Do you figure in the roof angle also?
I was reading the solar panel tilt information posted by Westend, Thanks for providing the site. Question, When figureing the panel tilt angles per Optium Tilt site, do you also have to also fig...
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Ideally - yes. But this is not too important, roof angle is only 4-5 degrees. Don't forget, you should keep that 4 degrees slope when panel is lowered down onto the roof - to shed water and dust. When you calculated the optimum seasonal tilt according to that site (you probably mean Landau musings on Macslab site), it was for aiming strictly at the True South. Unless you are on a seasonal or permanent site, you are rarely facing South - or North, or East/West if your contraption is so sophisticated that allows 4 directions of tilt.
Not to mention that you - usually - don't know where the heck True South is in that particular location. Compass shows Magnetic South, which may differ 10 or 12 degrees from True.
You can of course calculate the roof angle and include this into your planned angle. Easy enough to do - 6" crown divided by panel width length will give you Cos, then go online and find the angle. Front and rear of trailer are usually sloped lengthwise, in addition to crown-sidewall slope.
Optimal angle for directions other than True South can be derived from PV Watts Calculator. Click on your planned location in the "colonies", or wherever you think you are going to be. If it won't let you put in panel watts in DC Rating, put your total W as if it were KW. Not important, because you only need relative numbers for monthly harvest.
Not to mention that you - usually - don't know where the heck True South is in that particular location. Compass shows Magnetic South, which may differ 10 or 12 degrees from True.
You can of course calculate the roof angle and include this into your planned angle. Easy enough to do - 6" crown divided by panel width length will give you Cos, then go online and find the angle. Front and rear of trailer are usually sloped lengthwise, in addition to crown-sidewall slope.
Optimal angle for directions other than True South can be derived from PV Watts Calculator. Click on your planned location in the "colonies", or wherever you think you are going to be. If it won't let you put in panel watts in DC Rating, put your total W as if it were KW. Not important, because you only need relative numbers for monthly harvest.
