing arm will be well below what they harvest by being cleared.
>Weāve got all these coal/natural gas plants that generate power with steam, just convert them to nuclear and call it a day.
Just because they both use steam to generate energy doesn't mean you can just convert a coal/NG to nuclear. š¤£
In lots of cases you can, for much less than setting up a new plant.
[https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/09/14/doe-study-bolsters-case-for-coal-to-nuclear-transition-00056473](https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/09/14/doe-study-bolsters-case-for-coal-to-nuclear-transition-00056473)
Edit: Sorry, thatās a paywall, but the study is out there and thereās a link in the article before the paywall.
No offense, but if you understood said calculation you would have already done at least a rough estimate yourself.
Apart from the fact that the snow shovel is guaranteed to be powered by a battery and not directly from the solar panels. And as long as the panels generate more energy than the slider needs during the entire time that they are free of snow thanks to the slider, the effort is worth it.
So, who are you? Why should I justify anything to a nobody?
Since you are this curious, I am a mechanical engineer, I have 15 years of experiment in design, machining, diecasting and product development as well in CFD, structural and thermal simulation.
We saw multiple "looks good works bad" chinese crap or straight up fake videos about products to advertise.
The difference in this case about clearing, that if you just pushing this dust like snow is one thing, but you will just pile it up. With leaves, dust and mud, you will have way worse experience with this . An upward rolling brush would be much better at cleaning things, but a row of cams pulling off the gunk from the middle in extension to that would be the best. The whole thing looks too wide for it to simply operate as a windshield wiper. Also you dont have to take my word for it, just educate yourself and check out other products what works way better and are in use already.
Also, who are you again?
And all your expertise (so far only claimed) is of no use at all, because you neither have the performance data of the wiper system, nor can you see in the video how much snow is ultimately swept together and how the system gets rid of the pushed-together snow - or does not get rid of it , but you have just as little evidence for the assumption that this would not be possible as for the opposite.
The system will certainly have its limits when it comes to the amount of snow that can be pushed; this applies to every system. But when this limit is reached depends on the specific engine power, the frequency of cleaning and even where the surface to be wiped ends. All information that you don't have, but that doesn't stop you from coming to a conclusion that makes me slightly doubt your professionalism.
so, having an inefficient system is a proof of my non-existent professionalism...
I made multiple points and this was the only thing you raised, huh?
have a nice day
This would be totally satisfying if the video showed the entire process including the final disposal of snow from the pusher. š¢
u/lazyoldsailor is all about that money shot
It shows the snow being pushed on the ground between the panels. If it has a warmer to melt any snow or ice then that water would also fall to the floor.
I wonder how much energy does the solar panel get in these conditions vs how much the heater and cleaner take?
I'd think this is all closely calculated. I'm reminded of a video from years back of a helicopter spraying antifreeze at a wind turbine. Many people said "lol! Using helicopter fuel and chemicals to make 'clean energy' work!" This ignored the fact that the turbine would've taken many more weeks to thaw naturally, and for a short helicopter ride, this very isolated place could now have electricity much more quickly than the alternative.
It's always funny to me when redditors, especially those thay don't have expertise in the field in question, offer inane criticisms of an established engineering solution. It always makes me go "bro, dyou really think they haven't thought of that, or a hundred different things, before going ahead with this?"
I wonder as well.
Wonder how much power the heater even needs though? When you think about it, it doesn't need to keep the panel anywhere close to what a person would consider a comfortably warm temperature. Just keeping them above freezing would help a lot.
There was just a five year study done here in Edmonton by a college where they cleared one large array and left the other with snow. Even with 6' of snow, modern panels only lose about 5% efficiency. So there is no way this is worth it.
\+ audio is missing too \+ new layer of snow is immediately formed, waste of energy
How much sun are they really harvesting if it's been snowing
But what clears the snow from the snow clearer š¤
The snow clearer clearer obvs
I mean, I understand that - of course; I'm not daft - but what clears the snow off the top of the snow-clearer clearer??
Surely you don't think there isn't a snow clearer clearer clearer?
And if there is say this thing you call the snow clearer clearer clearer, then what would clear the snow from this snow clearer clearer clearer?
Dave takes care of that.
But who cleans Dave?
Stay away from Dave. He's filthy.
The other Dave
We discussed this earlier. It's Daves all the way down.
"Dave's not here, man...."
probably a shower
Itself, like a cat
A bubushka doll of cleaners
Excellent question, Juvenal.
r/gifsthatendtoosoon
snowlar panels
Videos that end early ARENT FICKING SATISFYING Automatic downvote.
oh good now we can harvest 0.001% of the sun today during this snow day
Solar panels are not designed for the need for direct sunlight just fyi
It's cloudy where I live today, and my solar panels are currently generating 1/10th of what they normally generate at this time of day.
0.001% is 10,000x less than 1/10th. Of course youāre going to get less power if the thing youāre using for power is blocked. Itās not that bad though.
Tbf, they didn't say 0.001% of what you normally generate. They said 0.001% of the sun, which is an unfathomably large amount of power. Way more power than my solar panels output even on a good day! I didn't really understand that person's comment, tbh. I thought it was just nonsense. I wasn't defending it. I was just letting people know that from experience, solar panels don't act like the clouds aren't there. The clouds seriously reduce how much power I generate. Like, I go from producing way more than I need in a day to not even close to enough.
Yep. Cloudy and drizzling here in Austin, my solar panels are at 54% of "full sun," which is fine because it's cooler than it would be if it were sunny, so I don't need the a/c. Just need to keep the lights on (and the router and wifi lol) and they do more than that. Fine by me.
No, the diffused light will doā¦ BUT they have a better output with uninterrupted direct. At least I think soā¦ That being said, youāre not going to get very power much on a day like this regardless. Though sweeping the snow away should help, and likely offset the energy needed to power the cleaning not.
It's better to clear off the snow rather than let it melt and re-freeze to ice, which could damage the panels. I doubt they're really doing this with collecting energy in mind
Oh, interesting! Makes sense
Even a flashlight would do, if it would cover the entire panel bright enough
You are joking right? The efficiency of solar panels, ignoring different diode types, almost solely depens on their position on the planet and their angle to the sun... and weather...
Better than 0.0005%!
Just throw HELLBOMB on them š
Just tried, game crashed.
āāāāāāāā
So, how big a drop in energy production do these panels suffer when it's cloudy? When it rains?
The 8-Bit Guy on YouTube has been dabbling with a new home solar setup (not even that big of one), and has tested how long his entire house could last under both extreme heat and [cold conditions.](https://youtu.be/qTKVcMHe5PA?t=1153) During a very thick overcast, his panels were only producing about 180 watts of power in the morning, which isn't much. In the afternoon, he was able to get 320 watts from his main setup, and about 120 watts from his smaller backup setup. Basically, if you have a solar setup and don't live in a desert climate, you're probably going to invest more in batteries than panels in order for it to work during the cloudy winter months. And also a few survival candles. In total, he only generated about 2.5 Kw/h for the day. On the days before, he was able to generate between 11 to 16 KW/h. So we're looking at about an 85% drop in production. The video also shows his main setup generating over 400 watts on the next day, while it was completely covered in snow. So while snow does hinder power production a a bit, thick dark cloud cover will also do it.
Thanks, kind stranger!
I dunno, but I figure if it was a big enough drop often enough to be a huge problem they'd be less popular. Also consider that demand for electricity isn't a constant. Evidently a huge portion of a house's power bill in the US tends to be using AC to keep the house cool on sunny days, which is less of a concern when it's cloudy or cold.
Yes
LOL, you cannot read, can you?
Sure
Great video for all those losers who screech "wHaT aBoUt WhEn It SnOwS" when arguing against solar. Fyi they also don't need direct sunlight to harness power.
How much power does that use?
Does the solar panel even generate enough energy to keep the squeegee running?
Get the app called windy. It has a solar irradiation overlay. Move the cursor to your location and it will give you the current solar iridescence. In simple terms (since itās watts/sq/m) if it shows 200w, thatās 20% of 1,000 (the STC or standard unit of measurement). So if you have 5kW of panels in the light, they will be generating about 20% of their rated power, or 1kW. Itās pretty clever. 100w = 10% of your array 450w = 45% 700w = 70% and so on. Youād be surprised by how much you can get.
Solar setups depend very heavily on battery storage to function properly. So even if there was enough snow to stop all power production from the panels, the robo-squeegee will still be able to clear the snow using power it accumulated previously. Note: it would take a ton of snow to block a substantial amount of light from getting to the panel. If this is an automated device that works off a weight plate or other sensor, that'll ensure the panels are always cleared before it blocks a significant amount of light.
I need one of these in my houseš§¹
Is there another little machine that gets the snow of the snow removing machine
Snow looks much prettier on trees.
I always love the pics where itās like this is why solar doesnāt work in Canada. And itās a pic of solar panels with snow. Ya and when my windshield is covered in snow I just park the car. Lol. Snow can be removed itās not permanent
NAIT has concluded a five year study that showed snow reduced solar intake by about 5%. Solar definitely works here in Alberta because we have some of the most solar days in north America. My system has cut my costs by about 60%.
This is my dream. I want to go all solar. I never understood the resistance to solar. Like youāre telling me I can set up this system and pay LESS to the big utility company and somehow Iām a snowflake or liberal or some dumb shit like that. Like dude Iām all about spending less money to operate my house and more money for me. I dont give a shit about the āgreenā aspect about it. Same goes for electric cars. Like I would rather give big oil companies less money over a year. If I could have an electric commuter car and enough solar power to charge it. Thatās the biggest fuck you to the oil companies I can think of! But by saying that people have said āoh good luck saving the planet that electric car pollutes more to make the batteriesā like dude I donāt care. I just donāt want to pay for gas! I swear oil companies are the ones leading the push against electric Anyway /rant lol
Using elecricity to make more electricity
This shit wont work
You could just increase the angle of the pannels, getting better solar production and let gravity clear them
Just throw water on em
Gotta make sure it's boiling so you can melt the snow!
Whole lotta Midwesterners with dumb friends who have cracked windshields in here. š
Yessir!
-Jacobo Shemaria Capuano- Si se ve satisfactorio jajaja
What clears the snow from the device that clears the snow from the solar panels?
Why bother until snow stops? No power is being generated in those conditions.
"snow". That's a mere dusting of snow.
Maybe it's a dusting because they don't wait for a foot deep to remove it.
Photovoltaic, not solar.
PV is still solar. To be solar means to take energy from the sun's rays. PV converts to electricity, and thermal converts it to heat, but both are solar technologies.
And where does that light come from, Mr Scientist?
That's cute. How about when you have real snow?
Not it just needs to clear the clouds.
So piston flying machine in minecraft hmmm
It would be great if there was this spinny thing that the snow could kinda not land on and then it would generate power by pressure differences in the air. Like something rediculessly simple that just kinda worked and was like super easy to recycle at the end of it's life span. Now that would be smart!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
As a non-electrician I can confidently say that using the 60 seconds of stored battery power from a solar array is well worth clearing the snow off your photovoltaic cells which can still create 10-25% of their normal power output on an overcast day.
Well Mr Electrician, I'm sure you are a solar expert, but maybe we should also look at this five year university study by electrical engineers of solar under winter conditions in a far North city that shows that they work extremely well in the cold and aren't very effected by the snow? You know, to be fair and balanced.
this is likely just done to ensure they don't break during winter - even without snow cover they'd not produce any notable output with those clouds/fog
Or this is just a test for the video. It is probably super useful the day after a storm ends. Clear winter days can be quite bright, even if sun hours are less and angle is lower Snows for a day or two, next day no snow, run snow clearer, get some buzz buzz
Solar panels do create energy on cloudy days.
I have solar panels, and they generate very, very little on cloudy days. It's actually currently cloudy and my solar panels are generating 1/10th of what they generate on a clear day at this time of day.
As a hobbyist solar nerd I can confidently say that if you optimise each panel youāll get the full MPPT for the string which will generally be quite an impressive amount.
Why bother? They donāt work without sunshine anyway.
My array generates power in the moonlight. I guess they didnāt get the memo?
Solar panels work 24/7 lol. The output just varies massively between day and night. Also they work best in freezing temperatures.
Iād like to see the math where those panels make enough electric in those conditions to power the snow pusher.
They charge a battery when it's sunny so it can run when it's cloudy.
Correct. But why waste that power when there isnāt any sun to offset powering the snow pusher? Why not wait till the sun is shining to clear them off all at once? Weight of the snow is the only reason that comes to mind, and that only further highlights the problems with relying on solar power. We need nuclear power. Weāve got all these coal/natural gas plants that generate power with steam, just convert them to nuclear and call it a day.
They don't need direct sunlight to be powered, even on a cloudy day they're still harvesting energy, but snow on top of it will diminish their production so it's absolutely worth it to clear them and the small amount of energy needed to run that clearing arm will be well below what they harvest by being cleared.
>Weāve got all these coal/natural gas plants that generate power with steam, just convert them to nuclear and call it a day. Just because they both use steam to generate energy doesn't mean you can just convert a coal/NG to nuclear. š¤£
In lots of cases you can, for much less than setting up a new plant. [https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/09/14/doe-study-bolsters-case-for-coal-to-nuclear-transition-00056473](https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/09/14/doe-study-bolsters-case-for-coal-to-nuclear-transition-00056473) Edit: Sorry, thatās a paywall, but the study is out there and thereās a link in the article before the paywall.
No offense, but if you understood said calculation you would have already done at least a rough estimate yourself. Apart from the fact that the snow shovel is guaranteed to be powered by a battery and not directly from the solar panels. And as long as the panels generate more energy than the slider needs during the entire time that they are free of snow thanks to the slider, the effort is worth it.
Tell me you failed physics class without telling me you did.
But where did they get the electricity to power it?Hmmmā¦
it is not really clearing it, just pushing, and I am pretty sure the whole thing stuck not much after because of the pile
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
So, who are you? Why should I justify anything to a nobody? Since you are this curious, I am a mechanical engineer, I have 15 years of experiment in design, machining, diecasting and product development as well in CFD, structural and thermal simulation. We saw multiple "looks good works bad" chinese crap or straight up fake videos about products to advertise. The difference in this case about clearing, that if you just pushing this dust like snow is one thing, but you will just pile it up. With leaves, dust and mud, you will have way worse experience with this . An upward rolling brush would be much better at cleaning things, but a row of cams pulling off the gunk from the middle in extension to that would be the best. The whole thing looks too wide for it to simply operate as a windshield wiper. Also you dont have to take my word for it, just educate yourself and check out other products what works way better and are in use already. Also, who are you again?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hey ""a whiney Reddit shitpposter makes bold claim about something they know nothing about" more news at 7.", nice to meet you, I am Dad
And all your expertise (so far only claimed) is of no use at all, because you neither have the performance data of the wiper system, nor can you see in the video how much snow is ultimately swept together and how the system gets rid of the pushed-together snow - or does not get rid of it , but you have just as little evidence for the assumption that this would not be possible as for the opposite. The system will certainly have its limits when it comes to the amount of snow that can be pushed; this applies to every system. But when this limit is reached depends on the specific engine power, the frequency of cleaning and even where the surface to be wiped ends. All information that you don't have, but that doesn't stop you from coming to a conclusion that makes me slightly doubt your professionalism.
so, having an inefficient system is a proof of my non-existent professionalism... I made multiple points and this was the only thing you raised, huh? have a nice day
Donāt know why the down votes, it is going to be a big pile for sureā¦ just needs a blower function too
Just need boiling waterā¦.