I am working out my panels on an 18KPV from EG4. Planning on using three strings of panels, one facing SE, one South, and one SW all three adjusting for the four seasons in Oklahoma. Hoping the boost in the morning and evening will benefit me more than the oversupply at noon. Off-grid. I bought your book and love having the formulas easily at hand. Thanks so much for the great info. On another subject, it is tricky to purchase the best solar panels per inverter/mppt, because the max VOC can limit the wattage. Have do to the calculations for each brand. Sometimes a lower voc panel will allow higher wattage (more panels). For some reason I can't visualize the difference without doing the calculations. (small brain) :)
Atmosphere clarity: I noticed the strongest input the other day, so I looked at the NOAA AirNow Fire-Smoke map, and sure enough my area had a clear(er) day. I often can see the orange tint on bad smoky days. Since I've noticed how easily cigarette smoke casts shadows, I can readily guess how easily smoke effects solar transmittance.
I live in the Philippines and Portugal. There is more cloud in the Philippines than Portugal, so my strategy there is to simply target diffuse radiation. Now here is odd part consider the 'welfare' of your panels. The life of a panel is brutal so cooling is important for longevity. I am therefore going for an angle of 45 degrees facing south. This will give best rain runoff and average convection. Yes a vertical panel will have the best cooling but 45 degrees is the best average. You could also consider putting panels at the bottom gutter edege of a roof. The boundary layer of heated air travelling up the roof will suck fresh, cool air past the panels.
Well. My solar panels face West in the summer for a couple of reasons: 1. The house on the East of me has tall trees, and the sun does not strike my solar panels until 10 am. 2. I want to get the most power between the hours of 1 pm to 6 pm because that power goes directly to the airconditioner and not the batteries. 3. Since I am running the airconditioner in the afternoon, I want to focus on keeping the batteries fully charged as the sun goes down. West facing is best for that. Then I have a completely different issue in the winter: 1. In the winter the sun moves South and my neighbor's trees are not an issue. So I can start charging at 7:30 am. 2. In the winter, I am not trying to run my airconditioner. I am trying to run my heater at night. So the focus in the winter is to charge up the batteries for overnight use. Therefore, in the winter, I turn the solar panels to the South to get the longest charge day. I find that in the winter my solar panels create 70% more charge facing South than they do facing West. So they must be turned. I am in Arkansas, USA and use a 30° tilt angle all year long. And it is very cloudy here. We do not see the sun in the winter. So that makes a difference in my charging needs. I would like to add that my panels seem to charge better in the mornings when the temperature is cooler.
When you are on the equator, the sun is north in some parts of the year and south in other parts usually 3 months at a time. There's something to throw into your configurations.
Being in Southern California High Desert near Big Bear Lake Mountain Resorts Community We get great Solar Production 169° - 180° Degrees South at -15° - 28° Degrees year round. Wintertime the Snow on the Mountains south of Us also Helps allot.
The recommendation (AS/NZS 5033:2021 ) for North facing PV panels in AU is latitude + between 5Degrees to 10 degrees Extra tilt. i.e for Brisbane Au at 27.5 degrees south the tilt would be at least 32.5 degrees towards the north. The further from the equator then the more the additional winter off-set tilt.
You're talking nicely, but theory doesn't always match practice. I mean the effect of temperature on PV. Nairobi won't give as many watts. A 1000 W system won't give as much as in Dallas, or in a small town like Skive in Denmark where I live. Please make a film about the negative effect of temperature on PV systems. Thumbs up🙂
My sloping roof in Thailand is East and West at 30 degrees on each side. Latitude is 15% North. I am thinking of putting 4 panels on the East and 4 panels on the West thinking that I would get earlier solar power and later solar power and that the sun would be spread over the 8 panels in mid day.
My roof is facing south, sloping 10-15 degree so mornings and evenings are not the best but mid day i get: 350-400W from 455W panel with cheap chinese MPPT charge controller.
@@oz2pe I have 1/3 of my panels pointing East, 1/3 pointing West and 1/3 South or North depending on the month. During the summer months the sun is on north.
Your in the tropics - consider that you get tropical thunderstorm rain in the monsoon seasons which is driven by solar thermal heating of the ground. Most of your thunder storms form during the afternoon. Think how many times the morning is clear sky when you wake up and clouds over during the day and then thunder storms in the afternoon. In such a situation, more panels facing east will be better than an even split east & west.
Unless you live on the equator, the angle of the sun is constantly changing. There is no magic angle to set your panels and then forget them. Unless you just don't want or care about optimum efficiency. Otherwise, buy a EY800W Solar Panel Tester Photovoltaic Multimeter and test your panels as you adjust the angle at high noon. No more guessing. You can see the wattage output as you adjust. Alternatively, you can use your Victron charge controller and their app to see yesterday's peak wattage in your history.
I care about optimal efficiency, but I'm not going to tilt my panels every other hour. As I'm sure you won't do as well. I have made a video about trackers vs fixed mount. You should give it a look.
Solar trackers generally get about 25 - 30% more power per area of panel. Simply fitting 25 - 30% more panels is far cheaper, more reliable and much less prone to storm damage.
@@nickwinn7812 That’s correct. It’s far better to add more panels. More panels pointing in different directions increase the lifespan of the solar panels because they are not hot all the time. Panels that follow the Sun are always hot .
@@nickwinn7812 Why isn’t the profile of the energy generated by a photovoltaic panel constant from sunrise to sunset? The panel is always perpendicular to the sun rays so its output should be constant.
@@cleversolarpower Hello. I did a DIY solar installation in my house, 1000w inverter with one 150ah 12v battery, here is my problem, I am able to make use of my vacuum cleaner which has power rating of 700w but my fridge of 85w is not working. What can be the problem.
Put as many panels on the roof as you can (flat). If you need more power, reduce your consumption or have a foldable solar panel to set in the sun once you are parked for camping.
From experience, you don't need much in a campervan. LFP 12.8v batteries have become so cheap that you shouldn't run into problems. If you do, add a charge controller that can run from the alternator.
Go with what cleversolarpower says. I lived on a boat for 3 years in the UK using only solar for my electricity and I did just that - covered the roof as much as was practicable with panels. I had to be careful in the winter, but never ran out of power. It was a small boat (25' and built for the canal system ie. narrow).
@@no-damn-alias Like I didn't know that! He asked what's best without giving any information on how he uses his campervan, what his electrical load is etc etc. I gave him my experience, which I hoped would ensure his requirements are either met or more than met. Not sure what your issue with that would be.
Good stuff here, Nick. Always enjoy watching your tutorials!
Thanks for the returning visit Matthew!
I am working out my panels on an 18KPV from EG4. Planning on using three strings of panels, one facing SE, one South, and one SW all three adjusting for the four seasons in Oklahoma. Hoping the boost in the morning and evening will benefit me more than the oversupply at noon. Off-grid. I bought your book and love having the formulas easily at hand. Thanks so much for the great info. On another subject, it is tricky to purchase the best solar panels per inverter/mppt, because the max VOC can limit the wattage. Have do to the calculations for each brand. Sometimes a lower voc panel will allow higher wattage (more panels). For some reason I can't visualize the difference without doing the calculations. (small brain) :)
Atmosphere clarity: I noticed the strongest input the other day, so I looked at the NOAA AirNow Fire-Smoke map, and sure enough my area had a clear(er) day. I often can see the orange tint on bad smoky days. Since I've noticed how easily cigarette smoke casts shadows, I can readily guess how easily smoke effects solar transmittance.
I live in the Philippines and Portugal. There is more cloud in the Philippines than Portugal, so my strategy there is to simply target diffuse radiation. Now here is odd part consider the 'welfare' of your panels. The life of a panel is brutal so cooling is important for longevity. I am therefore going for an angle of 45 degrees facing south. This will give best rain runoff and average convection. Yes a vertical panel will have the best cooling but 45 degrees is the best average. You could also consider putting panels at the bottom gutter edege of a roof. The boundary layer of heated air travelling up the roof will suck fresh, cool air past the panels.
Well.
My solar panels face West in the summer for a couple of reasons:
1. The house on the East of me has tall trees, and the sun does not strike my solar panels until 10 am.
2. I want to get the most power between the hours of 1 pm to 6 pm because that power goes directly to the airconditioner and not the batteries.
3. Since I am running the airconditioner in the afternoon, I want to focus on keeping the batteries fully charged as the sun goes down. West facing is best for that.
Then I have a completely different issue in the winter:
1. In the winter the sun moves South and my neighbor's trees are not an issue. So I can start charging at 7:30 am.
2. In the winter, I am not trying to run my airconditioner. I am trying to run my heater at night. So the focus in the winter is to charge up the batteries for overnight use.
Therefore, in the winter, I turn the solar panels to the South to get the longest charge day.
I find that in the winter my solar panels create 70% more charge facing South than they do facing West. So they must be turned.
I am in Arkansas, USA and use a 30° tilt angle all year long.
And it is very cloudy here. We do not see the sun in the winter. So that makes a difference in my charging needs.
I would like to add that my panels seem to charge better in the mornings when the temperature is cooler.
When you are on the equator, the sun is north in some parts of the year and south in other parts usually 3 months at a time. There's something to throw into your configurations.
Thanks for posting this very helpful video
Being in Southern California High Desert near Big Bear Lake Mountain Resorts Community We get great Solar Production 169° - 180° Degrees South at -15° - 28° Degrees year round. Wintertime the Snow on the Mountains south of Us also Helps allot.
The recommendation (AS/NZS 5033:2021 ) for North facing PV panels in AU is latitude + between 5Degrees to 10 degrees Extra tilt.
i.e for Brisbane Au at 27.5 degrees south the tilt would be at least 32.5 degrees towards the north.
The further from the equator then the more the additional winter off-set tilt.
Thianks for this review!
I am in Nigeria, West Africa. I would like to know the best position for an East-West roof position.
As flat as possible.
G'day Nick,
Another greatand interestingt presentation, especially when you mentioned Sydney, Australia. I'm one of your 5% subscribers. Hooroo!
I think south is also greatest because the light has less atmosphere to pass through.
Yes, south is the best as shown in the video.
Roofs with a pitch of 4/12 are approximately 18.4 degrees and not 33 degrees
You're talking nicely, but theory doesn't always match practice. I mean the effect of temperature on PV. Nairobi won't give as many watts. A 1000 W system won't give as much as in Dallas, or in a small town like Skive in Denmark where I live. Please make a film about the negative effect of temperature on PV systems. Thumbs up🙂
the temperatures are taken into account in these calculations as efficiency loss. Check the breakdown of 14% efficiency losses.
@@cleversolarpower Now I understand. 🙂
My sloping roof in Thailand is East and West at 30 degrees on each side.
Latitude is 15% North.
I am thinking of putting 4 panels on the East and 4 panels on the West thinking that I would get earlier solar power and later solar power and that the sun would be spread over the 8 panels in mid day.
Great choice. Thailand is close to the equator as well, so I estimate a 10% efficiency loss compared to a south facing one.
@@cleversolarpower Thank you for that information.
My roof is facing south, sloping 10-15 degree so mornings and evenings are not the best but mid day i get: 350-400W from 455W panel with cheap chinese MPPT charge controller.
@@oz2pe
I have 1/3 of my panels pointing East, 1/3 pointing West and 1/3 South or North depending on the month.
During the summer months the sun is on north.
Your in the tropics - consider that you get tropical thunderstorm rain in the monsoon seasons which is driven by solar thermal heating of the ground. Most of your thunder storms form during the afternoon. Think how many times the morning is clear sky when you wake up and clouds over during the day and then thunder storms in the afternoon. In such a situation, more panels facing east will be better than an even split east & west.
Unless you live on the equator, the angle of the sun is constantly changing. There is no magic angle to set your panels and then forget them. Unless you just don't want or care about optimum efficiency. Otherwise, buy a EY800W Solar Panel Tester Photovoltaic Multimeter and test your panels as you adjust the angle at high noon. No more guessing. You can see the wattage output as you adjust. Alternatively, you can use your Victron charge controller and their app to see yesterday's peak wattage in your history.
I care about optimal efficiency, but I'm not going to tilt my panels every other hour. As I'm sure you won't do as well. I have made a video about trackers vs fixed mount. You should give it a look.
@@cleversolarpower
I used to tilt my panels every hour manually. The next day I abandoned the project.
Solar trackers generally get about 25 - 30% more power per area of panel. Simply fitting 25 - 30% more panels is far cheaper, more reliable and much less prone to storm damage.
@@nickwinn7812
That’s correct. It’s far better to add more panels. More panels pointing in different directions increase the lifespan of the solar panels because they are not hot all the time.
Panels that follow the Sun are always hot .
@@nickwinn7812
Why isn’t the profile of the energy generated by a photovoltaic panel constant from sunrise to sunset?
The panel is always perpendicular to the sun rays so its output should be constant.
yeah, don't be bound to the slope of your roof.
from Melbourne
Regarding grid feeding to hell with it. Get a grid tied inverter. You will then, of course, become the the grid providers worst nightmare 😂
you didnt say how much % of fans u hv from kenya
Kenya is 1.1% 😉
@@cleversolarpower ohh noo. Hopefully it gets larger🙏
PWM charge controller are the best. 150Ah for $75usd. MADE IN CHINA #1.
Only if you have the right panels for it
My panels is 10A at 45V and battery bank is 12V so PWM would charge with: 10A X 12V = 120W.
Who expresses a PWM in Ah 😬
@@cleversolarpower Hello. I did a DIY solar installation in my house, 1000w inverter with one 150ah 12v battery, here is my problem, I am able to make use of my vacuum cleaner which has power rating of 700w but my fridge of 85w is not working. What can be the problem.
@Ridershani530Directly from battery. Your inverter burns up 15%.
I am in the UK. What is best for my panels on my campervan?
Put as many panels on the roof as you can (flat). If you need more power, reduce your consumption or have a foldable solar panel to set in the sun once you are parked for camping.
From experience, you don't need much in a campervan.
LFP 12.8v batteries have become so cheap that you shouldn't run into problems.
If you do, add a charge controller that can run from the alternator.
Go with what cleversolarpower says. I lived on a boat for 3 years in the UK using only solar for my electricity and I did just that - covered the roof as much as was practicable with panels. I had to be careful in the winter, but never ran out of power. It was a small boat (25' and built for the canal system ie. narrow).
@@nickwinn7812 there's a difference between permanent living off grid or a summer holiday
@@no-damn-alias Like I didn't know that! He asked what's best without giving any information on how he uses his campervan, what his electrical load is etc etc. I gave him my experience, which I hoped would ensure his requirements are either met or more than met. Not sure what your issue with that would be.
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