[RE-wrenches] Pathfinder vs. Suneye

[Dana Brandt]

Hi William,

I like that idea a lot. If you went through and subtracted off the shaded
numbers for each of the Pathfinder readings on the same spreadsheet you
could get the cumulative shading for a string across those reading
locations. The Pathfinder Assistant should be able to do that, too. I like
to use the Assistant Software so I can account for pitch and orientation.
If there's a big tree to the east but my roof is facing west the shading
won't count for much. With the manual Pathfinder it's tough to put a number
to that, but the Assistant software can do it. It just won't allow for
string shading.

Thanks,

Dana

Dana Brandt
Ecotech Energy Systems, LLC
www.ecotechenergy.com
dana at ecotechenergy.com
360.318.7646

On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 10:48 PM, William Miller <william at millersolar.com>
wrote:

> Dana:
>
>
>
> You can evaluate multiple points with a Pathfinder, thusly:
>
>
>
> 1.    In case you were not aware, the little numbers in between the hours
> add up to 100% over a day.
>
> 2.    Create a spreadsheet with all of the numbers present.  Make it
> mimic the layout on the Pathfinder.
>
> 3.    For any given sample, you delete all of the numbers that correspond
> to shading.  This is easily done by viewing the image of the pathfinder and
> lassoing and deleting the shaded numbers until the spreadsheet looks like
> the Pathfinder.
>
> 4.    The remainder is the sun exposure percentage for the month.
>
> 5.    You take shading analysis samples at all of the points you desire.
>
> 6.    You calculate each point separately and then average the results
> for the different points on a month-by-month basis.
>
> 7.    See example spreadsheet below for one point with no shading.
>
>
>
> Like any worthwhile project, this takes some time to set up, but it is
> then pretty effortless to use.  There is no cost for this do=it-yourself
> approach.
>
>
>
> William
>
>
>
> Example:
>
> (Note the rows in the Pathfinder are not in chronological order. Your
> formulae will compensate for that.)
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: Gradient Cap_mini]
> Lic 773985
> millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/>
> 805-438-5600
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Dana Brandt
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 28, 2014 2:20 PM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* [RE-wrenches] Pathfinder vs. Suneye
>
>
>
> Hi Wrenches,
>
> We've been using the Pathfinder along with the Pathfinder Assistant
> software for several years and mostly like it. My concern with it is
> there's no way to combine two or three shading images to account for a
> string of modules spanning those different shading conditions. I've spoken
> with the Pathfinder folks and they don't seem to understand or acknowledge
> that limitation. How have you dealt with this?
>
> So I bought a Suneye. Their software can apparently calculate string
> shading including multiple solar access readings.
>
> I took both the Pathfinder and the Suneye out on my next site assessment
> and have run the results of side by side measurements. The Suneye is
> showing about 10-15% better solar access for each measurement that the
> Pathfinder Assistant software. I'm concerned to see such different numbers.
> Has anyone else done a side by side comparison? What have you seen?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dana
>
> Dana Brandt
>
>
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