- Vivint Solar acquired Solmetric Corporation in January 2014. Vivint Solar is the second largest installer of solar energy systems to the U.S. Residential market with approximately 16 percent.
- View and Download Solmetric PVA-1500S user manual online. PV Analyzer I-V Curve Tracer. PVA-1500S measuring instruments pdf manual download. Also for: Pva-600+, Pva-1000s.
- SOLMETRIC PV Analyzer SPVA-1000S 1000V I-V Curve Tracer and SolSensor Wireless PV Reference Sensor.
Today I conducted a little test to compare the performance of two low cost solar site assessment tools. I consider low cost to be anything under $1,000. These tools provide infomation about the amount of available sunlight that falls on a surface. They do this by examining the landscape features in the area that provide shade at different parts of the day such as buildings and trees. These tools provide a percentage of available solar radiation you can expect to receive. This can then be combined with weather data and solar panel information to perform preliminary energy calculations using energy modelling software. This site assessment information is supplied for each month however for the purpose of this test I am only going to compare the total annual values.
Has introduced the PV Analyzer (PVA), an electrical test product for verifying and troubleshooting photovoltaic array performance. For each string, the analyzer measures current. Get reviews, hours, directions, coupons and more for Solmetric Corp at 117 Morris St Ste 100, Sebastopol, CA 95472. Search for other Solar Energy Equipment & Systems-Dealers in Sebastopol on The Real Yellow Pages®.
The two tools I compared are:
1) Solar Pathfinder (http://www.solarpathfinder.com) $299 + $199 software
Solar pathfinder image. The black areas inside the ring mark the obstructions in the surrounding area. This image is traced using computer software. Panasonic network & wireless cards driver download for windows 10.
2) Solmetric iPV iPhone application (http://www.solmetric.com/solmetricipv.html) $29.99
The Solmetric app lets you trace the obstructions directly with the iphone.
Download ria driver. The calculations for the percentage of available sunlight were as follows:
Solar Pathfinder: 84%
Solmetric iPV: 86%
Both of these tools require tracing so they have a element of human error involved. When using the pathfinder you take a picture of the equipment and trace it using the computer software. When using the Solmetric app you trace the horizon directly with the iphone. Given the close proximity of the results I don’t really feel as though one is any better than the other from a performance standpoint. When you consider the price the Solmetric iPV iPhone application is the clear winner, but only if you already own an iPhone.
Solmetric also makes professional site assessment tools in the $2,000 price range that do not require any manual tracing and are remarkably accurate.
Product Review
by Alex Wilson
Now, Solmetric Corporation has digitalized this process with its SunEye—a sophisticated, easy-to-use tool for measuring solar shading and calculating monthly and annual solar access. The SunEye includes a built-in digital camera with a fisheye lens. A user holds the SunEye or mounts it on a tripod, keeping it level using a built-in bubble-level and orienting it to the south using the built-in compass, then clicks to take a photo. The heart of the system is a Hewlett-Packard iPAQ processor that captures and computes the digital image data.
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A straightforward interface allows the user to calculate the percentage of solar access, graphically showing the obstructions by time of day and month, and to simulate removal of the solar obstructions by erasing those areas on the digital image—to show the effect of cutting down a tree, for example. Digital files can be processed in the field or uploaded to a Windows computer (Macintosh interface not yet available) for review and printing.
Published May 1, 2007 Permalink Citation
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Wilson, A. (2007, May 1). Measuring Solar Access with the Solmetric SunEye. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/product-review/measuring-solar-access-solmetric-suneye