First-time solar panel user
Hi everyone! We ordered the optional 160-watt solar panel for our 2015 Leisure Travel Van Unity 24MB. We'll get the unit next Monday, after a 7-month wait. :B We've never had solar power befo...
Forum Discussion
Crazy Ray wrote:
Rich can you give the Facts about getting 1/2 amps by putting your panels flat on your MH. thanks. I would believe 5%
The increase from tilting varies with your latitude and time of year. When the sun is high anyway from those two factors, there is not much advantage over flat, but when the sun is lower from either factor there is more advantage.
At 49.3N in May, with my 130w panel on a sunny day I got 56AH a day in a test with it flat, and 70 AH a day tilted up 25 degrees same conditions. (Test was with a load running so the batteries stayed thirsty all day in order to get an all-day measurement)
Whatever your latitude, as the sun goes up and back down daily, you get an advantage from tilting if you are also pointing the panel. The tilt needs to be higher earlier and later in the day than at mid-day when tracking.
OTOH with a panel fixed pointing South, the proper tilt for mid day will be too high for earlier and later, with the sun not being able to see the panel so well from off to the side, so the trick is to use a lower tilt all day as an "optimum" compromise to get the highest AH haul for the whole day. Macslab has website on this optimum tilting for fixed panels.
