Setting center angle for solar panels
Northwest Angle, Minnesota (49.38457°N) is the most northerly latitude in the contiguous 48. Key West, Florida (24.544701°N)is the most southerly latitude in the contiguous 48. So if you wanted ...
Forum Discussion
mena661 wrote:BFL13 wrote:Good link. I think I can actually understand that.
http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html
That link is for panels pointing South tilted up to get the most AH per day. It does not apply to panels that can be pointed at the sun all day.
With fixed South panels, your optimum tilt is less than best tilt at noon as shown in the link. With tracking panels it is the other way around. Noon is the lowest tilt because that is when the sun is highest during the day.
In all cases the aimed tilt is 90 degrees - sun's altitude. The sun goes up and down each day, plus it goes up and down over every six months as the Declination changes approx. 46 degrees between the Earth's equator and the sun's ecliptic.
This means the best tilt at noon changes about 8 degrees a month or 2 degrees a week no matter where you are in latitude. If you want to stay on top of things and get the most AH for your solar buck, you have to keep up!
Many/most people say to heck with that, and just get an extra panel and nail them all down flat on the roof and stop obsessing about the
stupid solar. That's cheating! :)
