May 21, 201610 yr I updated the link so check that you use the latest. If you want to fix the panels then I have 45 deg angle but if you move them maybe 2x a year then it will allow for options. Especially when you design your frame... Enjoy fiddling Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk
May 21, 201610 yr 1 hour ago, Mark said: I used this site and it helped alot... you need to decide summer/winter or anything in between. The sliders in the tool at the bottom of the page do the business for you... for you location (you need your GPS coordinates...) Interesting visualisation. I see the is very little difference between 45 (my actual tilt angle) and 56 (recommended tilt angle for winter). Adjusting 4 times a year keeps me very close to the incident power curve which is nice to see the effort of making adjustable panels worth while.
May 21, 201610 yr Thanks Chris, How doe your curve looks like ? Then i need to design something that can be adjusted. How do you know when to adjust? Will you mind upload some photos of yours ?
May 22, 201610 yr If you look at the bottom of the curves utility you will see the bottom axis is days... you adjust when the appropriate day is reached in the year... ie 90 days (30deg) 180 (50deg) and 270 (30deg), mid summer (15deg) for example in my case...
May 22, 201610 yr On 21/05/2016 at 10:58 PM, Manie said: Thanks Chris, How doe your curve looks like ? Then i need to design something that can be adjusted. How do you know when to adjust? Will you mind upload some photos of yours ? Hi Manie Since my panels are adjustable I need to show you 3 curves 1 for winter, 1 for autumn/spring and 1 for summer. This is winter at 45o and there is good correlation between Incident Power which is a theoretical maximum and what is falling on the panels at the time. The is little to no difference between 45o and 56o (recommended winter tilt for my location). I opted for 45 so as to reduce the likelihood of wind damage. 56o just seems very upright and having played with this calculator I am very pleased I opted for 45o since there is virtually no difference. There is quite a large sweet spot in terms of panel orientation. For instance my panels tend to produce above 2250W from 11am to 2pm That is above 75% so that is in excess of a 200 arc in summer so a 10o vertical difference does not seem to affect it too much. The earth does not go run the sun in an even orbit. The orbit is elliptical and at times we are closer to the sun than at other times and the earth wobbles on its axis (Chandler wobble). These variations have a negligible influence on insolation but do seem to affect our weather. Autumn and Spring and one can see that there is still good correlation during winter but not as good as 45o. Summer but one can see that I would lose quite a bit of energy during winter at this angle. The same is true for the Winter angle. Here we are change over from Autumn to Winter (front panels Autumn back Winter). I used this calculator from solarpaneltilt.com to calculate angles and it has a calendar of days to change you panels. In true farm fashion I am usually a week late. Here is the post related to my panel install. If you need more photos shout and I go outside and take them.
May 22, 201610 yr Thank you Chris. A lot of information. I appreciate it a lot. This will help me a lot. Do you have a flat roof? If you have some time a would like to see your setup of your pannels Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
May 22, 201610 yr 5 minutes ago, Manie said: Thank you Chris. A lot of information. I appreciate it a lot. This will help me a lot. Do you have a flat roof? If you have some time a would like to see your setup of your pannels Can you not see the photo in the above post?
May 22, 201610 yr No Chris. The last pic does not show. Maybe if i use a pc. From cell it does not open Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
May 22, 201610 yr 11 minutes ago, Manie said: No Chris. The last pic does not show. Maybe if i use a pc. From cell it does not open Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk OK try again. I have resubmitted the pic.
May 30, 201610 yr There, problem sorted with tracking the sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBwYPotwS9s&feature=youtu.be
May 30, 201610 yr Author 3 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said: There, problem sorted with tracking the sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBwYPotwS9s&feature=youtu.be There we go! For about a Dollar-a-day you can track the sun
May 31, 201610 yr We have a house like that somewhere in Somerset West :-) Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
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