Map of my roof for solar panel spaces
I'm posting this for people who wonder where they should put panels on their roof.
The other day in the CG I went up and mapped out my Sunseeker 2300's roof for possible locations for solar. This drawing is to scale. I did not allow for the bonus space that occurs because the panels are say 3" above the roof surface. I will at some point, when I figure out what that distance should be.
The blue things are the objects. Notice the shadow lines drawn around them. The yellow areas are okay for panels. Look at the huge shadow area from the TV antenna. On the roof it looks like there is a nice area for panels up front, but once you allow for the antenna and all its orientations, the front is wiped out. Sure, you can keep the antenna down during the day. I'm trying to not plan on that.
Still, there are a lot of good panel locations. Roughly, the mid-left side has 32x84, the dead center has 48x32, and the center-rear edge has 32x36. At least until I think about any future vent covers.
If you are using parallel wired panels, and one gets in the shadow, only that one is lost. If you wire in series, the effect hits the whole series. That's why a person needs to plan. I'm using a 45 degree sun angle. That covers a lot of the US for a lot of the year. This means a panel should be as far from an object as the object is above the panel. So I drew the shadow lines as far from the object as it was tall. For example, the AC is 14" tall, so there is a rectangle around it 14" away from the AC edges. The vents are not square when raised, so I could find some extra space there.
Here is the drawing:
The other day in the CG I went up and mapped out my Sunseeker 2300's roof for possible locations for solar. This drawing is to scale. I did not allow for the bonus space that occurs because the panels are say 3" above the roof surface. I will at some point, when I figure out what that distance should be.
The blue things are the objects. Notice the shadow lines drawn around them. The yellow areas are okay for panels. Look at the huge shadow area from the TV antenna. On the roof it looks like there is a nice area for panels up front, but once you allow for the antenna and all its orientations, the front is wiped out. Sure, you can keep the antenna down during the day. I'm trying to not plan on that.
Still, there are a lot of good panel locations. Roughly, the mid-left side has 32x84, the dead center has 48x32, and the center-rear edge has 32x36. At least until I think about any future vent covers.
If you are using parallel wired panels, and one gets in the shadow, only that one is lost. If you wire in series, the effect hits the whole series. That's why a person needs to plan. I'm using a 45 degree sun angle. That covers a lot of the US for a lot of the year. This means a panel should be as far from an object as the object is above the panel. So I drew the shadow lines as far from the object as it was tall. For example, the AC is 14" tall, so there is a rectangle around it 14" away from the AC edges. The vents are not square when raised, so I could find some extra space there.
Here is the drawing:
