Tree problem. Winter is near and the sun is changing paths.

nobody928

I live in the white mountains of Arizona. My home is nestled in to a forest of Pine trees. I am getting great sunlight right now and have been sense the beggining of summer. I fear that all that is about to change now that winter is getting closer, and the sun is now going to be coming up and setting right on the tree-line there by shading my panels or atleast not getting near as much direct sunlight.

I am looking for any options that will increase my solar intake. Even if that means upgrading my system. I have my components listed below.

I have a 12v system 3x140 watt UL panels. 4x105 amp hour batteries. C40 xantrex schnider charge controller. 1500 and 300 watt sine wave inverters.

solar_dave

Re: Tree problem. Winter is near and the sun is changing paths.

nobody928 wrote: »

I live in the white mountains of Arizona. My home is nestled in to a forest of Pine trees. I am getting great sunlight right now and have been sense the beggining of summer. I fear that all that is about to change now that winter is getting closer, and the sun is now going to be coming up and setting right on the tree-line there by shading my panels or atleast not getting near as much direct sunlight.

I am looking for any options that will increase my solar intake. Even if that means upgrading my system. I have my components listed below.

I have a 12v system 3x140 watt UL panels. 4x105 amp hour batteries. C40 xantrex schnider charge controller. 1500 and 300 watt sine wave inverters.

1. Set your panel angle higher.
2. get a chainsaw, but generally early morning and late afternoon doesn't produce much.
3. Add more panels and another charge controller.

ggunn

Re: Tree problem. Winter is near and the sun is changing paths.

nobody928 wrote: »

I live in the white mountains of Arizona. My home is nestled in to a forest of Pine trees. I am getting great sunlight right now and have been sense the beggining of summer. I fear that all that is about to change now that winter is getting closer, and the sun is now going to be coming up and setting right on the tree-line there by shading my panels or atleast not getting near as much direct sunlight.

I am looking for any options that will increase my solar intake. Even if that means upgrading my system. I have my components listed below.

I have a 12v system 3x140 watt UL panels. 4x105 amp hour batteries. C40 xantrex schnider charge controller. 1500 and 300 watt sine wave inverters.

You installed your system without doing a shading analysis??? Solar Pathfinders are kind of expensive, but if you have an iPhone there is a great app called SunSeeker that will show you the sun's path at the solstices and the current date superimposed on the image from the phone's camera. I think it cost me about $5.

niel

Re: Tree problem. Winter is near and the sun is changing paths.

can you raise up your pvs higher too as it may be a case of too many trees needing downed too far out. some of the closer in trees i would cut any way even to help in being a fire break.

more in pv won't help if they aren't illuminated.

NorthGuy

Re: Tree problem. Winter is near and the sun is changing paths.

I have exactly the same problem.

I found a spot 300 feet from the house where I could install more panels, but this is expensive and may be not worth it for a handful of sunny days we get in winter. I'm still thinking about it, no definitive decision so far.