My Stupidity Amazes Me

[spinnm]

Looking for solar info for the land I've bought.

Know it for where I'm living, but this is 250 miles South.  Look on the NM state solar site.  Only Abq and North.

Look at the El Paso site.  It's in Spanish, swear to gawd.  Look at the .gov sites.  Not enough info.

But, do glean in my searches that what I'm looking for is called a "sun chart".  Do a google for that.

Guess what pops up?  This site.  

Ordered it John.  Just want to figure the angle summer and winter for overhangs.  Just want to know the offset from magnetic South for the latitude.  I am going to get that, aren't I John?

[DavidLeBlanc]

Isn't the lat:lon of your land on it's plat?

IIRC, degrees of latitude are constant (unlike degrees of longitude, which vary by distance from the pole) at about 1 degree/70 miles, so if you know it for 250 miles N, it would vary by ~3.5 degrees?

BTW, what's the character of land there? Have trees and views? Pricy? WATER???

[spinnm]

Trees?  Do 25' soaptree yuccas count?

Views?  Mountains all four directions.  Down there yesterday.  Poppies just starting.  So thick that I could see a patch that covered several hundred acres from 10 miles away.

Pricey?  Laughably cheap.

Water?  We don't do water very well out here.  Did you see the houses along the Virgin River in St. George Utah?  Water always wins.  Actually did look at an abandoned apple orchard on an undammed creek.  Real estate agent poo-pooed our concerns.  Last month that creek was running 5' deep and 100' wide.  Had to close the highway that runs up the valley along side it.  Whew!  That was close.

Anyway David, what I'm looking for is the angle of the sun at mid-day for winter and summer.  That's what you use to determine overhangs on the South glass.  And, the offset from magnetic South for that particular latitude.  You're right, I know the latitude.  It's the other things I was having trouble with.

[glenn-k]

Have any buddies with an airplane, Shelly?  Their charts always show magnetic variation, or just call the
FBO (business) or any small airport office.  They can tell you or find someone who can.  My plane's been in the shop so long I don't think I have any charts at the cabin or I'd get it for you.

Glenn

[jraabe]

Yes the Sunkit has all the charts for the U.S. and the magnetic offset chart. It has an inclinometer to measure angles and let you produce a site specific blockage chart.

You can read  the sun angles from your chart and use that to graphically determine the overhang that will work best with your windows, climate and roof configuration.

Sunkit Info: http://www.countryplans.com/solarkit.htm

PS - Let me know if you have trouble running the download file. I've heard that some folks running Norton Utilities have not been able to download and run the self-extracting file. Try turning off Norton if that happens to you.

[spinnm]

Good tip, Glenn.  I have two friends with airplanes.

Just started looking at John's Sunkit.  Think I have everything I need.  But, John, I'm a history and lit kinda person.

Think I'll turn this over to himself who can do trig in his head.

[spinnm]

Glenn,

Your idea about the FBO triggered something else that we wanted to know.  Prevailing winds...know they're from the West...always are....but exactly where?

Called the FBO at the airport and got the heading of the E-W runway.  Yeah!  Thanks again.

[glenn-k]

My pleasure Shelly.  That should put you pretty close.