EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!

[djos]

Ah Solar Roadways, the comedy gift / snake oil that keeps on giving! 

[EEVblog]

And it is not like something really stopped them from installing this at their house and figuring all that stuff there.

They did, and it was a rather impressive installation.
But 5 years later they have still not released data from it. Nor from this one either of course.

[ataradov]

They did, and it was a rather impressive installation.

I've seen that old one, but it was clearly a different design with drainage and all sorts of wonders of civil engineering.

This design is quite a bit different and you can't just assume that it will work. Who puts things into production without doing even a limited test?

[drussell]

And it is not like something really stopped them from installing this at their house and figuring all that stuff there.

Because they weren't getting paid with taxpayer money to do it...

[ataradov]

Because they weren't getting paid with taxpayer money to do it...

Yeah, but this sort of stuff is pretty damaging to the reputation. I guess the same people can create another company if SR name is totally trashed (if such thing is even possible).

[ludzinc]

Can't be arse uploading a pic, but the webcam shows the panels quite nicely snowed over.

Wonder what the minimum temp rating of the panels are??

[LabSpokane]

Fire brigade called! 

You can't script this stuff!

Totally predictable based on trying to daisy chain 250A of 12VDC through 14 and 16AWG conductors. Yes, you read that correctly.

[rollatorwieltje]

At least that part of their installation wasn't a lie, a fire will melt snow quite nicely 

[EEVblog]

[jpc]

That's one way to keep the snow melted

[madires]

Solar Roadways are so hot that they are a danger for public safety 

[gildasd]

At least they are not just burning money anymore...

[coppice]

At least they are not just burning money anymore...

And they are achieving a net output of energy, including quite a lot of light.

[gildasd]

At least they are not just burning money anymore...

And they are achieving a net output of energy, including quite a lot of light.

Missed the CO2 reduction goals tho...

[Money4Nothing]

The great thing about this whole project is that it will fix itself.
By that I mean failure is assured, and everyone will see it. It can't work, so it won't work. Eventually everyone will figure it out.

[LabSpokane]

Find Waldo and his DC circuit breakers. Then, for a bonus, find the conduit capable of handling 6 pairs of 6AWG conductors.

  This was designed by someone with a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.



This is the conduit to the panels. It barely has enough room for the 14AWG lamp cord they pulled.



Each power supply is 500W for a total of 3kW power output so they budgeted 100W of heater power per panel. Maybe they derated the heaters, but 100W is about right for a silicone pad heater for the apparent surface area of the panel.

The panel interconnects appear to be 16AWG, so even if they connect five panels per power supply, at some point they are running 41.6A through a feeder rated at 27A in direct burial (not in conduit which is a worse case) and the 16AWG interconnects must be conducting the full 41.6A for the first panel in the chain. Depending on the wire, 16AWG is rated for 15-18A at best, and I can't even imagine designing to that level intentionally.

What could possibly go wrong? 

[FrankBuss]

I wonder if this cabinet is water proof and if this is a problem? Looks more like something you would install inside of a house.

[LabSpokane]

I wonder if this cabinet is water proof and if this is a problem? Looks more like something you would install inside of a house.

It is actually a proper, outdoor rated cabinet. I didn't check its NEMA rating, but the local utility was involved and would not have turned on the meter if there was a concern. Personally, I don't like top penetrations on cabinets, but that doesn't mean it leaks. I honestly doubt water is an issue. Any water would eventually just run out the bottom conduit anyway.

[max_torque]

I wonder when they will finally give up.

When the money finally runs out, by which time, if they are smart enough to have created a highly favourable business plan, they will personally be rich enough just to retire to Florida and lie on the beach in the sun (a solar fricking breach!!)   

[james_s]

That cabinet and the wiring is crazy. I've seen more sensible stuff designed by hobbyist with no formal technical education at all. They should have at least consulted with an electrician.

If it was done by someone with a master's in EE they must be one of those people who is good at passing exams but lacks much in the way of practical skill. I've known a few people like that, they got engineering degrees for the salary but had no real passion for engineering.

[drussell]

This whole Solar Freakin' Roadways debacle is so retarded, in so many ways, that it is making my brain hurt....   

p.s.  By the way, Dave, this time it still took 57 retries reloading the page for the Reply button to not generate a 502.  Something is still very borked but at least it did actually get to the reply page after a few minutes of trying.

[djos]

This whole Solar Freakin' Roadways debacle is so retarded, in so many ways, that it is making my brain hurt....   

p.s.  By the way, Dave, this time it still took 57 retries reloading the page for the Reply button to not generate a 502.  Something is still very borked but at least it did actually get to the reply page after a few minutes of trying.

Forum is working fine from all my devices via 3G/4G and fixed line services, maybe your ISP's DNS service is borked?

[gildasd]

I wonder when they will finally give up.

When the money finally runs out, by which time, if they are smart enough to have created a highly favourable business plan, they will personally be rich enough just to retire to Florida and lie on the beach in the sun (a solar fricking breach!!)   

Money running out? Not any time soon, too many idiots eager to part from their dosh.

[drussell]

Forum is working fine from all my devices via 3G/4G and fixed line services, maybe your ISP's DNS service is borked?

Nope... Essentially I am the ISP.  I am using my own DNS resolvers that all my customers use which go straight to the root servers for lookups, no upstream caching, etc.  Reloading the comment page worked fine, no issues...  Try to reply?  Gateway error.  Load another forum section?  Another thread?  No problem.  Try to reply?  Gateway error.  This has been going on for weeks intermittently but seems to be getting worse and acting slower and slower on page loads lately.  Just a heads-up for Dave.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Solar Roadways discussion! 

[djos]

Forum is working fine from all my devices via 3G/4G and fixed line services, maybe your ISP's DNS service is borked?

Nope... Essentially I am the ISP.  I am using my own DNS resolvers that all my customers use which go straight to the root servers for lookups, no upstream caching, etc.  Reloading the comment page worked fine, no issues...  Try to reply?  Gateway error.  Load another forum section?  Another thread?  No problem.  Try to reply?  Gateway error.  This has been going on for weeks intermittently but seems to be getting worse and acting slower and slower on page loads lately.  Just a heads-up for Dave.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Solar Roadways discussion! 

Very odd, both Reply & Quote Reply have worked first time everytime for me so far today.