Solar Calculator

Do you make your own power ? be it Solar or Wind. Then this is a place for all home energy chat.
User avatar
MB
Posts: 352
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Coventry, England
Contact:

Solar Calculator

Postby MB » Tue May 26, 2009 9:51 am

Folks

I've written a book on solar PV, which is being published in the next month.

Accompanying the book is a web site. It's still being developed at the moment and the whole thing won't be complete for another week or so. As part of the web site, the publishers and I have developed a solar calculator that allows you to enter the load, select where you are in the country and generate your own solar report.

You can go and play with the calculator yourself at http://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com ... lator.aspx

Please remember this is at the 'pre-release' stage, so there are things that need to be improved with regards layout (and putting the rest of the site together), and additional instructions. However, I would very much appreciate any feedback on the calculator itself and the report that is generated.

Incidentally, you need to enter your e-mail address in order to receive the report. Nothing is done with your e-mail address other than your report is e-mailed to it. At this stage, the e-mail address is discarded and not actually stored in any database anywhere.

The report (and the book) is really geared at off-grid applications as opposed to grid-tie, but contains useful information for both.

I would be interested to see how useful people find this calculator. If you find any gremlins, please let me know so I can make this system as good as possible.
My new book is out: The 2011 Electric Car Guide is available from Amazon and all good bookshops.

User avatar
ChrisB
Posts: 4657
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:33 am
Location: Hampshire on the Southcoast
Contact:

Postby ChrisB » Tue May 26, 2009 8:59 pm

Looks really interesting MB

Havent had a chance to have a good play but certianly will do.

Have spotted a minor spelly thing

Energy Table
In this section, please liIn this section, please list each appliance you plan to power in the device description.


Not major issue just thought I'd let you know

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

User avatar
floydster
Site Staff
Posts: 433
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:36 pm
Location: Central Scotland
Contact:

Postby floydster » Tue May 26, 2009 9:28 pm

Excellent stuff.

I'd started putting a spreadsheet together exactly for this. Entered my info for a quick comparison and found a (very very) small niggle. I left the cable lenght to 12v box empty as I don't have any 12v devices, this generated the error "Input string was not in a correct format.". Looks like the variables haven't been defined with a default of 0 or whatever needs done in the scripting language you've used.

Received a reply once I'd put a value in. Still to review the info but it looks great.

Floydster
I know I'm in my own world - it's OK, they know me here.

mab
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 4:58 pm
Location: Brighton Marina

solar calc

Postby mab » Wed May 27, 2009 2:13 am

seems good - can you do one for wind gennys now please? :wink:

one possible error (if I'm not mistaken):- in the panel positioning & installation section, report suggests panel should be mounted facing south at an angle of 14° from the horizontal for 12 months use, and 22° from horizontal for 9 months, feb through to november.

I reckon that's supposed to say from the vertical.


This is just an impression but the required power of panels seemed a little large to me. i.e. the panels i'm using seem to cope well despite being smaller than your recommendation, but to be fair I've not consistently loaded my system through the winter months (and I re-angle my panels to adapt to the seasons) so I could be wrong.

cheers
mab

mab
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 4:58 pm
Location: Brighton Marina

solar calc

Postby mab » Wed May 27, 2009 2:20 am

just another quick observation:- in resistance section you recommend wire size as 3.8mm thick.

That could be interpreted as diameter or mm squared - or am i just being picky?

mab

User avatar
MB
Posts: 352
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Coventry, England
Contact:

Postby MB » Wed May 27, 2009 5:26 pm

Guys, thanks for the feedback so far. Much appreciated. Keep it coming!
My new book is out: The 2011 Electric Car Guide is available from Amazon and all good bookshops.

User avatar
MB
Posts: 352
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Coventry, England
Contact:

Re: solar calc

Postby MB » Sun May 31, 2009 8:03 pm

mab wrote:This is just an impression but the required power of panels seemed a little large to me. i.e. the panels i'm using seem to cope well despite being smaller than your recommendation, but to be fair I've not consistently loaded my system through the winter months (and I re-angle my panels to adapt to the seasons) so I could be wrong.

cheers
mab



Well, angling your panels makes a difference - no doubt about that - but the big killer is January and December. December, in particular, is so weak in terms of solar irradiance that if you need to load your system to the max in the winter, you need lots of extra solar panels to cope with it.

If you only need - say - 50% of your electrical requirement in the dead of winter, you can get away with much smaller panels. Alternatively, if you have a suitable location, the answer can be to have solar panels and a wind turbine: the turbine gives you a useful source of electricity which works well alongside solar panels, especially during the winter months.
My new book is out: The 2011 Electric Car Guide is available from Amazon and all good bookshops.

mab
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 4:58 pm
Location: Brighton Marina

Postby mab » Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:53 pm

Fair enough - I think I'd just find some other way to deal with the shortfall myself. It doesn't make sense to me to buy enough panels to supply all my power needs in December when for the other 11 months they'll be generating a surplus. But i expect you say that somewhere (I haven't read all your report yet ).

mab


Return to “Home Energy Area”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests