More Solar for "Us"
Ok, I went off.the deep end? Bought 3 used 37watt uni-solar panels and a blue sky 2000e controller for the hefty price of $400, They were being listed as 75w panels, they are not The tested open...
Forum Discussion
I'm thinking I need to either get an angle finder, or brush up on my trigonometry. Either way, it would be nice to keep record of what angle of tilt works best throughout the year, for quick reference in the future.
And as BFL pointed out, there will be a need to compromise at times, and accept the overall haul for what it is, without getting into a very intricate and complicated, not to mention expensive, install. Like with many things, it seems to be a matter of return on investment, be it monetary, labour, or whatever.
My roof is only about 8'8", so access wouldn't be terribly difficult, so I'm thinking various tilting options would suffice, without getting into multi-directional tracking. I had mentioned in another thread about an idea I got from one of the truck camper roof installs, where the OP hinged one end of the panels, and used barrel bolts on the other. It occurred to me you could use 8 barrel bolts, two on each corner, and they would double as hinges. You would then have 4 tilting options. Certainly not 100% effective, but still considerably better than a flat-only install.
Best case scenario in winter, I could park east/west, and tilt all four panels up high (standing about 5' tall), facing south, with straps to secure them from the wind. In spring and fall, I could tilt them slightly toward the east, then south, then west. And in summer, leave them flat. I think a single(ladder like) aluminum channel frame, mounted at 6 spots, would suffice.
But I think I would still keep a couple of 100 watters around, as portables, for shade parking in summer.
From what I can gather, in the real world, amorphous perform the best, followed by poly, followed by mono, despite what is said about monos being more efficient than poly's.
And as BFL pointed out, there will be a need to compromise at times, and accept the overall haul for what it is, without getting into a very intricate and complicated, not to mention expensive, install. Like with many things, it seems to be a matter of return on investment, be it monetary, labour, or whatever.
My roof is only about 8'8", so access wouldn't be terribly difficult, so I'm thinking various tilting options would suffice, without getting into multi-directional tracking. I had mentioned in another thread about an idea I got from one of the truck camper roof installs, where the OP hinged one end of the panels, and used barrel bolts on the other. It occurred to me you could use 8 barrel bolts, two on each corner, and they would double as hinges. You would then have 4 tilting options. Certainly not 100% effective, but still considerably better than a flat-only install.
Best case scenario in winter, I could park east/west, and tilt all four panels up high (standing about 5' tall), facing south, with straps to secure them from the wind. In spring and fall, I could tilt them slightly toward the east, then south, then west. And in summer, leave them flat. I think a single(ladder like) aluminum channel frame, mounted at 6 spots, would suffice.
But I think I would still keep a couple of 100 watters around, as portables, for shade parking in summer.
From what I can gather, in the real world, amorphous perform the best, followed by poly, followed by mono, despite what is said about monos being more efficient than poly's.
