Cleaning solar panels

[Rossp]

I have had my solar panels on my M/H roof for about 6 weeks, and was surprised at the amount of dust etc. they had collected in that time.

Does anyone do anything to their panels to help?

I was thinking of giving them a treatment with Rainex. (that water dispersant stuff)

Rossp

[bob r]

Give um a polish with a wax polish is all i do.


Bob

[pet-els]

I was told that after washing, spray with "Mr Sheen".

PeterH

[T1 Terry]

A really good clean with washing detergent and warm water and them a good rinse. If the panels have been on the roof for more than 3 mths, the next step is number 2 cut and polish to get the build up off the panel, you will be amazed at just how much comes off on the rage even though you've just washed them. If they have been treated with the number 2 cut and polish but needs another coat because the water no longer beads well when washed, a coat of premium wax polished just like you would a car you wanted to always look its best.
Any silicon polish will go cloudy such as Rainex and the , Armorall, furniture polish like Mr Sheen and the generic brands will leave an oil film that will glue the dust onto the panels. It's your call, they are your panels and you have to live with the results, but from yrs of experience I have found the wax polish to be the only thing that doesn't cause more problems than you had to start with and has an instant result that is long lasting as long as the regular treatment continues.

T1 Terry

[bagmaker]

interesting yarn
If the glass is shiny and reflective, is it reflecting more power away?

[native pepper]

Have never cleaned the panels on the bus or house, but have on the workshop as there is always crap flying round there.

[Mrcoolabah1au]

Glass or flexible panels what wax polish

[T1 Terry]

interesting yarn
If the glass is shiny and reflective, is it reflecting more power away?

If you see a colour on any surface, that is the light that can not be absorbed by the surface finish and is therefore reflected. Black means none is reflected, yet it can still be shiny ..... a dull white finish means lots of light is being reflected at the panel surface, a deep blue or black is the panel module itself showing through the panel surface. If you end up with a mirror finish where nothing but the sun, clouds and sky can be seen and nothing of the under lying layers, someone has put a mirror on top of your solar panel

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

Glass or flexible panels what wax polish

Makes no difference between semiflexible or glass, just don't lean with the heals of the hands on the semi flexibles cause you may fracture a module.
Repo No2, Kitten No2 and just about every other brand name you can think of with No2 after it is cut and polish. Good finishing wax polish has a high level of Canauba wax also known as Brazil Wax (that is different to Brazilian Wax Dottie )
Armorall do sell a Carnauba wax polish called High Performance Wax & Polish, Turtle Wax is probably the best known but there are a lot of different brands on the market and the high end market is Mothers and Meguiars, but that is maybe a tad over the top, although would quite possibly build up to be the best finish over time and extend the frequency of repolishing requirements.
If you don't believe there is any benefit, cover all the panels and expose one panel and take the input/output reading at your battery monitor with all appliances off. Now polish the panel and repeat the test. As long as the sun is still shining on top of the panel you will see just how much can be gained by polishing the panels. If you have a large array you will quite likely see the total increase will equal or exceed the output from the single dirty panel.

T1 Terry

[Dot]

George has a solar panel on his head but gets no energy from it, might need to give it a cut and polish