# Solar panel angles



## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Nice explanation of angles to set your panels at and day of year to adjust them if you're going to.

http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/

WWW


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

wy_white_wolf said:


> Nice explanation of angles to set your panels at and day of year to adjust them if you're going to.
> 
> http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/
> 
> WWW


 I know probably very few have their panels set-up like mine. I just adjusted them today for the winter. They are mounted on a trailer so I just pulled the tongue around some, added a 8" block under the tire of the high side. They lined up good.


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## Hitch (Oct 19, 2016)

Fire-Man said:


> I know probably very few have their panels set-up like mine. I just adjusted them today for the winter. They are mounted on a trailer so I just pulled the tongue around some, added a 8" block under the tire of the high side. They lined up good.


Man, that's brilliant!


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Hitch said:


> Man, that's brilliant!


 Thanks. I built them this way for 2 reasons. I did not have the cabin built so I knew I was going to have to move them later as well as if we have a hurricane coming I hook to them and back them into my hurricane shelter place(a place cut into the side of a hill). It does make them easy to adjust the angle on. I do have them more secure than what you see in the pic---jack stands and weight on the high side.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

We have three angles that we can set our solar panels to, a Summer angle, a Spring / Autumn angle and a Winter angle.

In accordance with my Latitude, our Summer angle is 21.7 degrees from horizontal, which we go to on 18 April.
Our Spring / Autumn angle is 46.7 degrees from horizontal, which we go to on 5 March and 24 August.
Our Winter angle is 68.5 degrees from horizontal, which we go to on 7 October.


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## samson (Jan 21, 2017)

In states with hurricanes dictating building codes it's virtually impossible to build or have a tilt-able or movable array. Ridiculous wide codes took hold in 2012. Areas in Central Florida that have never seen winds over 105 or 110 mph are burdened with 140 mph code specs today. So fixed arrays anchored 4 feet into the ground are common.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

samson said:


> In states with hurricanes dictating building codes it's virtually impossible to build or have a tilt-able or movable array. Ridiculous wide codes took hold in 2012. Areas in Central Florida that have never seen winds over 105 or 110 mph are burdened with 140 mph code specs today. * So fixed arrays anchored 4 feet into the ground are common*.


I need to get down to 5 foot below grade just to avoid frost heaves.

I found one code that said for every 100 sq ft of panel needs a minimum of 4 yards of concrete in the ground [below frost] to anchor it.

We got our first solar panel array 'up' a week before Hurricane Sandy. That hurricane lifted all of our concrete up out of the ground.

Our second array has more concrete.

Basically we did three concrete footers, 70' long, spaced 10' foot apart, in three parallel lines.

The top of each footer is 5 foot below grade, the bottom of each footer is set at 8 foot below grade. Each footer took 10 yards of concrete, and is filled with multiple horizontal runs of welded rebar, welded to the vertical supports.

The center footer has vertical black iron pipe [concrete-filled], welded to the horizontal rebar and running up to where the solar panels are hinged.

The two 'out-rigger' footers have vertical posts coming up every 6 foot. with high-tension springs and high-tension cabling that attach to the top of the solar panel supports.


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## Paul1 (Apr 2, 2006)

Here is another useful site. Select the city nearest you and it calculates the most optimal angles for you. http://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-irradiance.html


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

+1 Paul but try this to get optimal angles for Winter - Spring/Fall - Summer
Breaks it down starting with Country, State & City. 
http://solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-angle-calculator.html


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