[Elecraft] OT: Solar - Mostly for Wayne

[Fred Townsend]

Ken:
I would add the caveat that not all cells are wide angles like yours. After
maximum power aiming mine (Harbor Freight) are at 25% of rated power within
15 minutes. That makes aiming them almost a full time job.
73
Fred, AE6QL 

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ken G Kopp
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 1:57 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: Solar - Mostly for Wayne

The following from a number of years experience as a power company
communications tech with mountain top solar radio repeater sites and a
long-time RV solar and wind power user.

Mounting solar panels in a flat position may turn out to be the most
practical.  The conventional way is to angle them towards the sun at an
angle equal to your latitude, but even at 46 degrees here in Montana the
difference in output between 0 and 46 degrees is only about 7%.  Hardly
worth the trouble of dealing with the mechanics of angle mounting or
seasonal adjustment.

At Wayne's lower latitude, this is even more the case.

Our RV has 12A worth of panels and they're mounted flat on the roof.  They
charge four Trojan T-145 6V
(440AH) golf cart batteries (via a regulator) and we've never run short of
power.  BTW, the batteries have been in service for almost 12 years.

There's a 1500W inverter for the TV, SatTV receiver, computer(s), etc.  The
one thing we don't do is power the 1000W microwave oven via the inverter.
It requires
90 amps from the batteries to operate the microwave and I hesitate to draw
that from the battery for long periods of time for fear of warping the
plates.

I also have a small Air 403 windmill that mounts to the RV's rear bumper
that's good for 25A in a stiff breeze.
It also gets lots of interest from other RV'ers.  Especially at the
Quartzite, AZ gathering. (:-)

73!

Ken - K0PP
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