Solar Cells & elevation from horizontal

Your on the ball there Vince. In thoery, should face North with and angle of the latitude.
Of course this varies over Summer/Winter

Hi Vince

Not being smart but when I first bought my solar panel I asked the chap at the shop for the ideal degree/angle to make a frame to set my panels up his answer was " Ideally the panel must face the sun".
I felt pretty silly cause it made sense, I now move my panels twice a day if I am at Camp at night I will set it up for the morning sun East then around lunch I will face it towards the West or If we are away from early morn til late face it North.
Works for me

Cheers Michael

Use a solar calculator.
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Cheers Craig................

Yes they need to face north, but I read some where, "and don't quote me" Collyn Rivers wrote he was surprised how well the performed fitted flat on top of a van.

Might be because they are closer to the sun, :) he eh.

piddlefimp

It really is fairly simple to stand them at the correct angle when they are free standing.
IE... propped up on a frame or leg on the Ground, or large flat surface.

Just make sure when you face the panel towards the sun that the shadow that the panel casts behind is the same size as the panel. This ensures that you have the panel facing the sun directly.
No need for complicated equations etc.
Then a simple move a couple of times a day will do the job.

I have been told that 22deg from vertical is the best, I also use a sun tracker which keeps the amps at max all day. Barnray

There are three answers depending on the setup and purpose:
1. Fixed set up with batteries eg on a farm - north-facing at about 20 degrees less than latitude angle (in the southern states at least) so that the length of time that the sun shines on the panels is maximised but the output is less peaky and therefore doesn't strain the electronics (allows lower-rated regulators etc);
2. Fixed grid connected set up without batteries eg house roof - north-facing at latitude angle to get the maximum amount of electricity exported during peak sun in order to maximise financial returns from feed-in tariffs; and
3. Portable system - adjust the angle and rotation of the panel to always be at 90 degrees to the sun ie direct radiation. As suggested above, the easiest way is to adjust it to have a square, short shadow.

The difference between getting it right and being even a bit off is very significant in terms of output. Unfortunately, adjusting the panel at camp can become an obsession :)

Hope that's clear.

Adrian

For my portable panels, I tape a skewer to the corner at right angle to the panel surface and both side and adjust the panel so the skewer casts no shadow. That way the panel is perpendicular to the sun and performs at optimum effeciency.

We just mucked around with the in laws panel on the weekend before fixing to the top of his van and with the above method managed 5.2A from a 80W panel. Once fixed to the top of the van though we could only get 4.1A max when the sun was directly overhead and slightly North.

Cheers
David

It isn't worth sweating about too much. Even if you are 30 degrees out you only loose about 15%, 45 degrees out you lose 30%.

At 5 to 10 degrees out you lose about 2 - 4 %. As stated earlier use the smallest shadow.