By Russ and Tiña De Maris
We’ve preached about the positive aspects of tilting solar panels to catch more of that “low on the horizon” winter sun. But some have wondered, is it really worth the hassle? Here’s a video that shows you what happens when one couple tilts their panels.
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I have 1600 amps of solar panels. I tilt 8 of the 16 at a time (shadows) and typically increase the intake about 20%.
It sounds like they wired there panels in Series. That would explain why no change until the last panel was tilted. If they wired them in Parallel, you would see an immediate increase with each panel tilted. Also if they parked near trees covering one or more panels, they would not get much or any power. Is this right??
Yes you would see an immediate increase with each panel tilted. Yes, with panels wired in parallel only the panel in the shade will stop producing power.
However, with the 6 panels in parallel you would need heavier wire going from the panels to the solar controller than the panels in series. With the typical relatively thin wire needed by the 6 panels in series the panels wired in series will have a voltage loss with the higher current carried by the thin wire.
Even if I am going to be stop far a while. I will not be tilting my panels. Why put wear and tear on the roof by constantly going up and down. Besides I cannot leave at a moments notice because the panels are up. If you got the room just add more panels. Besides this is only a problem on the short days of the year. Solar panels has gotten a lot cheaper in the past few years. Now if there was a reliable auto tilting device then I would say go for it.
If you leave them tilted do you loose amperage earlier in the day?