HI this is Amy from the altE Store. We’ve shown you videos already on the effect of shading on solar panels, and effect of the direction you point your panels, now we are going to show you the effect of tilting your panels.
Now the angle that you select to mount your panels will depend on a few different things. If you have got just a straight grid tie system that is going to be on your roof and your roof it a normal average tilted roof, you’re really just going to put it on that, because chasing after every little last angle on a grid tie system quite often isn’t worth the extra money.
But, if you’ve got an off-grid system, and you need to pull out every single watt hour you can out of the system, then angle really does come into play, quite significantly. So I’m going to show you the effect of what we’ve got here.
So it is November 20, very close to the winter equinox, so the sun is very low in the sky. I’m in Massachusetts, so my angle up here, my latitude is 42 degrees. So if I want to maximize year round performance, I would want to set my panels at as close as possible to 42 degrees, because if you figure it’s going to be that, the sun is going to be that angle in the spring and the fall, as opposed to in the summer when it’s just going to be really high, or in the winter when it’s going to be very low.
So you really need to figure out when you will be maximizing it. Do you have a winter hunting cabin that you need to maximize your winter, or a year round place, in that case, you’d want to put them at bit of a steeper angle to try to get as much power as you can during the short winter days.
If you just have a summer camp, you’re going to have it really up very high. If you’ve got an RV that you are just driving around with, odds are pretty good that if you just put it flat on the top of your roof, you’re going to be great, because you are probably going to be using it in the summer when the sun is the highest.
So let’s actually see what affect this has. Now again, I’m at 42 degrees latitude in November, so I’ve got this at just over 50 degree angle. So I’m really pointing directly at the sun.
Now you see up here, I’ve also got a meter, it’s an insolation meter, so it’s showing me the intensity of the sun. Solar panels are rated at the standard test conditions, which is 1000 watts per square meter.
So right now at quarter of two in the afternoon, I’m almost at 900 watts per square meter. So I’ve got pretty good intense sunlight right now. And so I’m going to show you the volts and the amps.
So my volts right now is 19.8 volts and my amps is .41 amps. So you know I’ve got little 5 watt panels, so they are going to be fairly low. But you are going to see a pretty dramatic change here in the amps, but not so much on the volts.
If you saw the other videos you’ll see that intensity of the sunlight doesn’t affect volts as much as it affects amps, and that’s true with most semiconductors. So I’m going to change my angle here.
So I’ve got it at 35 degrees now. My insolation has dropped down to 712, by volts is still pretty high at 19.6, but my amps have dropped down to .34. Now if I go down a bit more here, now I’m at 20 degrees, which would be great in the summer, but November 20? Not so good.
My insolation’s down to 500 and something, 540, my volts is still, again, still fine at 19.4 volts, but my amps has dropped almost in half to .27 amps. If I drop down even further, so I’m pretty much flat, so this is something you’d see probably on an RV, my insolation is dropped down to 267 watts per square meter.
My volts is still ok, it’s 18.8 volts, but my amps is .15 amps, so I’m really not getting much power out of these panel. So you really can see that the angle that you tilt them does matter. So if you’ve got an off grid system, you might want to do something that you can have them adjustable angles, so that you can have it so that in the winter you are going to have it pretty steep, and in the summer you are going to have it pretty shallow.
Now again, if you’ve got a grid tie system, quite often it isn’t worth it because the year round average is going to average out to be alright. But if you have got an off grid system where you really need to keep those batteries charged up in the winter, having an adjustable system is a great idea.
We can actually combine a couple of these demos that we did and if you have a tracking system, a dual axis tracking system that will actually follow the sun during the day , and change its angle throughout the year, that gives you the best of both worlds.
So that would really greatly increase your output, but does add a lot of expense and mechanical capabilities to your system. So it is something you really need to take a look at, does it make sense to be chasing after every little bit, could you just make up for the less than perfect conditions by putting some more solar panels on.
So that’s a bit of a balance. So I hope this helped you understand what angle does. If you liked this, give us a like and a share, and subscribe to our channel so we’ll notify you when we have more videos coming out.
And go to our website altEstore.com, where we’ve been making renewable do-able since 1999. hi this is Amy from the alte store we’ve shown you videos already on the effect of shading on solar panels and the effect of the direction you point your panels now we’re going to show you the effect of tilting your panels now the angle that you view select to mount your panels will depend on a few different things if you have got just a great grid tie system that is going to be on your roof and your roof is a normal average tilted roof you’re really just going to put it on that because chasing after every little last angle on a grid tie system quite often isn’t worth the extra money but if you’ve got an off-grid system and you need to pull out every single one out where you can out of the system the angle really does come into play quite significantly so I’m going to show you the effect of of what we’ve got here so it is November 20th I’m very close to the winter and equinox so the Sun is very low in the sky I’m in Massachusetts so my angle up here my latitude is 42 degrees so if I want to maximize year-round performance I would want to set my panels as close as possible to 42 degrees because if you figure it’s going to be that that dumb the Sun is going to be that angle in the spring and the fall as opposed to in the summer when it’s just going to be really high or in the winter when it’s going to be very low so you really need to figure out when you’re maximizing it do you have a winter hunting cabin that you need to maximize your winter or year-round place in that case you’d want to put them at a bit of a steeper angle to try and get as much power as you can during the short winter days if you just have a summer camp you’re gonna have it really up very high if you’ve got an RV that you’re just driving around with odds are pretty good that you if you just put it flat on the top of your roof you’re gonna be you’re gonna be great because you’re probably been using it in the summer when the Sun is the highest so let’s actually see what effect this has now again I’m 42 degrees latitude and in November so I have got this at just over 50 degree angle so I’m really pointing directly at the Sun now you’ll see up here I also got a meter it said it’s an insulation meter so it showed me the intensity of the Sun so what panels are ranked are rated at their their standard test conditions which is a thousand watts per square meter so right now at quarter up to in the afternoon I’m almost at 900 watts per square meter so I’ve got pretty good intense sunlight right now and so I’m going to show you the bolts and the amps so my votes right now is 19.
8 volts and my amps is point 41 amps so if a little 5 watt panel so they’re going to be fairly well but you’re going to see a pretty dramatic change here in the amps but not so much in the volts if you’re some of the other videos you’ll see that the intensity of the sunlight doesn’t affect volts as much as it affects amps and that’s true with most semiconductors so I’m going to change my angle here so I’ve got it 35 degrees now my insulation is dropped down to seven point twelve my votes are still pretty high up it nineteen point six but my ants have stripped down to point three four if I go down a bit more here now I’m at 20 degrees which would be great in the summer but at November 20th not so good my insulation is down five hundred and something 540 my volts is still again still fine nineteen point four volts but my amps dropped almost in half to twenty sweet 27 amps right drop down even further so I’m pretty much flat so this is something you’d see probably on an RV my insulation is dropped down to 267 watts per square feet per square meter my boat’s still okay it’s 18.
8 holes with my amps point 15 amps so I’m really not getting much power these panels so you really can see that the angle that you tilt them does matter so if you’ve got an offering system you might want to do something that you can have them adjustable angles so that you can have it so that in the winter you’re gonna have a pretty steep and in the summer you’re going to have a pretty shallow now again if you’ve got a grid tied system quite often isn’t worth it because the year-round average is going to average out to be alright but if you have got an off-grid system we really need to keep those batteries charged up in the winter having an adjustable system is a great idea we can actually combine a couple of demos that we did and if you have a tracking system a dual axis tracking system that will actually follow the Sun during the day and change its angle to about the year that gives you the best of us both worlds so that would really greatly increase your your output but it does add a lot of expense and mechanical capabilities to your systems so it’s something you need to really couldn’t take a look at does does it make sense chasing after every every little bit could you just make up for for the less than perfect conditions by putting some more solar panels on so that’s it’s a bit of a balance and so I hope that this helped to help you understand what angle does if you like this give us a like and a share and subscribe to our channel so we’ll notify you more videos coming out and go to a website altestore.
com where we’ve been making renewable do-able since 1999
