[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":250},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Ftools\u002Forientation":3,"author-mike":213},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":182,"datePublished":182,"description":183,"extension":184,"howToSteps":185,"kits":195,"layout":196,"meta":197,"navigation":198,"path":199,"schemaType":200,"seo":201,"sources":202,"stem":206,"targetKeywords":207,"titleTag":211,"translationOf":195,"__hash__":212},"content\u002Ftools\u002Forientation.md","Which way does your balcony face?","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,24,29,42,109,113,116,120,123,126,135,140,144,147,150,157,161,167,173,179],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"Open the compass app on your phone, stand where the panel would go, and face straight out — the way the panel would look. The heading you're reading is your answer. South is best, west is nearly as good and often better in practice, east is fine, north usually isn't worth buying.",[19,20],"illustration",{"brief":21,"caption":22,"ratio":23},"Phone compass screenshot at a readable heading, next to the balcony view it was taken from.","Thirty seconds, and it decides more than any other choice you'll make.","photo",[25,26,28],"h2",{"id":27},"the-thirty-second-version","The thirty-second version",[30,31,32,36,39],"ol",{},[33,34,35],"li",{},"Stand on the balcony, facing out over the railing.",[33,37,38],{},"Open the compass app. On iPhone it's called Compass and it's already installed. On Android it's usually in Google Maps — tap the compass icon — or any compass app will do.",[33,40,41],{},"Hold the phone flat and read the heading.",[43,44,45,61],"table",{},[46,47,48],"thead",{},[49,50,51,55,58],"tr",{},[52,53,54],"th",{},"Reading",[52,56,57],{},"You're facing",[52,59,60],{},"Roughly what it's worth",[62,63,64,76,87,98],"tbody",{},[49,65,66,70,73],{},[67,68,69],"td",{},"135°–225°",[67,71,72],{},"South",[67,74,75],{},"100%",[49,77,78,81,84],{},[67,79,80],{},"225°–295°",[67,82,83],{},"West",[67,85,86],{},"83%",[49,88,89,92,95],{},[67,90,91],{},"65°–135°",[67,93,94],{},"East",[67,96,97],{},"80%",[49,99,100,103,106],{},[67,101,102],{},"295°–65°",[67,104,105],{},"North",[67,107,108],{},"35%",[25,110,112],{"id":111},"without-a-phone","Without a phone",[15,114,115],{},"Go out at 1pm on a clear day. If the sun is shining directly on your balcony, you're facing south or west. If it was shining there at 9am but not now, you're facing east. If it never shines there directly at all, you're facing north — or something is blocking you, which matters just as much.",[25,117,119],{"id":118},"why-south-is-best-and-west-is-often-better-anyway","Why south is best and west is often better anyway",[15,121,122],{},"South-facing panels catch the most total sunlight over a year. That's the arithmetic.",[15,124,125],{},"But west-facing panels produce later in the afternoon, which lines up with two useful things: you're more likely to be home, and if you're on a time-of-use rate plan, the electricity you're displacing between 4pm and 9pm costs far more than the electricity you'd displace at 11am.",[15,127,128,129,134],{},"So on paper south wins. In a real household on a time-of-use plan, west often produces more value even while producing less power. ",[130,131,133],"a",{"href":132},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftime-of-use-rates","More on this",".",[136,137],"day-band-chart",{"caption":138,"orientation":139},"West-facing production, against SCE's peak window. Less total power than south, more of it landing where electricity is expensive.","west",[25,141,143],{"id":142},"why-north-is-usually-a-no","Why north is usually a no",[15,145,146],{},"A north-facing panel in California gets roughly a third of what a south-facing one gets. The panel costs the same, the mounting costs the same, and the payback stretches past eight years.",[15,148,149],{},"This is the most common reason our calculator tells someone not to buy.",[15,151,152,156],{},[153,154,155],"strong",{},"Before you give up:"," check whether you have any other option. A west-facing window with a panel leaning against the glass from outside. A wall on a different side of the building. A corner of a shared yard, if the landlord agrees. A parking space with a fence. People find spots.",[25,158,160],{"id":159},"what-matters-nearly-as-much","What matters nearly as much",[15,162,163,166],{},[153,164,165],{},"Tilt."," A panel hanging vertically on a railing makes about 62 percent of what the same panel makes angled toward the sun. A $60 tilt bracket is the highest-return thing you can buy in this category.",[15,168,169,172],{},[153,170,171],{},"Shade."," An open south aspect with a tree in front of it can perform worse than a clear west one. Look at the sky, not the compass.",[15,174,175],{},[130,176,178],{"href":177},"\u002Fwizard","Put it all together in the calculator →",[180,181],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","Thirty seconds with your phone compass, and what each direction is worth. South is best, west is close, north usually isn't worth buying.","md",[186,189,192],{"name":187,"text":188},"Stand where the panel would go","Stand on the balcony facing out over the railing — the way the panel would look.",{"name":190,"text":191},"Open the compass app","On iPhone it's called Compass and it's already installed. On Android it's usually in Google Maps — tap the compass icon — or any compass app will do.",{"name":193,"text":194},"Read the heading","Hold the phone flat and read the heading. 135°–225° is south, 225°–295° is west, 65°–135° is east, and 295°–65° is north.",null,"article",{},true,"\u002Ftools\u002Forientation","HowTo",{"title":5,"description":183},[203],{"title":204,"url":205,"accessed":182},"NREL PVWatts Calculator","https:\u002F\u002Fpvwatts.nrel.gov\u002F","tools\u002Forientation",[208,209,210],"which way does my balcony face","best direction for solar panels California","south facing balcony solar","Find Your Balcony's Direction | Solar Orientation Helper","hL0wP3f892A-ty9kTWgPCMOxIOGeL7Uehpq7uD64STQ",{"id":214,"title":215,"body":216,"description":241,"email":240,"extension":184,"location":242,"meta":243,"name":222,"navigation":198,"path":244,"photo":245,"role":246,"sameAs":195,"seo":247,"stem":248,"__hash__":249},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":217},[218,224,227,231,234],[15,219,220,223],{},[153,221,222],{},"Mike Yu"," started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.",[15,225,226],{},"Since September 2026 he has been running a plug-in kit on that balcony and logging what it actually produces. Every measured figure on this site comes from that kit. Everything else is labelled as an estimate.",[25,228,230],{"id":229},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,232,233],{},"We don't accept review units on terms that involve anyone approving the review first. If a manufacturer sends us a kit, we say so on the review, and we keep the right to publish a bad one.",[15,235,236,237,134],{},"Reach him at ",[130,238,240],{"href":239},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com","Mike Yu started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder",{"description":241},"authors\u002Fmike","kb0uodhMlGk_YV3nMOIXdr6bpZgtB5zNoRxdGxsXMQ8",1788387858284]