NMS044 Reference Manual Understanding NMS044 Power Consumption 8
Making the Most of Your Sunlight Hours
For best results, we encourage you to take advantage of the most daylight and direct sun
for the area of deployment. The EU Science Hub’s Solar Radiation Tool, can provide an
estimate of how your system performs in a particular location based on radiation data
gathered for that location in the recent past.
Step 1. Visit the European Commission EU Science Hub’s Photovoltaic GIS (PVGIS)
website.
Step 2. Select the Solar Radiation Tool, then select a location on the map.
Step 3. Choose the Off-Grid tab, enter the following parameters, then click
Visualize
Results.
• Installed Peak PV Power (100 W or 60 W, depending on your solar panel)
• Battery Capacity (BAT021, LiFePo battery = 540 Wh; (BAT 019, SLA battery =
420 Wh)
• Discharge cutoff limit is 10%
• Consumption per day = 80 Wh (typical), but convert the result of your
calculation in Figure 1-7 from watts to watt hours, and use this value.
• Enter the Slope of the solar panel, and the Azimuth. To find the azimuth, do
the following:
a. Open this link for the NOAA ESRL Solar Position Calculator.
b. Enter the City or the coordinates of the NMS system and click Calculate
Solar Position.
c. The Solar Azimuth value – 180 = Azimuth. Enter this value in the Solar
Radiation Tool.
Step 4. Select the Performance view. The result should have no red bars (days
with no battery power). Select the Battery State view. A desirable result
shows the battery is not fully discharged at any time.
Step 5. To adjust for better results, adjust the Slope of the solar panel, or adjust the
system location and Azimuth.
Recommended next step:
• Module 2 Getting Started
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