Nearly a year ago at this point we announced that we were going off grid due to overly high power bills compared to our actual usage. The idea was to make a DIY Powerwall and we are late but we have it functional finally. Today John asked me to clean the panels which I knew needed it badly and I decided to take some photos to show you how I did it and why it's important. I'll also share how I plan to tweak my methods in the future.

Tools for the task:

Paper towels
White vinegar
Sunglasses

It was a hard job in the sun but that view helped. We generally don't go up on the roof during this time of the day because it's so bright and hot it's just hard to exist up there.

I expected more bird poop but there was honestly more dust than anything else. Anyone that has lived here or even stayed here for an extended time knows Acapulco and Mexico in general is a dusty place.

I just poured the vinegar on and cleaned with paper towels. This is generally my go to thing to do when glass is involved but I wish I would have honestly hosed them down then dried them off from there. Would have saved me a lot of time, vinegar and paper towels.

I ended up with a huge pile of seriously dirty towels like this.

Generally when I clean glass with vinegar I end up with a streak free shine. It was much harder to achieve on these super dirty panels.

See? Gross. That dirt reportedly reduced our power yield by 10 to 15 percent from what John was saying. That's a lot.

So if you've got solar panels and want to get the absolute most out of them you'll likely want to clean them pretty regularly.

For those wondering about the details of our off grid adventures, in the next week I will take photos of everything and explain what we've been doing, our setbacks and where we are now as far as our power situation is concerned.