[RE-wrenches] Phone/ sun position apps

Ray ray at solarray.com
Mon Sep 3 15:29:42 EDT 2018


HI Ken;

Don't tell me, but you probably still have a copy of /The Passive Solar 
Energy Book/ on your shelves, with those nice old solar siting charts?

Those of us lucky enough to have been in the business for decades have 
been confronted with Ken's little considered fact: *Trees grow*.  I went 
back to a site I had done in '99, and was amazed I was so stupid to put 
the array in the shade of a 30 ft tree.  That must have been before I 
got my Solar Pathfinder, I thought......Then I started looking at the 
tree and my old pics of the site, and realized that tree was only about 
5 ft tall, when I did the system.  As Homer Simpson says:  " /Douhh!/ "

On the flip side, beetle kill in the Southwest has had the opposite 
effect; arrays that were on tall poles to get above the tree shading are 
now rather ridiculous looking sitting out by themselves in the now large 
clearing.

While I certainly didn't go into solar to cut down trees, sometimes it 
needs to happen along with clearing trees close to the house for fire 
danger.  I do my best to get folks to move the array to save the big 
beauties. (yea, I'm a tree hugger at heart) Higher voltage arrays 
courtesy of MPPT controllers help in that regard, too.

Ray Walters
Remote Solar
303 505-8760

On 9/3/18 12:26 PM, Ken Schaal wrote:
> I started siting SHW systems in 1976.
> Studied sun angle chart persistently, until i had a good sense of how 
> the sun moves for our area in central Virginia.
>  We also have lots of trees...fast growing, tall trees !
> So while  precision shading analysis is a valuable tool, the info is 
> static.
> Our sites are rarely static !
> The biggest issue here is getting clients to manage their trees.
> I learned this even before I  started installing SHW, when I first 
> built a sunroom on the south side of my house in 1974.
>  Many trees have grown, and then become firewood, since then.
> When the pv system was installed, in 2008, several more trees on the 
> east and west were removed.Fortunately there were now taller trees to 
> the NE and NW to shade house  in summer. Exterior movable shading, 
> sunscreen,  on south windows, combined with interior insulating 
> shades, allowing the collectors and pv panels to be in full sun, while 
> the house is protected from unwanted spring, summer, fall solar gain.
> Being a full service solar contractor requires a long term perspective 
> in our climate. And most importantly, clients willing and able to 
> manage their trees !
> It has been my observation that folks that love solar, hate to cut 
> trees, even tho trees, in our climate, grow faster now due to climate 
> change.
>
> Ken Schaal
> CommonWealthSolar.com
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 3, 2018, 12:45 PM Dan Fink <danbob88 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:danbob88 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I use Solar Shading from Comoving Magnetics on Android. I had my
>     class test it versus the Solar Pathfinder and Solmetric Suneye,
>     and our shading readings were within 6-8%.
>
>     The Solmetric Sunviewer app is also handy. I have never tried
>     their iPV app because of the price, and because Solar Shades is
>     working fine for me.
>
>     Dan Fink
>     Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
>     IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
>     ~ PV Installation Professional
>     ~ Small Wind Installer
>     Executive Director, Buckville Energy
>     NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
>     NABCEP PV Associate
>
>     970.672.4342
>
>
>
>     On Mon, Sep 3, 2018 at 10:28 AM Jerry Shafer
>     <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com <mailto:jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         I still use the sun eye and solmetric, noting works as well as
>         being on site, solmetric had an app way back when that was on
>         a subcription bases
>         Jerry
>
>         On Mon, Sep 3, 2018, 9:22 AM Jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com
>         <mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>             Hi all,
>
>             I’m wondering about which apps people are using for
>             determining shading and sun position.
>
>             Thx
>             Jay
>
>             Peltz Power.
>
>
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>         On Sep 3, 2018 9:22 AM, "Jay" <jay.peltz at gmail.com
>         <mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>             Hi all,
>
>             I’m wondering about which apps people are using for
>             determining shading and sun position.
>
>             Thx
>             Jay
>
>             Peltz Power.
>
>
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