[groar]

Originally Posted by jwxr7

I'm not sure what you mean by ? Is 11 and 15 the time, like between 11 am and 3 pm?

Yes, I always forget that some people have 2x12 hours per day

I remember one day feeling the panels with my hand. They were extremely hot. Aren't the polycrystalline type like mine effected more by temperatue? I also felt the inverter and it wasn't too bad.

All solar panels are sensible to heat. Generally the lower the efficiency and the higher the loss of production because the panel is bigger so it receives more heat. Amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline have different loss coefficient per °C. Mine are at 0.4%/°C. Monocrystalline have a lower coefficient while amorphous have a higher one. Last each panel loose power in time. Mine are guaranteed to have 80% of their initial power after 25 years. Amorphous can loose 20% in the first year then "stabilize" (ie loose "only" a couple % per year next). Best monocrystalline can loose very few power. Don't forget the important temperature is the one of the panels which are rated at 15°C (77°F). At 35°C (95°C) ambient, the panels can be at 75°C (167°C).

In such conditions my panels are loosing 18% : (1-0,4%)^(75-25) = 0.818. Today was rather cool and between clouds was produced a sustained 2.2kW. During last cloud-less day, was produced at most a sustained 1.85kW.

The suns path thru the sky is actually quite far north in the morning and evening too. Making me want to angle my array that way slightly, or at least go totally flat. They seem to recommend this for lower lattitudes, but not mine.

Recommendations are generally for a fixed position all year long with a goal of having the max production over all the year, or the max production during the worst months. You may try to turn the panel to East with a low incline so you get a maximum of power when the temperature is lower. From the region, I can see that the systems producing more are those turned a little to the East as they are producing sooner and more in the morning.

Denis.