Alaska sunlight peak hours

[Ampster]

........
I could only add a general comment to include sunscreen use at high altitude locations and/or places with high albedo pretty much regardless of latitude.

No worries, fishing on the ocean makes altitude calculations simpler.

[J.P.M.]

No worries, fishing on the ocean makes altitude calculations simpler.

And simplicity is paramount to your way of thinking.

But does that make the sunscreen application procedure different ?

How about fishing at/on a mountain lake ?

Enough.

[Weldman]

Interesting. I just came back from an RV event and sat through a seminar given by 4 people that boon dock a lot and have added Lithium chemistry batteries to their rigs. While neither indicated an ROI they all said that the ability to live off grid anywhere they could get their RV was worth the cost of the solar/battery system.

One pair have a youtube site called RVGeeks. They are an interesting pair and were very honest with the audience about what not to do concerning a Lithium battery system for their RV.

I am one of those people who has lived in their RV since March of 2019 in a truck camper on back of a semi of said such with PV system and there is a ROI from my experience is you aren’t paying $20 to $50 a night to park at a campground to get electricity. You get more choices of where to explore and how long you stay there. Yes you can run on generator in same places, but I guarantee you that a PV system and it’s batteries will be cheaper than replacing generators or buying fuel to run them. Spent 3 weeks crossing the US in middle of winter ran generator twice and paid nothing to boon dock out away from civilization at free designated campgrounds without hook ups. Also I run propane generator when I do run one so no carburetors to clean, already have propane onboard and they last longer.

Lastly I spent about $5000 in my PV system and see the batteries lasting about 5 years at most since they are plain 6v golf cart batteries, I will move up eventually, but even with this set up I see a ROI with how much campgrounds are. Out of that $5000 I paid about $800 for the 8 batteries.

[NCmountainsOffgrid]

realistically, if traveling to and thru and around Alaska, a very big area, during June and July, you'll experience light most of the 24 hours you have each day, yes, but 'sun hours' are not necessarily correlated with that, since the sun is not always 'out' the whole time(clouds), and is not always at 'peak' direct-overhead locations, especially if you have flat panel mounts on the roof of an RV.
We took our two 100w panels on a specially modified three-bike articulating carrier, where the panels could ride on the rear, but be articulated down and tilted for best direct sun when parked. It allowed us to use much less generator run time, and probably offset most of the cost of the panels, controller, and wiring. Alaska trips are fairly short, though, for RVrs, since the timing is critical for the summer months. We left GA at the start of June, and returned at the first of August. Only 9 days of that were actually 'in' Alaska - the bulk of the time is traveling toward there, and the travel THRU Canada, specifically British Columbia and the Yukon! All was beautiful, and don't forget that the travel is part of the Journey.

[Weldman]

Only 9 days of that were actually 'in' Alaska - the bulk of the time is traveling toward there, and the travel THRU Canada, specifically British Columbia and the Yukon! All was beautiful, and don't forget that the travel is part of the Journey.

Hence reason took me and the wife 3 weeks to get from Washington state to Texas for us. Just buzzing around down the country roads staying off the interstates and max speed is 60 to 65 mph. Plus had to pick a transmission up along the way for the toad that blew the transmission. Thanks for the insight I will pass information along to the friend of a friend...

[Ampster]

Here is a solar insolation map for the US including Alaska. Note the southern Coastal leg of Alaska has poor insolation as does much of Puget Sound (Seattle).
I should point out this information is from satellite information about cloud cover and does not model seasonal changes.

[Weldman]

Here is a solar insolation map for the US including Alaska. Note the southern Coastal leg of Alaska has poor insolation as does much of Puget Sound (Seattle).

That was what I was looking for also, thanks that gives better prospective. Every little piece helps including people feedback that have been there.

[Ampster]

As noted earlier, it doesn't include effects of latitude. PV Watts does that.

[J.P.M.]

That was what I was looking for also, thanks that gives better prospective. Every little piece helps including people feedback that have been there.

Putting some relative numbers on the colors of Ampster's cartoon, from the NREL "Solar Radiation Data Manual for Flat Plate and Concentrating Collectors" :

Data expressed in ave. kWh/day of P.O.A. incident solar radiation per m^2 of flat, equator facing (180 deg. azimuth) surface at several common tilt angles:

Tilt (deg.) 0, lat.-15, lat., lat.+ 15, Dual axis tracking

Seattle 3.3, 3.8, 3.7, 3.5, 4.9
Anchorage 2.4, 3.1, 3.0, 3.8, 4.0
Fairbanks 2.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.1, 4.7

Like most such data, and as the manual explains, the above is mostly based on a model. The data is however, probably representative of the relative availability of solar radiation at the locations.

Apologies for the lousy column lineup job.

The last time I looked, the manual was available on line.

[Weldman]

Putting some relative numbers on the colors of Ampster's cartoon, from the NREL "Solar Radiation Data Manual for Flat Plate and Concentrating Collectors" :

Data expressed in ave. kWh/day of P.O.A. incident solar radiation per m^2 of flat, equator facing (180 deg. azimuth) surface at several common tilt angles:

Tilt (deg.) 0, lat.-15, lat., lat.+ 15, Dual axis tracking

Seattle 3.3, 3.8, 3.7, 3.5, 4.9
Anchorage 2.4, 3.1, 3.0, 3.8, 4.0
Fairbanks 2.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.1, 4.7

Like most such data, and as the manual explains, the above is mostly based on a model. The data is however, probably representative of the relative availability of solar radiation at the locations.

Apologies for the lousy column lineup job.

The last time I looked, the manual was available on line.

Still helps and fills in the gap of missing information, one could surmise a good amount of data to see what they need from this. Thanks

[J.P.M.]

Still helps and fills in the gap of missing information, one could surmise a good amount of data to see what they need from this. Thanks

You're most welcome.

More qualitative information from reliable/recognized sources helps in forming opinions.

[Weldman]

Was going to go to Alaska this summer but, the world had too drink to much Corona and now has a hangover so to be continued next summer after this one...

[Ampster]

I am hopeful that a Salmon fishing trip to Sitka can still take place in late July.