[RE-wrenches] Phone/ sun position apps

Mon Sep 3 15:40:47 EDT 2018

Jay,

I’ve been using the Sunseeker app in conjunction with the Solar Pathfinder. The former is useful for when the Pathfinder isn’t handy. 

rick brown
SolShine Energy Alternatives, LLC
Electrical & Solar Contracting Services
www.SolShineEnergyAlternatives.com
Check, Virginia 24072
540.808.9502

VA Class A Contractor Lic# 2705147660
VA Master Electrician Lic# 2710062762
VA Alternative Energy Systems Installer  
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional 110112-21

> On Sep 3, 2018, at 3:29 PM, Ray <ray at solarray.com> wrote:
> 
> 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> 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> 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> 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> 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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