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Tilting Solar Does Work


Alan de Enfield

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Sat here moored up on the River in the morning overcast waiting for the rain.

The Sun pokes its head out of the clouds so I have a look at the Solar - getting 4.2 amps (not too bad from a dusty 170 watt panel angled slightly away from the Sun)

 

Thinks - it is mounted on those triangular brackets with a slot so I could alter the tilt slightly towards the Sun rather than slightly away from it.

 

Shoot back inside - reading now 7.1 amps so have gained almost 3 amps - got to be worth having for 1 minutes effort in 'leaning on the panel'.

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8 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Sat here moored up on the River in the morning overcast waiting for the rain.

The Sun pokes its head out of the clouds so I have a look at the Solar - getting 4.2 amps (not too bad from a dusty 170 watt panel angled slightly away from the Sun)

 

Thinks - it is mounted on those triangular brackets with a slot so I could alter the tilt slightly towards the Sun rather than slightly away from it.

 

Shoot back inside - reading now 7.1 amps so have gained almost 3 amps - got to be worth having for 1 minutes effort in 'leaning on the panel'.

Now wait 5 minutes and go and do it again.  You might also need to adjust your mooring angle to track the sun better.

 

We all know sun tracking is better, it just involves to much faffing for the extra few amps.  If you keep your boat on a mooring then tilting the panels towards the sun makes sense.  If you don't know from one day to the next where you will be mooring it's easier to just add another panel.

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1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

Now wait 5 minutes and go and do it again.  You might also need to adjust your mooring angle to track the sun better.

 

We all know sun tracking is better, it just involves to much faffing for the extra few amps.  If you keep your boat on a mooring then tilting the panels towards the sun makes sense.  If you don't know from one day to the next where you will be mooring it's easier to just add another panel.

Totally agree.

We are cruising & currently moored roughly North / South, and the panel was tilted slightly back towards the North, now tilted forwards so it is now slightly angled to the South.

The Sun is tracking left to right across the face of the panel so should be 'OK' for most of the daylight. Even 5 hours at an extra couple of amps contributes to the fridge / freezer / central heating / computer(s) / phone(s) charging etc.

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Most efficient tracking would be based on a clockwork driven equatorial astronomical telescope mount, clockwork motor only needs to drive one axis. These days most telescope mounts are two axis altazimuth which require a computer and two stepper motors, equatorial is much simpler and can be 100% mechanical. 

 

Just needs some bright spark with enough patience to design one for a boat! 

Edited by nb Innisfree
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I really cant see what the problem is. 

When you arrive at a mooring, just tilt the panels the best way whilst putting up the TV and 4G antenna.

If you are staying all day, then once or twice a day tilt them the appropriate way.

It is not a major chore to alter them.

  • Greenie 1
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A friend who I knew from when I worked at Airbus made me a "gismo to alter the angle of the solar panel on the top of my camping car it's around the size of a brick with a rod potruding it senses the where it should be for max charge (Don't ask me how )& alters the angle to suit for max charge rate

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