I should point out that this calculator is for severe weather northern climates.
If you live in some place that doesn't see week-long winter inversions or dense cloud conditions that last a week or more, there are some assumptions that can be altered some that will reduce, for instance, the battery capacity requirements. I have to prepare for up to 8 days in a row with NO generation whatsoever. In fact, it'll be so dark that you can't drive without your lights, for fear of getting hit. But, for someone like Mac, who rarely has storms longer than 2 days, it can be adjusted. The formula in the cell for "battery capacity" is set for 25 days of capacity. Down in Louisiana, it could be dropped to 10 days, for instance. If you're putting this on a mountaintop, where snow may occaisionally obscure the panels for a while after a storm, you might need to up the battery "days" to 30 or 45, just to be safe. Maybe you have some site that gets fogged in... That must be taken into account. If you're going to do that, then your margin better hit close to 20 percent, too. Set your system voltage, you can find your "insolation" value here: http://www.solarseller.com/solar_insolation_maps_and_chart_.htm Use the "minimum" figure in the field labelled "hours". It's not exact, but close enough to work. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ neofast.net - fast internet for North East Oregon and South East Washington email me at mark at neofast dot net 541-969-8200 Direct commercial inquiries to purchasing at neofast dot net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Koskenmaki" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 1:07 PM Subject: [WISPA] For you WISPA list people... > Ok, list, this is your lucky day. You get something for nothing. > > Attached is the spreadsheet I designed to help design solar sites. It > makes some rough calculations, and some "safe" assumptions about how much > power you use, vs how much you need to generate, and how much battery > capacity you need in order to not deep discharge your batteries during no > sun conditions. > > This is designed to last several years, taking into account: not > discharging batteries more than 50%, loss of battery capacity over time, > etc. > > Hope it's useful to you. > > Now, as far as the specific solar products go, you have to choose the panels > by what is available at the time you need it. There's a generalized > shortage of solar panels, so the selection is always limited and sometimes > you simply have to work around, rather than use the ideal setup. > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > neofast.net - fast internet for North East Oregon and South East Washington > email me at mark at neofast dot net > 541-969-8200 > Direct commercial inquiries to purchasing at neofast dot net > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > -- > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
