PV*SOL Wishlist

[jasales]

3D Plannner should be able to import terrain model directly from Google Earth, SRTM Data or similar.

[jasales]

PVSol should be able to import Horitzon profile directly from PVGIS or similar

[jasales]

PVSol should be able to introduce electrical buying tariff per days. Per example, in Spain have 6 periods tariff and in 1-15th june are different of 15-31th.

[Frido]

It would be nice to have the "Yield Reduction due to Shading" result not only with the results of the total system, but also with the results per module area.

[pawel]

Import/export dwg files 

[Fit Kech]

It would be great if the software could generate suggestions about cables like type, diameter etc. Also, options like rotatable MPPT, a tool that could compare different scenarios for angles and information about voltage drops. 

[Frido]

The option to enlarge the "Define Module Areas" window, so one doesn't have to scroll every time once beyond 9 strings.
EDIT: Also, it would make it easier if the list could be sorted A->Z / 1->9. (Especially later when setting up the inverter config)

 

[JesperE_Co2Pro]

Make it so that it's possible to orient panels relative to North, East, South and West.
Also edges are good but if you want to make a module facing straight south, it would be easier to just say 0° to south.

[JesperE_Co2Pro]

It would be nice if it was possible to select color and outline for the compas. It's almost impossible to see when drawing on white sketch.

[JesperE_Co2Pro]

Make it so that it's possible to change the direction of north when already in drawing.
If you have made a large project, later to find out that the north there is nothing to do, and it's just all over again.

[JesperE_Co2Pro]

Honestly I think it would be a good ide to remake the PV*SOL program. New Engine, HUD and interface.
Maybe it could also be an idea to go into a cooperation with a CAD software maker to integrate there drawing engine/tool into PVSOL. Maybe something like SketchUP because it's fairly easy.

Also large project takes a fair amount of ressources when calculating and it's nonsense that the program do not utilize more that one CPU core.

I use PV*SOL Premium for my everyday job. 

I have a profession degree in CAD, 3D drawing and product/process optimization, and I really think this would take PV*SOL to a entirely new height. 
The calculations and options in the program is great, so I think you have something really good. It just seems outdated.

[Jimmy]

4 hours ago, JesperE_Co2Pro said:

Honestly I think it would be a good ide to remake the PV*SOL program. New Engine, HUD and interface.
Maybe it could also be an idea to go into a cooperation with a CAD software maker to integrate there drawing engine/tool into PVSOL. Maybe something like SketchUP because it's fairly easy.

Also large project takes a fair amount of ressources when calculating and it's nonsense that the program do not utilize more that one CPU core.

I use PV*SOL Premium for my everyday job. 

I have a profession degree in CAD, 3D drawing and product/process optimization, and I really think this would take PV*SOL to a entirely new height. 
The calculations and options in the program is great, so I think you have something really good. It just seems outdated.

Hi Jesper,

I'm just an everyday user like yourself but I've been hanging out on this forum for a long time and have read a lot of posts by the developers.

As I understand it they are in fact working on a complete re-design of the software, although it will probably take until the end of 2022 or later until we get to see it. And yeah, we all (including the developers) think that the software is outdated (just the fact that it's 32-bit says a lot) and that's because the core of the program was written in 1999 (I think).

Even though it is outdated I still think that it's the best and most accurate software for most PV simulations. Some other softwares are more user friendly, look nicer or have fewer limitations when it comes to size and such things but when all things are considered together I still chose to buy this even though I've tried almost a dozen other softwares.

[Ryan PSE]

I've noticed since the 2022 update that the "Own Power Consumption" Percentage figure has been removed from the yield section, this was a useful figure for us to highlight the ROI potential of our systems. I know it can be worked out by using the figures from the energy flow graph, but it'd be great to have it added back as a figure.

[developer_mh]

15 hours ago, Ryan PSE said:

I've noticed since the 2022 update that the "Own Power Consumption" Percentage figure has been removed from the yield section, this was a useful figure for us to highlight the ROI potential of our systems. I know it can be worked out by using the figures from the energy flow graph, but it'd be great to have it added back as a figure.

Hi Ryan,

we didn't remove the own power percentage from the yield section. If the problem persists, please open up a new thread, perhaps along with a screenshot.

Thanks and kind regards,

Martin

[Frido]

When working of a Google Maps screenshot (Open Area Map Section), it would be nice to have an option to toggle visibility of said screenshot on and off.

Also, when the Open Area Map Section is activated, the option to move the camera beyond its (screenshots) boundaries.

 

[Jimmy]

I'd like to request a functional TAB function for the inverter setup. So, if my location is at the red circle in the in the picture below (which shouldn't be a value that TAB recognizes but anyway) when I press TAB it goes one step to the right, which it should (blue circle), then onto green, yellow, magenta and lastly purple. Which... FINE!

I think that we can all see that it should preferably only go between the number input boxes of strings and modules in series but whatever, I can press TAB 6 times per row instead of the 2 that I need...

 

 

 

But does anyone know/remember what happens when you press TAB while in the purple circle!?? Yeah, that's right! You end up in BLACK!

 

 

 

[Johan]

My wish list would be as follow:

1- a CTRL-Z or Undo function would be very handy as this is often missed

2- we make quite a view calculation for the same customers, so a (private) database for these customers would save a lot of time.

3- a more useable 3D model import would be great, import ability from .IFC file would be excelent because they are being used a lot in construction work.

4- the option to set the "outline" to a different colour is very handy especially if you are working from a drawing

[Johan]

5- a option to store the texture of the PV modules

6- a option to save a standard construction for flat roof

[Frido]

When moving any object in 3D, I‘d prefer if the mouse would not jump to the origin point of the object. Makes precisely placing large objects very difficult at times.

 

[Frido]

The option to choose which values to want to export, when exporting .csv files would be nice. So the exported files stay nice and compact.

With minute values, I get files well above 2 GB.

[Jimmy]

5 hours ago, Frido said:

The option to choose which values to want to export, when exporting .csv files would be nice. So the exported files stay nice and compact.

With minute values, I get files well above 2 GB.

 

Hey Frido,

I just realized that there's a better function for this than exporting all of the data under the simulation tab. I usually don't use it myself as I only do hourly simulations and my files rarely get larger than 5MB (in the rare cases where I even get the data).

 

Anyway, the way to get specific data is hidden (I don't think it's in any tutorial or in the help pages) in the results tab.

Under "Simulation" there's the "Diagram editor". You'll want the type to be diagram to be interval and the select the data series that you want. Set the interval to 365 (or just scroll out when hovering over the diagram) and choose "day".

When you see all the data for the whole year in the diagram, right click on the diagram and choose "copy table to clipboard". Paste inte Excel.

And I just realized that PV*SOL has the current data I-V curve if you change the diagram type to "characteristics" instead. You are however not able to use that data since you can only look at the I-V curve for a single minute (or hour is that is simulated) at a time. Copying that data to clippboard doesn't give any meaningful data. 

[Sander]

I would like to see the option to select "electric heated boiler" in thermal systems tab.

Most boiler systems in Belgium are electrically "heated" during the night using a economic rate)

Now i can only select gas/wood or oil, which looks off in the presentation.

[Frido]

More default roof textures would be nice to have. E.g. tin sheet texture in different colours.

[Frido]

When rotating any building or structure, it would be nice if the collision detection would not be active during the process. As the desired rotation is often not possible, just because there is something in the way while rotating.

[jamesbm]

2 hours ago, Frido said:

When rotating any building or structure, it would be nice if the collision detection would not be active during the process. As the desired rotation is often not possible, just because there is something in the way while rotating.

Yes! I haven't noticed this being a problem recently, has it been fixed? If it hasn't already been fixed it should be.