Solar panel cleaning
Clean panels make more power.Damaged panels don't.
What solar gain is, and how hot spots are made.
Solar gain
What solar gain is
Solar gain is the power a panel makes when sunlight reaches its cells.
Dirt on the glass blocks sunlight, so the panel makes less power. Cleaning lets the light back in.
Many panels have an anti-reflective coating (A.R.C.), a thin layer that helps more light get through the glass.
Damage the coating and you lose some of the gain you cleaned for.
Hot spots
How hot spots are madeon panels coated with A.R.C.
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Spinning brushes drag grit
Left on one spot, a spinning brush presses down and grinds grit into the coating.
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The coating wears. A cell cracks.
Damage you can't see from the ground.
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Heat builds. A hot spot forms.
The damaged cell turns power into heat.
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A third of the panel goes dark.
The panel's bypass diode, a built-in switch, cuts out that cell's section.
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One weak cell drags down the whole panel.
Cells work as a chain. The panel is only as strong as its weakest cell.
Clean safely
How to clean without the risk
- Keep the brush moving. Never leave a spinning brush on one spot.
- Only the soft SILICON scrub is safe on A.R.C.
Clean solar without the risk
SOLAR ROCKER: no spinning, soft SILICON scrub.