CAD software? Awkward Roofs for panels

[jwulster]

Hi All,
What does anyone use to work out the panel layouts on hipped roofs etc. Large gabled roofs are obviously easy but I seem to look at so many awkward hipped roofs. My old supplied used to do me a nice CAD drawing using my measurements but they no longer exist so have to do it myself!!
Any ideas?

 

[ktech]

I've used uphotomeasure before. If you have a good front on photo and a couple of good measurments it can help (width and height up the roof). You can't exactually draw the panels on but with a few known measurments it will enable you to calculate other measurments that you maybe couldn't get accurately onsite.

 

[SolarCity]

Have you tried PV*Sol Expert?

Or if you want a more basic option, Google Sketchup?

 

[jwulster]

Google sketch up was mentioned by a friend who used to work at Spirit Solar till they made most of them redundant!!
I'll have a look, thanks

 

[Ian-LS]

Google sketch up was mentioned by a friend who used to work at Spirit Solar till they made most of them redundant!!
I'll have a look, thanks

We do all of our plans on sketch up as you can accurately predict the shading to know how to confidgure the strings and avoid area that are shaded too much and also to choose the correct inverter. It takes a few weks to get the hang of, I've tried many alternatives but still ove sketch up to be honest