Now, you guys probably knew all this stuff before but it's new to me so I thought I'd post it to the "General" rather than the "Solar" forum because that's intended to be more technical whereas I think this calculator may appeal to the less technical.
It won't be 100% accurate but I think, from personal observations and measurements, it's in the ballpark. It does assume your panels are seeing open sky all the time, any shade will, of course, reduce their output.
Today I discovered this website:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/
And have written a small spreadsheet to do some calculations using its data. Please let me know if I've missed something or have gotten something wrong.
To use go here: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/ And select the "Map"
Change the field from "Daily rainfall" to "Monthly Solar Exposure". Zoom in to your desired location, say, Bendigo Airport and click on it. Next click "Monthly Solar Exposure" on the pop-up.
IMPORTANT: In the new window which opens *ensure* you click the "kWh m2" button at the top right of the table.
You should now see a figure of 2.3kWh for June 2017.
Plug that number (2.3) into B7 on the spreadsheet and set B8 to the wattage of your solar panels - I've used 150W as an example.
So, at Bendigo Airport, in June, your panels will produce 16.6Ah per day.
However if you relocate a few thousand kilometres to Darwin Botanic Gardens your panels will produce 5.5kWh or 39.8Ah per day.
I've checked it against a few places I've camped and it seems to be in the ball park.
Thanks for the site reference & your calculator spreadsheet - Have just done daily ave. 12 monthly calculations for the solar panel on our yacht whilst on its mooring at Lymington Sth. Tassie.
David
Magnarc said
08:45 AM Jun 17, 2018
Great info Mike but"gotten?" I did not know that you are an American! vbg
Mike Harding said
09:18 AM Jun 17, 2018
So, you're suggesting my requisition of the word gotten is ill-gotten :)
I'm merely rekindling a term used by my forefathers:
And now, I must away to find my flashlight and ensure the water from the faucet in the restroom is the correct color.
Gee, I love the audio function in the link.
Warren-Pat_01 said
12:40 PM Jun 17, 2018
Thanks Mike,
Often these little spreadsheets cause the "guru" a bit of time to develop but can be SO useful to others.
My brother lives in Chiltern (Vic) - has a 5 Kw system on his roof but it develops only a bit more power per day in August than my 2 Kw in (Sun City) Townsville. $ per watt were about the same as I paid a significantly higher price in 2011 for 1.7Kw (that system was destroyed in a solar fire - shoddy installation) than he did in 2016.
Magnarc said
07:53 AM Jun 18, 2018
Excellent reply to my cheeky observation!!!.
Farmhat said
11:22 AM Jun 18, 2018
According to your example, every body with 450w of panels and a 30A solar controller will have to upgrade to a 50A controller.
Joe
daffyfrancis said
12:02 PM Jun 18, 2018
Hi Joe
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
I am not tech minded but the example spreadsheet for a 150w panel is 16.6 amp hours per day & not each hour.
David
Farmhat said
12:29 PM Jun 18, 2018
daffyfrancis wrote:
Hi Joe
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
I am not tech minded but the example spreadsheet for a 150w panel is 16.6 amp hours per day & not each hour.
David
Hi daffyfrancis. I stand corrected. I misread the 'per day'. Thanks for that.
In any case 16.6 amp hours per day output from a 150w panel would be below expectations for a day of sunlight.
Joe
-- Edited by Farmhat on Monday 18th of June 2018 12:30:34 PM
Mike Harding said
03:47 PM Jun 18, 2018
Farmhat wrote:In any case 16.6 amp hours per day output from a 150w panel would be below expectations for a day of sunlight.
Keep in mind we are talking a winter day in June in Victoria and the BOM say sun protection is "not recommended" - so there isn't much (any) strong sunlight.
The same day in Darwin produces about 40Ah.
The whole point of this calculator is to let you do "What if" calculations: What if: I relocate to Rockhampton or Broken Hill? What if: I buy another 100W of solar panel? What if: I buy super efficient panels? What if: I move to a 24V system? etc
The spreadsheet lists the variable used by the equation - if you wish to change any you can and if you think I have made an error then I'd be grateful if you would tell me what you think it is and I'll correct it?
btw: the comment on line 17 should say "Power per day Wh" - ignore the "m2" bit.
Edit: PS: Magnarc - Thank you, I enjoy language and jousting about the subtleties of English :)
-- Edited by Mike Harding on Monday 18th of June 2018 03:52:55 PM
fwdoz said
05:56 PM Jun 18, 2018
Excellent find & a decent bit of spreadsheet kit Mike. Certainly comes in handy with the planning of solar going on to my next caravan & our first trip to Merimbula in October. Gives me a decent indication of what to expect.
Tony Bev said
11:37 PM Jun 18, 2018
A good one Mike, so thanks for that
It would be handy to give a bit of a generalised ball park figure, if a person was thinking of purchasing/upgrading, solar panels
Farmhat said
01:40 AM Jun 19, 2018
Mike Harding wrote:
Farmhat wrote:In any case 16.6 amp hours per day output from a 150w panel would be below expectations for a day of sunlight.
Keep in mind we are talking a winter day in June in Victoria and the BOM say sun protection is "not recommended" - so there isn't much (any) strong sunlight.
-- Edited by Mike Harding on Monday 18th of June 2018 03:52:55 PM
I am back in south of Adelaide, and in sunlight/no shade, my 120 w portable is putting out near 8 A/h and my 150 w portable is pumping out near 10A/h when facing the sun directly. We have returned yesterday from five weeks out bush without any 240 volt and the rooftop panels in sun have topped up the batteries mid morning everyday, pumping out at similar rates p/w as the 2 portables, which I did not need to use. But then again, we have better sun than Victoria.
Joe
dieseltojo said
09:59 AM Jun 19, 2018
Not knocking the idea at all, but I bought a morning star controller when I set my van up. It is wall mounted and gives a constant read out of what is being used or power in and out. It is always active. If cloudy it shows input and at all times.
I can tell you what my telly uses, the wc fan or the lights on. I can certainly recommend it but the darn thing is adictive and I can't help but check the thing....
Aus-Kiwi said
01:16 PM Jun 19, 2018
^^ Same here ^^
Nice warm feeling seeing the green light flash before mid day !!
Cupie said
03:17 PM Jun 19, 2018
dieseltojo wrote:
Not knocking the idea at all, but I bought a morning star controller when I set my van up. It is wall mounted and gives a constant read out of what is being used or power in and out. It is always active. If cloudy it shows input and at all times.
I can tell you what my telly uses, the wc fan or the lights on. I can certainly recommend it but the darn thing is adictive and I can't help but check the thing....
Sounds like a good one. Had a look on line but there are dozens of morning star controllers to select from.
Can you give me details (model number etc) of yours please.
fwdoz said
04:14 PM Jun 19, 2018
dieseltojo wrote:
I bought a morning star controller when I set my van up. It is wall mounted and gives a constant read out of what is being used or power in and out. It is always active. If cloudy it shows input and at all times.
I can tell you what my telly uses, the wc fan or the lights on. I can certainly recommend it but the darn thing is adictive and I can't help but check the thing....
I have one as well; bought it because they were one of the most recommended. Proof is in the pudding & it has been brilliant & easy to use. Love seeing my battery back to full before noon.
Now, you guys probably knew all this stuff before but it's new to me
so I thought I'd post it to the "General" rather than the "Solar"
forum because that's intended to be more technical whereas I think
this calculator may appeal to the less technical.
It won't be 100% accurate but I think, from personal observations and
measurements, it's in the ballpark. It does assume your panels are
seeing open sky all the time, any shade will, of course, reduce their
output.
Today I discovered this website:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/
And have written a small spreadsheet to do some calculations using
its data. Please let me know if I've missed something or have gotten
something wrong.
To use go here:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/
And select the "Map"
Change the field from "Daily rainfall" to "Monthly Solar Exposure".
Zoom in to your desired location, say, Bendigo Airport and click on
it. Next click "Monthly Solar Exposure" on the pop-up.
IMPORTANT: In the new window which opens *ensure* you click the
"kWh m2" button at the top right of the table.
You should now see a figure of 2.3kWh for June 2017.
Plug that number (2.3) into B7 on the spreadsheet and set B8
to the wattage of your solar panels - I've used 150W as an example.
So, at Bendigo Airport, in June, your panels will produce 16.6Ah per
day.
However if you relocate a few thousand kilometres to Darwin Botanic
Gardens your panels will produce 5.5kWh or 39.8Ah per day.
I've checked it against a few places I've camped and it seems to
be in the ball park.
Please let me know of any issues.
NB. "m2" means one square metre.
Hi Mike
Thanks for the site reference & your calculator spreadsheet - Have just done daily ave. 12 monthly calculations for the solar panel on our yacht whilst on its mooring at Lymington Sth. Tassie.
David
Great info Mike but"gotten?" I did not know that you are an American! vbg
So, you're suggesting my requisition of the word gotten is ill-gotten :)
I'm merely rekindling a term used by my forefathers:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gotten
And now, I must away to find my flashlight and ensure the water from the faucet in the restroom is the correct color.
Gee, I love the audio function in the link.
Often these little spreadsheets cause the "guru" a bit of time to develop but can be SO useful to others.
My brother lives in Chiltern (Vic) - has a 5 Kw system on his roof but it develops only a bit more power per day in August than my 2 Kw in (Sun City) Townsville. $ per watt were about the same as I paid a significantly higher price in 2011 for 1.7Kw (that system was destroyed in a solar fire - shoddy installation) than he did in 2016.
Excellent reply to my cheeky observation!!!.
According to your example, every body with 450w of panels and a 30A solar controller will have to upgrade to a 50A controller.
Joe
Hi Joe
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
I am not tech minded but the example spreadsheet for a 150w panel is 16.6 amp hours per day & not each hour.
David
Hi daffyfrancis. I stand corrected. I misread the 'per day'. Thanks for that.
In any case 16.6 amp hours per day output from a 150w panel would be below expectations for a day of sunlight.
Joe
-- Edited by Farmhat on Monday 18th of June 2018 12:30:34 PM
Keep in mind we are talking a winter day in June in Victoria and the
BOM say sun protection is "not recommended" - so there isn't much
(any) strong sunlight.
The same day in Darwin produces about 40Ah.
The whole point of this calculator is to let you do "What if" calculations:
What if: I relocate to Rockhampton or Broken Hill?
What if: I buy another 100W of solar panel?
What if: I buy super efficient panels?
What if: I move to a 24V system?
etc
The spreadsheet lists the variable used by the equation - if you wish
to change any you can and if you think I have made an error then I'd
be grateful if you would tell me what you think it is and I'll
correct it?
btw: the comment on line 17 should say "Power per day Wh" - ignore
the "m2" bit.
Edit:
PS: Magnarc - Thank you, I enjoy language and jousting about the
subtleties of English :)
-- Edited by Mike Harding on Monday 18th of June 2018 03:52:55 PM
Excellent find & a decent bit of spreadsheet kit Mike. Certainly comes in handy with the planning of solar going on to my next caravan & our first trip to Merimbula in October. Gives me a decent indication of what to expect.
It would be handy to give a bit of a generalised ball park figure, if a person was thinking of purchasing/upgrading, solar panels
I am back in south of Adelaide, and in sunlight/no shade, my 120 w portable is putting out near 8 A/h and my 150 w portable is pumping out near 10A/h when facing the sun directly. We have returned yesterday from five weeks out bush without any 240 volt and the rooftop panels in sun have topped up the batteries mid morning everyday, pumping out at similar rates p/w as the 2 portables, which I did not need to use. But then again, we have better sun than Victoria.
Joe
Not knocking the idea at all, but I bought a morning star controller when I set my van up. It is wall mounted and gives a constant read out of what is being used or power in and out. It is always active. If cloudy it shows input and at all times.
I can tell you what my telly uses, the wc fan or the lights on. I can certainly recommend it but the darn thing is adictive and I can't help but check the thing....
Sounds like a good one. Had a look on line but there are dozens of morning star controllers to select from.
Can you give me details (model number etc) of yours please.
I have one as well; bought it because they were one of the most recommended. Proof is in the pudding & it has been brilliant & easy to use. Love seeing my battery back to full before noon.