Yes, in deep snow country tall pole mounts can be expensive... especially with enough room below so the sliding snow never meets the bottom edge of the array. My home system has 5 pole mounts with the bottom edges ~6' above the ground.
Now that engineering is mandated, this adds more expense to ensure sure the foundation can support the mechanical forces of this configuration. But shallow angle roof mounts risk having the bottom edge of the modules get ripped off (see attached picture) so here in the Mount Shasta area, this is the only thing that works.
There was a thread where people were experimenting with reverse biasing modules to cause them to generate heat. I think boB was working on some kind of possibility for a charge controller option to do this, but I am not sure where that went.
Todd
On Thursday, December 5, 2024 5:49pm, "Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> said:
Passive works best. In big snow country here, I learned the hard way to only do pole mounts... and set the angle steep in the winter. The snow slides off and all is fine.
ToddOn Thursday, December 5, 2024 1:01pm, "Kirk Herander via RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> said:
I’ve never tried it but just heard about these people. From the bio they are the original makers of rain X, but they customized a product, several of them, to clean Pv panels and they also mentioned it can help to shed rain and snow.By the way, Rainx is not approved for such an application.
Kirk Herander / kirkh@vermont.solar
Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC
Celebrating our 33st Anniversary 1991-2024!!
dba Vermont Solar Engineering
802.559.1225
On Thu, Dec 5, 2024 at 2:19 PM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:_______________________________________________Has anyone successfully used heat panels or cables to melt iced-over panels (ie. without damaging the panels)? In heavy snow country, or over periods of freeze/thaw when pelty slushy snow sticks and freezes to panels, it would be nice to have a safe method of clearing them, especially off-grid. I remember discussions of the futility of backfeeding panels to heat them up to accomplish the same, but not about heat tape or pans that might be worth trying.Thanks,Howie MichaelsonSun Catcher
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