Sun hours

[bcroe]

Why re-invent the wheel.
The data you are looking for, using your method, will be dependant on your type of lanels.
The feds uses power per square meter, http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html, kwm/m2/day.

How much actual power is then less than calculated for your area based on your equipment/installation.

PVWatts should tell you all you need to know, right?

I tried using standardized (SW desert) designs, and PVWatts years ago. I got to watch my inverters doing very little. A PVWatt
simulation was useless here because I couldn't control all the input variables, and it didn't understand the peculiarities of my
situation. But if you think you can give me an optimized NW IL design, I'll certainly try to evaluate it. Bruce Roe

[bcroe]

For the winter of 2016/2017, generation so far has been some 17% higher than cloudy last winter. The peak reserve
from Nov is down about 5% from the previous year, but well above the year before the heat pump was helping. Last
winter left me with a HUGE KWH surplus at April true up, so this year electric heat is being used to the max.

The propane furnace has not run at all this season; resistance heat was working pretty hard when we touched 15
degrees below zero. So far the remaining reserve is running below the excessive reserve curve, but still well above
the break even curve 2 years ago. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

For the winter of 2016/2017, generation so far has been some 17% higher than cloudy last winter. The peak reserve
from Nov is down about 5% from the previous year, but well above the year before the heat pump was helping. Last
winter left me with a HUGE KWH surplus at April true up, so this year electric heat is being used to the max.

The propane furnace has not run at all this season; resistance heat was working pretty hard when we touched 15
degrees below zero. So far the remaining reserve is running below the excessive reserve curve, but still well above
the break even curve 2 years ago. Bruce Roe

Bruce.

Hopefully that ice storm from Jupiter doesn't hurt any of your system equipment. Good luck my friend. It looks like the winter storms are bad this year.

[bcroe]

Bruce.

Hopefully that ice storm from Jupiter doesn't hurt any of your system equipment. Good luck my friend. It
looks like the winter storms are bad this year.

Thanks, most of the awful weather in the last decade seems to sweep all around but miss here. Two tornadoes
and some REALLY heavy hail come to mind. We certainly expect ice on MON, but I doubt it will do any damage.
Can't do anything about it, just wait till the sun melts it. Anyway, panels are cheap. The inverters are inside the
shed. Bruce

[bcroe]

Here at 61084 (NW IL) the ice was a mild, one day event. None of the extensive broken tree limbs, power stayed
on, no effect on PV solar.

A different problem came up, which led to another. The garage door operator radio receiver (now obsolete) cut out. I found
a replacement but it used about 0.35W DC. My phantom load continuous load rule is no more than 0.1W when not active.
It uses an inefficient shunt V reg; I'll have to try and improve that.

I had already gone after the motor unit, which had a control transformer burning several watts. A low loss toroidal control
transformer fixes that. So I went ahead and checked the other 2 door radios. The old 120VAC rec read 0W on my first
Kill-O-Watt, but my new one has more resolution and read 0.7W. Not acceptable; I'll have to look into it. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

Here at 61084 (NW IL) the ice was a mild, one day event. None of the extensive broken tree limbs, power stayed
on, no effect on PV solar.

A different problem came up, which led to another. The garage door operator radio receiver (now obsolete) cut out. I found
a replacement but it used about 0.35W DC. My phantom load continuous load rule is no more than 0.1W when not active.
It uses an inefficient shunt V reg; I'll have to try and improve that.

I had already gone after the motor unit, which had a control transformer burning several watts. A low loss toroidal control
transformer fixes that. So I went ahead and checked the other 2 door radios. The old 120VAC rec read 0W on my first
Kill-O-Watt, but my new one has more resolution and read 0.7W. Not acceptable; I'll have to look into it. Bruce Roe

You can always go old school and do the "manual" door opener.

[bcroe]

You can always go old school and do the "manual" door opener.

ANYBODY could do that! The goal here is always to engineer the most efficient design possible,
to help justify maximizing creature comforts. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

ANYBODY could do that! The goal here is always to engineer the most efficient design possible,
to help justify maximizing creature comforts. Bruce Roe

+1. I agree with you on that plan.

[bcroe]

More energy plans afoot here; one part is room lighting. 4 rooms that had no overhead central fixture
already have conduit in place with a heavy duty mount for a ceiling fan. Fixed a couple broken fans, now
have enough fans for every position. The question is, what sort of light should they have?

Most ceiling fans just had 3 or 4 smaller incandescents sticking out from them. For this high use indoor
ap, I am thinking going to LEDS might be good. None of those failing, RF generating, fire hazard, curly
flourescents please. Perhaps adding RF filters would be part of the project anyway, but I'm looking for
advice on up to date LEDs here. Bruce Roe

[DanKegel]

I've had good luck with LEDs from big box stores. There are nice small ones from Philips, for instance.

The only pain has been dimmer compatibility, it's hit or miss. And it's hard to find good small frosted LEDs for some reason.

[SunEagle]

More energy plans afoot here; one part is room lighting. 4 rooms that had no overhead central fixture
already have conduit in place with a heavy duty mount for a ceiling fan. Fixed a couple broken fans, now
have enough fans for every position. The question is, what sort of light should they have?

Most ceiling fans just had 3 or 4 smaller incandescents sticking out from them. For this high use indoor
ap, I am thinking going to LEDS might be good. None of those failing, RF generating, fire hazard, curly
flourescents please. Perhaps adding RF filters would be part of the project anyway, but I'm looking for
advice on up to date LEDs here. Bruce Roe

Surprisingly there are a lot of quality LED lamps being made by Philips, Sylvania and Cree. You can find them at the big box stores or Amazon.

[DanS26]

Surprisingly there are a lot of quality LED lamps being made by Philips, Sylvania and Cree. You can find them at the big box stores or Amazon.

I have mixed experience with LED's.........

Burn out quickly with the Cree
Buzzing with the Phillips and Hykerion
Delay lighting with the Westinghouse in cold climate.

Seems to me the tech is still in process.

[RedDenver]

I've had good success with Cree. One bulb died after about 10 months, and they mailed me a replacement when I told them online.

[SunEagle]

I have mixed experience with LED's.........

Burn out quickly with the Cree
Buzzing with the Phillips and Hykerion
Delay lighting with the Westinghouse in cold climate.

Seems to me the tech is still in process.

The only short life bulbs I have had were 4W no name brand with MR16 based used in ceiling cans. They were cheap and a couple did not last long.

I also have delayed lighting on some 24 watt down lights that I installed 8 yeas ago. They were early versions of LED but still put out a lot of light.

I have a mix of LED's from 2 watt candelabra, 4watt MR16 base, 6 watt A19 base, 2 foot 10 watt to 4 foot 18 watt type that replaced my original fluorescent and a couple of other types mixed in. I have been using some of them for as long as 8 years and except for the couple of really cheap 4 watt ones they are all still working with little to no side effects like buzzing.

[bcroe]

The idea is a centralized light for the room, as much as the fan; I don't care for lamps exclusively. The fans tend
to take regular screw in bulbs; that could be modified. The so called "equivalents" tried before were not nearly
bright enough; guess I'll go for 100W LED equivalents (15W) for now. Some fixtures have lamps exposed; some
with a glass cover, and the radiation angle of the LEDS varies too. I think it will be necessary to try each setup
in a "test" position for effect before final installation. Bruce Roe