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Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment
By wooferhound, Section Wind Posted on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 01:17:49 PM MST
I created this chart for setting Solar Panel Angles according to Season

Last month I installed my solar panels on an adjustable mount so I could optimize the panel angle with relation to the Sun's angle. It's not Tracking, only manual seasonal adjustment.
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/6/12/145252/532
At the time I simply adjusted the angle to be best for that day. Now I have made up a chart for myself so I can properly adjust the panels for best seasonal output. I've decided to adjust the panels 4 times a year for best output. Using this chart as listed, the panels will not be more than 1 month from directly facing the Sun. I'll explain the four lines of text relating to each readjustment.
Move Date- This is the date that you would actually move the panel to it's new position
Duration- Length of time the panel will remain in this position
Set Date- The panel should be adjusted to directly face the Sun on this date
Season- The season of the year, needs to be reversed for the Southern Hemisphere
Solar Panel Angle Set Chart
Move Date - February 21
Duration - 2 Months
Set Date - March 21
Season - Spring
Move Date - April 21
Duration - 4 Months
Set Dates - May 21 or July 21
Season - Summer
Move Date - August 21
Duration - 2 Months
Set Date - September 21
Season - Fall
Move Date - October 21
Duration - 4 Months
Set Dates - November 21 or January 21
Season - Winter
Well , It's July 21st now, It's time to set the angle for the Summer Setting.
Hope I'm helping Somebody . . .

Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by mixerman on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 07:58:05 AM MST
(User Info)

Woof, I read all your posts, they all help me, thanks!

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 09:03:56 AM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

Here is a LOT more information about the Position of the Sun . . .

Extremely good explaination of Sun Angles
http://members.aol.com/jwholtz/analemma/analemma.htm

Real Pictures of the Sun in the sky throughout the year, the Analemma
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/art/analemma.html

Wiki entry for the Sun's Analemma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma

Great description and chart for the solar Analemma
http://aelyn.hell-city.org/~arcturus/analemma/

An Analemma photograph where one of teh exposures is a Solar Eclipse
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071002.html

Much more information and Computer programs concerning the Sun's Position
http://www.redrok.com/analemma.htm

W o o f -={(

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by spinningmagnets (velmis1450bc(at)aol(dot)com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 09:14:41 AM MST
(User Info)

Dear Woof, I agree with mixerman. Do not rate your own posts by how many people respond by typing. Your posting ratio of "useful information : waste of server memory" is much betterer than average (I insert precisely one spelling error in every post, so I won't look obsessive about spelling).

I read everything you write (do you still have the purple T-shirt?)

Please don't ask about MY posting "waste of server memory" ratio (I post, therefore I am). I have CDO,...its exactly like OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but its in alphabetical order, the way it SHOULD be.

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 09:45:48 AM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

Thanks Mixerman
and spinningmagnets
I read all your posts too, but then again I read ALL the stories and 97% of the comments. Mixerman is new but learning fast, it's feels good to help someone that is interested like he is. SpinningMagnets is getting really good at understanding it all and helping other users with their problems. I rate my posts on the number of times the story has been viewed, I figure that if there are no comments, then I must have explained it pretty good.

Yes I still have the shirt, but that pic is 14 years old and I don't fit it properly anymore, looks like I was big for it even back then.

That was my first Avatar here before I changed to this picture, and it is 5 years old now.

I think I'm getting the "CRS" disease, Can't remember $#|+

W o o f -={(

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by ghurd on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 11:28:21 AM MST
(User Info)

LOL. Some pictures are better left tiny. Bandwidth you know. That's all I'm saying...
G-

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by getterdone on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 11:14:45 AM MST
(User Info)

dear Woof, this will be helpful to me , when i put my solor pannels up.
and you said the picture of you is a year old, i speak for my self ,but i think you ought to up date it, at least once a year.
thanks for your posting, and all your postings and comments.
If I were smart I'd be dangerous

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by johnnythefox (johnnythefox#sbcglobal.net) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 05:04:33 PM MST
(User Info)

Hay Woof
just a quick and dirty way is to go out on the summer or winter equonox and set it for that season, then that night set it buy the moon. Same thing in the winter.
In the winter the sun is low and the moon is high. In the summer the the sun is high and the moon is low.
Works for me here in Oklahoma.
If you live in southern himispher it should still work.
Hope this is of use also.

johnnythefox

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 06:51:37 PM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

I am sure that you meant to say to set it high on the SPRING equinox for the summer season then low on the FALL equinox for the winter season. So the Sun is then coming to, then going away from the optimum positioning. If you were to set it on the Summer and Winter equinox, then the sun would always be running away from your panels.

Using the method you suggest, changing the panels only 2 times a year then I recommend the following dates . . .

Move date- October 21
Duration- 6 months
Set date- November 6 or February 6
Season- Winter

Move date- March 21
duration- 6 months
Set date- May 6 or July 6
Season- Summer

This way the Sun will pass directly in front of the panels 4 times a year on the Set Dates. The method I'm suggesting in the original post, Moving the panels 4 times a year lets the sun pass directly in front of the panels 6 times each year on the Set Dates.

Not exactly sure what you mean about setting the panels to the Moons position ?

W o o f -={(

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#14)
by david williams on Wed Jul 23rd, 2008 at 02:23:18 PM MST
(User Info)

Well, if the moon is full, its declination (latitude) is roughly the same as the sun's declination 6 months earlier or later. But it's only approximate. It can be wrong by as much as 4 degrees, which is the angle between the planes of the earth's and moon's orbits.

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by johnnythefox (johnnythefox#sbcglobal.net) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 09:19:13 PM MST
(User Info)

Well i'm working from memorey here so... I read this in some solar collecter book that I can't find now. But at that time of year .....can't remember which set of spring/fall or winter/summer the sun and the moon exchange position in the sky,
if you set your panel looking right at the sun then go out at night when the moon is at its highest point or lowest point,dependes on what time of year you do it,then the moon will be where the sun will be in 6 months. they closely travel the same path 6months apart. I'm not good at explaneing this but if you look outside tonight you might see what I mean.
johnnythefox

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by mixerman on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 04:06:50 PM MST
(User Info)

I was thinking maybe something like this could be made to adjust for seasonal adjustments!

In the pictue is a ladder jack that roofers use to support scafeling or walk boards between 2 wooden rung ladders, it adjusts to make the walk board level while the ladder is at a diferent angle.

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#13)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 06:52:16 PM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

Thank You, thank you . . .
This is the solution that I have been looking for. I have been thinking of hinged standoffs kinda thing. but this is exactly the solution that I have been looking for. I have been thinking about this problem for 2 months.

W o o f -={(

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#16)
by mixerman on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 06:25:23 AM MST
(User Info)

Here is a follow up picture , show how different degree slots are sandwitched between angle iron. Its all been rivited together.

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#11)
by blueyonder (windwoodgood at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 04:08:32 PM MST
(User Info)

hi woofer. always reading your posts.
and for why? well your so practical . always got good clear pics.
and talk or type in a way that every one can understand.
also you are doing the things i am thinking of doing soon.
but your done and finished and i am now looking at your post to see how i got to
do it.
so your always going forward and making thing to a better standard.
it a great help to us newbies . watching others do it is always best.

also sum of the links you pot on the story are really good .

your doing such a good job sum times i wonder if the dans are giving you
free magnets for you efforts .
great work woof wish i was so good at getting my re together.
its a ill wind that dos no good

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#12)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 06:32:14 PM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

The Funny Part is . . .
I have built all of this stuff and it's still only running on the 3 original Harbor Freight panels that I started with. But the system should be able to handle 600w of input power now. I have prepared for the Future, do you have your Sunglasses on ?

W o o f -={(

[ Parent ]

Re: Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment (3.00 / 0) (#15)
by Chuck on Fri Jul 25th, 2008 at 10:34:35 AM MST
(User Info) http://www.greeleynet.com/~cmorrison

Hi Woof, Good work.

I tend to be much lazier than you. I have a Zomeworks tracker, but it also needs to be adjusted for the seasons for best results.

I go out as close to the equinox (spring and fall) as I can and adjust for the upcoming solstice. In the spring I tilt it back for the summer, in the fall I tilt it forward for the winter. This allows me to be lazy and still get some benefit from the seasonal angle.

Chart for Seasonal Solar Panel Adjustment | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial)

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