September 4, 201510 yr I'm not at home at the moment, but a quick ssh into my monitoring station says batteries are in float and 230W is being delivered to the house. SO it was a good day. So yesterday I equalised the bank so it ran full-out most of the day, and my peak was only around 650W out of the 900Wp I have on the roof. So despite it looking very sunny and clear, it's just not as sunny as it could be (yet). I made 4.1kwh yesterday in total with my 900W array, so that's about 8 out of 10. My best summer day was a 5kwh day. I'm waiting for summer in anticipation, because I have a sneaky suspicion I might do better now that I have a quality charge controller.
September 4, 201510 yr Hi Dr Evil. I know you just testing but your panel seems to be fairly flat. I have just changed my panels from winter tilt 45o to spring 30o (the winter tilt should have been 560 but I was to chicken to mount them at that angle - thinking that the wind would really get hold of them). To get close to your 255w the sun needs to strike the panel at 90o. Will pop in if you like will probably be down in PE in two weeks time again. Chris
September 5, 201510 yr Author Hi Chris. I did do a fair bit of dancing between tilt angles. Finally set it to about 12 degrees for that part of the day, that is how i got to the 160w. At our lattitude, the best angle to set at for summer is apparently 12 degrees. http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/ This would be consistent with my test yesterday. The best angle for winter here, is 50 degrees. Interesting side note. If you have a decent android phone, you have access to a wealth of instruments and free apps that come in handy for these kind of tests. I was using a clinometer app that leverages the sensors on your phone and digitally displays tilt and roll angle. What does a dedicated digital level go for?
September 5, 201510 yr I used trig to work out tilt angles. Never thought I would use trig ever again after school. (http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/geometry-plane/triangle-theorems.php)
September 5, 201510 yr Hah Chris, exactly the same! I used trig when I made the frame. I had a bit more trig under my belt though, studied about two years of additional mathematics at university, so I suppose it comes way more naturally. I caught myself converting to radians first because none of the answers felt right before I did that... :-)
September 5, 201510 yr Author lol always a good idea to have the theoretical background and manual ability. but in this case, unnecessarily tedious. leverage technology
September 5, 201510 yr Author Making about 180w today, 12:30pm clear skies. Think I should start making the mounts for flat IBR roof. Basically want them to be adjustable between 12
September 6, 201510 yr Author Plonkie how are we doing in Cape Town? Im getting around 200w today, so I am happy to commit to more panels now
September 6, 201510 yr Peaked at around 780W out of the 900Wp. It was a good day but there was a little thin high-level cloud. Got 4.1kwh total. About as good as expected.
October 11, 201510 yr Author Hello gents It's been a while since I touched this solar stuff again, been a bit busy. Anyways, got some things done the weekend at least. Finished with the adjustable roof panel mount (which I was supposed to have done ages ago) Just need to replace the temporary bolts I have on this one with shorter, high tension bolts and spring washers to help keep it sturdy in this horrible PE wind. Also need to galvanize. Hopefully, I can mount it the coming weekend if the gods show me favor. http://imgur.com/UF0znPh http://imgur.com/xCGB9bl The idea is to have these staggered so that, for the next panel, I just latch the new panels frame on to the existing panels frame and use half the steel of the first one. Ease of expansion.
October 11, 201510 yr The idea is to have these staggered so that, for the next panel, I just latch the new panels frame on to the existing panels frame and use half the steel of the first one. Ease of expansion. I might not understand what you have in mind, but looking at the photos the first panel may shade the 2nd.
October 11, 201510 yr Author Hi Chris This is what I mean. http://imgur.com/mgpEriJ Instead of needing 2 thick angle iron pieces to be braced onto the roof joists (for the very first panel) I will only need one additional piece per additional panel. The same goes for the actual horizontal frame the panels will sit in.
October 11, 201510 yr Hi Chris This is what I mean. http://imgur.com/mgpEriJ Instead of needing 2 thick angle iron pieces to be braced onto the roof joists (for the very first panel) I will only need one additional piece per additional panel. The same goes for the actual horizontal frame the panels will sit in. That will work.
October 12, 201510 yr Hello gents It's been a while since I touched this solar stuff again, been a bit busy. Anyways, got some things done the weekend at least. Finished with the adjustable roof panel mount (which I was supposed to have done ages ago) Just need to replace the temporary bolts I have on this one with shorter, high tension bolts and spring washers to help keep it sturdy in this horrible PE wind. Also need to galvanize. Hopefully, I can mount it the coming weekend if the gods show me favor. http://imgur.com/UF0znPh http://imgur.com/xCGB9bl The idea is to have these staggered so that, for the next panel, I just latch the new panels frame on to the existing panels frame and use half the steel of the first one. Ease of expansion. The pics show a right angled triangle, moving the base of the upright either way will lessen the angle. Is that the optimum angle for winter ?.
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