Neptune 13458-000, Installation And Maintenance Manual

Page: 96 / 150

5. Orient your solar panel in direction of true south (or north if
applicable) as determined above.
6. A declination chart for North America is provided in Figure
98 – on the facing page for assistance in determining the
appropriate correction for other sites. Other suggested
resources include World Aeronautical Charts (WAC), local
airports, or government agencies, and the Internet site
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/, which calculates magnetic
variation from an input of altitude, latitude, and longitude.
Specific Tilt Angle
For optimum performance, set your solar panel to a specific tilt
angle. To determine the desired tilt angle of the solar panel,
complete the following steps.
1. Obtain a copy of an atlas.
2. Locate your site on the map.
3. Determine what latitude line closest intersects your region.
4. Take this value and add the factor based on the list in
Table 12.
This provides the optimum performance in the event of a
worse case scenario, based on the winter months (Northern
hemisphere). For example, if the solar panel location is at 32°
latitude, take 32° + 15° = 47°. In this example, the solar panel
tilt angle would be set for 47°.
Site Latitude Range (Degrees) Recommended Fixed Tilt Angle
60° - 90° 60°
25° - 60° La 15°
15° - 25° La 5°
0° - 15° 15°
1
Based on winter performance.
Table 12 – Recommended Solar Panel Tilt Angle
1
It is recommended that the solar panel tilt be limited to 15° for
a minimum angle and 60° for a maximum tilt angle.
78 R900 Gateway Installation and Maintenance Guide
Appendix A Solar Power Information