Is that another solar panel behind the tilted one? If so, surely that will be in shadow from the front one and so get wiped out?I have 2 150W tilting solar panels on the roof which can be elevated to about 45*.
Also I have a vertical rotating 50W panel that tracks the sun during daylight hours.
The rotating panel is only just finished so I have no idea of its efficiency. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test it this winter and record some data.
The idea is to have only one elevated at one time, the east facing one elevated in the morning the west facing elevated to catch the setting sun. It was the best I could come up with, with the available roof space. It has to be better than a flat panel.Is that another solar panel behind the tilted one? If so, surely that will be in shadow from the front one and so get wiped out?
it will be interesting to see how it goes.The idea is to have only one elevated at one time, the east facing one elevated in the morning the west facing elevated to catch the setting sun. It was the best I could come up with, with the available roof space. It has to be better than a flat panel.
I hope to get some meaningful data of recovered solar energy through my Victron BMV and MPPT.
My theory is like this, the panel furthest from the sun is elevated and thus catches the sun as it rises, the panel nearest the sun catches the sun as it rises higher in the sky. Then before mid day have both panels laying flat. Then at some point raise the other panel to catch the setting sun.it will be interesting to see how it goes.
Will it matter if only one is elevated at a time if it is casting a shadow on the other due to the low height of the sun? Would it be more effective if the tilt was in the centre of the roof rather than the sides? Then there would be no shadow as the tilted panel is behind the flat one and not in front.
If my understanding of your setup in the photo is correct, it does mean you will only have one panel "active" ever, so for the tiliting to give better results, it needs to be better than 200% of what you would harvest from that panel when flat (to make up for the other one that is not doing anything).
How you have it set up now with the central tilt makes perfect sense to me and should logically give a benefitMy theory is like this, the panel furthest from the sun is elevated and thus catches the sun as it rises, the panel nearest the sun catches the sun as it rises higher in the sky. Then before mid day have both panels laying flat. Then at some point raise the other panel to catch the setting sun.
I just need to test my theory.
I did start with the panels tilting away from each other but realised that the raised one cast a shadow over the flat one.
I've just realised the photo is from my first attempt which did shade the panel.
Due to existing solar and my solar parallel works best for me. I can only use the two 150W panels in series but for a parallel config I can include the original 100W panel. The 400W parallel has always beaten the 300W series config.How you have it set up now with the central tilt makes perfect sense to me and should logically give a benefit
What you may need to do is play around with the way the panels are connected (series or parallel or independent)? I did a brief experiment tilting a single panel in an array and I can't recall the exact effect other then it didn't improve anything.
Will be very interesting to see the results you get.
I've got some plans on my own array but not bothering to do anything for quite a while as where I can test is too much in the shadow this time of year so results would be very inconclusive.
We'll 360* / 24 hrs = 15 so you'd think 15* for every hour. Wrong, the sun rises quicker at the beging of the day and drops quicker at the end of the day. Around mid day there is more change in azimuth than elevation (if that makes sense?) There are some calculations on the www that explain it.Isn't the arc of the suns path linear? If so you'd only need to be able to adjust the angle of the vertical shaft.
Assuming your panel would like to receive it's photons at 90 degrees, and the suns arc is non linear. Would not just a small change of making the post angle adjustable be worth it still? So going through it's range of rotation it looks up a little at the suns maximum elevation?Around mid day there is more change in azimuth than elevation (if that makes sense?)