Solar panel cloud edge effect

[geem]

Yesterday we saw this phenomenon first hand. We have a pair of framed 180w panels on each port and starboard guardrail. So 2x180w each side. In addition, we have some nasty Renogy flexible panels that dont produce what they should but none the less, this set of 920w of solar did an instantaneous peak yesterday of 37A @24v!!
The sun was as close to overhead as it gets. The starboard 360w panels peaked at 448w. The portside peaked at 404w and the crappy Renogy 200w worth of flexi crap peaked at 127w. People talk about the benefits of MPPT over PWM but to actually see 448w peak on 360w panels is incredible. I just happened to be looking at the solar input at that time. Seeing 37A on the shunt was a bit of a shock! What was surprising was it wasn't that sunny. It was then that I realised it was the cloud edge effect. Fantastic but I am a bit of an anorak with these things

 

[Zing]

Yesterday we saw this phenomenon first hand. We have a pair of framed 180w panels on each port and starboard guardrail. So 2x180w each side. In addition, we have some nasty Renogy flexible panels that dont produce what they should but none the less, this set of 920w of solar did an instantaneous peak yesterday of 37A @24v!!
The sun was as close to overhead as it gets. The starboard 360w panels peaked at 448w. The portside peaked at 404w and the crappy Renogy 200w worth of flexi crap peaked at 127w. People talk about the benefits of MPPT over PWM but to actually see 448w peak on 360w panels is incredible. I just happened to be looking at the solar input at that time. Seeing 37A on the shunt was a bit of a shock! What was surprising was it wasn't that sunny. It was then that I realised it was the cloud edge effect. Fantastic but I am a bit of an anorak with these things

Interesting phenomenon, but I have never seen it, also my Victron logging software has never recorded a peak like that, but I only have flexible panels. Did your logger reveal it? You only mention a peak on the rigid panels, did only the rigid panels show the raised peak?

 

[geem]

Interesting phenomenon, but I have never seen it, also my Victron logging software has never recorded a peak like that, but I only have flexible panels. Did your logger reveal it? You only mention a peak on the rigid panels, did only the rigid panels show the raised peak?

Both sets of rigid panels on seperate victron MPPTS showed it. My flexi panels perform badly. They didn't show it

 

[B27]

There's really nothing incredible about getting 440W out of a nominal 360W panel or whatever.
The nominal power of a solar panel is often 10% below its performance in standard test conditions anyway, to allow for manufacturing variations and aging.
The standard test is done in something like 1kW per sq metre of standard sunlight.
Atmospheric effects can focus higher intensities sometimes, due to reflections from clouds and refraction around the edge of them.

But you can also get short term effects from solar controllers, if the panel is running at a high voltage then a load is applied, the stored charge may allow a high peak power to be drawn for a short time.
And I wouldn't trust the measurement to be accurate for fast-varying voltages and currents.