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Amy...swinging at anchor will affect flat panels less since the sun remains at the same angle to them. Lets say the sun is 45 degrees above the horizon. No matter which way the boat turns, the sun hits those panels at the same angle.
If on the other hand you adjust your panels to 45 degrees to point directly at the sun then it gets virtually no direct light if the boat swings 180 degrees.
As you point out...if you are in an anchorage with no wind, no current, no wakes...and are on board every 6 hours when the tide changes, you can maximize the output from your panels and way out do a flat panel. But as HS has found, when small angle differences from the original setting are present, wattage drops a bit and FULL output is not attained. Watch the boats in a typical anchorage on a typical day and you will find them swinginng across an arc as the wind and tide and other factors play with them. My point is NOT that the stik is inneffective. My point is that results on the water MUST be lower than on the land. With positioning 3-4 times a day I DO expect that they will outperform a flat panel.
Also...in true cruising mode, most cruisers are OFF their boats for significant parts of the day so that further degrades the differential potential between flat and adjustable. On the other hand, many flat panel installations are shaded by the boom etc. so THAT degrades their performance. So each person has to look at their boat and their anchoring venues and cruising style and budget and make a decision that makes sense for themselves.
HS's research is finally bringing some reality to the actual function and potential of the stik system. The product works and significant gains over flat panels and NON-MPPT controllers may be expected. The gains are substantially less when compared to flat panels that DO have an MPPT controller. My own view is that a couple of fixed panels with an MPPT controller and a wind generator is a better use of my cruising bucks and will deliver more amp hours but that is MY opinion and others may come to different conclusions based on their own needs.
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