peak solar hours/day

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
I'm curious. What is considered the level at which peak solar is measured? In other words, is it anything above 800 wm-2? or above 1000 wm-2?

Just curious since the sun in the Gila peaks at above 1000wm-2 for very brief time, but stays above say 700wm-2 for a few hours.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #2
    Re: peak solar hours/day

    I think that 1,000 w/m^2 is the "standard" that folks use (anything to maximize output/paper specs. ;) )... However, you can find charts with other values (800, 600 etc.) listed too...

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: peak solar hours/day

    I have a sample of my daily chart posted here http://www.mike-burgess.org/images/MB_May-3-2007.htm
    clouds and all. There is only a short "Peak" time. (about 1 hr) but there are about 3 hours either side of peak, that I consider my PEAK producing time. While i might have the panels running for 12 hours in summer, only 6 of them give appreciable power.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #4
    Re: peak solar hours/day
    mike90045 wrote: »
    I have a sample of my daily chart posted here http://www.mike-burgess.org/images/MB_May-3-2007.htm
    clouds and all. There is only a short "Peak" time. (about 1 hr) but there are about 3 hours either side of peak, that I consider my PEAK producing time. While i might have the panels running for 12 hours in summer, only 6 of them give appreciable power.

    Mike...

    What's the blue line on the chart represent??

    JimmyD
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: peak solar hours/day

    > What's the blue line on the chart represent??

    The temperature of the inverter, and you can see a drop when my fan/timer kicks in.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

    · Share on Twitter

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