Tilting Solar Panel
I did a little experiment. I have a new poly 100 watt panel. Before installing I tilted the panel to face directly into the sun. 19.6 volts. I tilted it the same angle, but away from the s...
Forum Discussion
ajriding wrote:
It would be interesting to see the amps change as the panel is tilted
been there, done that, what I found pretty much matches the math.
the drop in power is related to the cosine of the angle error in the vertical and horizontal plane. as an example if the error is 45 degrees, power drops to 70% of max. a 60 degree error drops power by 50%. depending on your latitude and time of year and time of day the error can be insignficant or noticeable.
And measuring voltage or current alone is NOT a good way to determine the loss. you need to measure both voltage AND current.
to get "perfect" alignment, place a tube, like an empty tp tube perpendicular on the panel and adjust for no shadow. easy to do on portable panels. almost impossible to do on roof panels since most only allow tilt in one axis.
and unless you have a tracking system, perfect alignment only lasts a short time. On my portable panels I just set them for best alignment around noon and live with what I get.
