Assistant - Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does the underlying diagram from my site picture not match the traced diagram on the end report?
2. Why can't I change my azimuth? I don't see a place to change it.
3. What is the difference in the percentages at the bottom? There are some that say 'Unweighted' and some that say 'Effect'. At the bottom of the Actual Unshaded column I get an unweighted yearly average (89.19) and at the bottom of another column I get an "Effect:92.41%". I don't understand the difference between these 2 totals. Naturally, I would like to use the higher one for rebate purposes but this column displays sun hours and I need percentages.

Why does the underlying diagram from my site picture not match the traced diagram on the end report?

The Solar Pathfinder Assistant software automatically adjusts the site tracing for magnetic declination according to what zip code was entered. The sunpath diagram on the Solar Pathfinder unit can (but does not have to) be set to magnetic declination prior to taking the site picture. The site tracing is based on the reflection on the dome of the site shading, not on the underlying diagram.

Why can't I change my azimuth? I don't see a place to change it.

More than likely the settings on your monitor have been altered, making the font/text too large (shoving part of the analysis settings off the page where you can't see them). Go to: Start / Control Panel / Display / "Settings" tab — both the screen resolution and the color quality should be at their highest settings. Hit "Apply"; then "OK".

What is the difference in the percentages at the bottom? There are some that say "Unweighted" and some that say "Effect". At the bottom of the Actual Unshaded column I get an unweighted yearly average (89.19) and at the bottom of column 2 I get an "Effect:92.41%". I don't understand the difference between these 2 totals. Naturally, I would like to use the higher one for rebate purposes but this column displays sun hours and I need percentages.

The "unweighted" columns mean that each month is treated equally. It is what you would get when you averaged the numbers equally on the diagrams. The problem with using that number is that November, December, or January is never "worth" as much as May, June, or July in radiation (in the Northern hemisphere). Therefore 100 percent of January may be equal in radiation to 80 of June, etc. As a general rule, most rebate reporting agencies are looking for the Effect % &/or Sun Hours (the higher percentage).