Thanks for sharing on setting up the angle and degree of your solar panels

@TheOldJarhead

20 күн бұрын

You bet! and more to come!

Awesome camera work! Informative as well. Like solstice realignment schedule! Military thinking no doubt

@TheOldJarhead

19 күн бұрын

Thanks! I suppose being an old jarhead helps 😉

Right On, Ol Jarhead 😊 👍💯

@TheOldJarhead

19 күн бұрын

Thanks for the shoutout, buddy!

i use a beer can for optimal on time and it works fine and taste nice 😂

@TheOldJarhead

20 күн бұрын

lol um...how's that work? Drinkbthe beer and then....say screw it? 😁

Good & informative. That looks like a fairly heavy duty dish style azimuth mount. I conjured up a somewhat easy way to find the optimal angle depending on solar noon or which direction the panels are facing. At the right time of day just place a plastic soda / water bottle on the panels and eliminate the vertical shadow by array adjustment. Of course once you know what degree you need then adjustments are baked into memory.

@TheOldJarhead

8 күн бұрын

Cool, thanks

I use the sundial method. Put a sheet of paper on your panels and put a can of beans in the center of the paper at noon. Adjust til theres no shadow.

@TheOldJarhead

19 күн бұрын

I may habe to try that

@davef5595

18 күн бұрын

I was taught a similar method. It’s very simple method.

@TheOldJarhead

15 күн бұрын

I'll have to look that up but does it tell direction and tilt angle?

@davef5595

15 күн бұрын

This method doesn’t tell you what directions and azimuth the panels are at, it’s not needed. It tells you when the sun rays are hitting the panels straight on, not at an off angle. Here’s a short description I find online. “For those not familiar with this method, it is using a can see at what tilt/position the shadow disappears. One will see a shadow when it is put against the panel. Then one moves the can until the shadow is no longer present.” You simply temporarily place a soup can, soda can, or any other similar shaped item temporarily on a panel or panel framing to and adjust the panel until there is no shadow. Then you remove the can. This tells you the sun is hitting the panels at a perfect 90° angle. I hope this makes sense.

@TheOldJarhead

15 күн бұрын

@@davef5595 Interesting and super simple

Thanks for this. Do you bury your ground mount solar cables ? If so, any best practices?

@TheOldJarhead

20 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching! I run some PVC piping from my cabin combiner box to the pole mount and ran the cables inside the PVC. Having worked in Telecom I'd say if you are using direct bury cables they can be ok but ground squirrels will chew them up eventually so run PVC piping from the pole to the building and you would be fine. Always check the voltage drop over distance for the voltage used to be sure the conductor is the right size and, of course, check amperage to be sure the wire size/conductor is big enough. I chose 50 feet to be on the safe side if I ran the panels in parallel but then chose to run them in series anyway so I could have placed the panels further away but overall, am happy how it turned out.

Soup can on the face of the panel, no clue what my latitude is, but the soup can at about 12:30 is all I do a couple times a year.

@user-hg2tk3xj9y

15 күн бұрын

Shadow disappears, you are perpendicular to the sun.

@TheOldJarhead

15 күн бұрын

I'm going to try that but I'm wondering how you keep it there while tilting the panels

@user-hg2tk3xj9y

14 күн бұрын

@@TheOldJarhead With my ground mounts the backsides are just "kickstands" and every 2 panels is sitting on their own seperate mount. Kinda like a large construction baricade. Without much effort can adjust them by myself.

@TheOldJarhead

14 күн бұрын

Ahhh not like mine on the pole then :D