Should i play with the angle.. 16.4kw tall

[vwaudiguy]

I have a tall south facing ground mount angled at 11 degrees... would it gain me enough to justify building some support bars to help with wind resilience if I tilted the panels to say 26 degrees.. 26 is what the calculators say is a good year round angle for me.

 

[Zwy]

I use seasonal tilt. This winter when temps went to -20°F with snow on the ground, the sun was bright and I was heating my house during the day for free plus powering all my loads. My current array is only 8.4Kw. The snow has albedo and pushed output to over 9Kw. That was at 65° tilt.

Right now I'm at 55° as we might get some snow. A few more weeks closer to the equinox I'll move to 45°.

I did hear Sinclair is planning to sell their adjustment jacks as a separate item. Might be a good choice.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Angle has a huge impact.
I would make it tilt to the optimal winter angle.
Is snow an issue?

 

[vwaudiguy]

Angle has a huge impact.
I would make it tilt to the optimal winter angle.
Is snow an issue?

45 degrees is optimal winter angle... the rack won't tilt that far as the pivot slots in the supports only allow up to about 30 degrees. We do get snow but very little. Maybe 3 times a year

 

[45North]

I place your latitude as 37 deg,, so that would be your best year-round fixed angle, 15 deg steeper if you're so inclined to change it ;-)

 

[vwaudiguy]

I place your latitude as 37 deg,, so that would be your best year-round fixed angle, 15 deg steeper if you're so inclined to change it ;-)

Do you think it would be worth the trouble.. more winter production would be nice for sure.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Here's 740W of panels angled appropriately winter aiming SW

Here's 5180W angled... Aimed S

I have 5670W on the roofs, they make about half what they are rated in the winter, when they aren't covered in snow.

 

[vwaudiguy]

Here's 740W of panels angled appropriately winter aiming SW
View attachment 196468
Here's 5180W angled... Aimed S
View attachment 196472
I have 5670W on the roofs, they make about half what they are rated in the winter, when they aren't covered in snow.

My 16.4kw system peaks at about 9.7kw in early January... looks like I need to play with the angle a bit.. thanks for the info