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diy solar

North facing panels work great, for me

millsan1

millsan1

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 23, 2023
Messages
410
Location
PA
About half of my main solar panels are on a north facing roof, very shallow pitch.

From September to April, they don't do a lot, but April through September, they rock.

I live in a very wooded area, so my south facing panels get good sun for a lot of the day, but after 2 PM, they really drop off. But, those north facing panels get pounded until at least 3 hours before sunset.

It's about 4 hours before sunset now, and 7K of north facing panels are making over 4k.
 
"Conventional" systems don't necessarily meet everyone's needs. Isn't it great when your crazy idea turns out to work perfectly.

When our Solar City Lease expires in 6 years, I'll be installing arrays East, South & West facing. Was just thinking the other day about how a couple of plumbing vents needed to be relocated to accommodate new panels.
 
millsan1 said:
About half of my main solar panels are on a north facing roof, very shallow pitch.

From September to April, they don't do a lot, but April through September, they rock.

I live in a very wooded area, so my south facing panels get good sun for a lot of the day, but after 2 PM, they really drop off. But, those north facing panels get pounded until at least 3 hours before sunset.

It's about 4 hours before sunset now, and 7K of north facing panels are making over 4k.
Click to expand...
Pics or didn't happen


Joking but i'd like to see this "north" facing array. Please understand i'm skeptical, but not necessarily closed minded on this. Would just like to see a pic of this array and how the sun hits it for the times you mentioned. Because I clicked on this thread expecting you to be in Australia
 
koppted said:
Pics or didn't happen


Joking but i'd like to see this "north" facing array. Please understand i'm skeptical, but not necessarily closed minded on this. Would just like to see a pic of this array and how the sun hits it for the times you mentioned. Because I clicked on this thread expecting you to be in Australia
Click to expand...
Me too!
But turns out he's in Pennsylvania USA
 
koppted said:
Pics or didn't happen


Joking but i'd like to see this "north" facing array. Please understand i'm skeptical, but not necessarily closed minded on this. Would just like to see a pic of this array and how the sun hits it for the times you mentioned. Because I clicked on this thread expecting you to be in Australia
Click to expand...
solar north.png

Light blue is PV, Dark blue is AC Coupled PV. AC Coupled is all facing south. PV is half south, half north, you can see they track together all day, but then in the afternoon, as pure south drops off, the north keeps producing, as the difference between the two expands.
 
Thanks for the post.
I've noticed my N facing roof gets lots of sun in the same time period as well. I have a very shallow N facing roof, if I needed power in the spring / summer I'd cover it in panels except I'd have to top my massive green giant arbs...

Spellen edit
 
Last edited:
I have a North West facing roof plane.
Given my math about tilt of the Earth and latitude of Oakland, I thought it wouldn't get much sun.
The afternoon shadows from vents tell a different story. (I'll trim the tree seen to left.)

I'm considering running mounting rails diagonally (parallel to sloped intersection with South West plane) and tilting panels.

Oakland roof.jpg
 
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