Panel Tilt angle ??
I'm now in Quartzsite for a few months, and using my tilt bars for the first time. but can't really decide what angle to use. Right now all 3 panels are different angles,.....kinda ugly. Others here ...
Forum Discussion
That 53 degrees is interesting. (IMO RJ should not use that though)
High noon tilt angle is your Latitude and your Declination. Then you compromise when Dec is North by lowering the panel a bit for all day best results for AH haul.
Declination goes from zero 21 Sep to about 23.5S on 21 December and back up to zero 21 Mar. Macslab uses its "winter" angle from 7 Oct to 5 March, which is longer than 1/4 the year, notice. The middle of that period would be around 6 Jan. Declination then is only two weeks after max on 21 Dec or about 4 degrees worth (very approx.) so maybe 19S ?
So at 32N tilt then would be 32 + 19 = 51. Macslab says 32 x 0.89 and add 24, which is 52.48 for high noon.
So there is no allowance for shoulder hours really, which makes sense because the sun can't get behind the panel in the winter like it can in the summer.
However, if you are planning to be at 32N from now till mid March, what to pick? Declination goes from 23.5S back up to maybe 2S so half way is say 11 degrees so tilt would be 32 + 11 = 43
RJ is seeing the other guys there now with tilts all a bit different so maybe they are staying different lengths of time and so their middle time average tilts are all different. Of course they have all done their math on this. :)
But in any case, based on all that, RJ should pick something less than 53. IMO 45 degrees would be a pretty good number depending on how long he is staying.
High noon tilt angle is your Latitude and your Declination. Then you compromise when Dec is North by lowering the panel a bit for all day best results for AH haul.
Declination goes from zero 21 Sep to about 23.5S on 21 December and back up to zero 21 Mar. Macslab uses its "winter" angle from 7 Oct to 5 March, which is longer than 1/4 the year, notice. The middle of that period would be around 6 Jan. Declination then is only two weeks after max on 21 Dec or about 4 degrees worth (very approx.) so maybe 19S ?
So at 32N tilt then would be 32 + 19 = 51. Macslab says 32 x 0.89 and add 24, which is 52.48 for high noon.
So there is no allowance for shoulder hours really, which makes sense because the sun can't get behind the panel in the winter like it can in the summer.
However, if you are planning to be at 32N from now till mid March, what to pick? Declination goes from 23.5S back up to maybe 2S so half way is say 11 degrees so tilt would be 32 + 11 = 43
RJ is seeing the other guys there now with tilts all a bit different so maybe they are staying different lengths of time and so their middle time average tilts are all different. Of course they have all done their math on this. :)
But in any case, based on all that, RJ should pick something less than 53. IMO 45 degrees would be a pretty good number depending on how long he is staying.
