captest 0.13.3

Framework and methods to facilitate photovoltaic facility capacity testing following ASTM E2848.

pvcaptest

What is pvcaptest?

pvcaptest is an open source python package created to facilitate capacity testing following the ASTM E2848 standard. The captest module contains a single class, CapData, which provides methods for loading, visualizing, filtering, and regressing capacity testing data. The module also includes functions that take CapData objects as arguments and provide summary data and capacity test results.

Documentation and examples are available on readthedocs including full examples in jupyter notebooks that can be run in the browser without installing anything.

Installation

With Conda

These instructions assume that you are new to python and managing virtual environments to isolate pvcaptest and its dependencies from the rest of your operating system. If you are not sure what that means, these instructions (using miniforge) are for you!

Install Miniforge

The first step to using pvcaptest is to install pvcaptest and Jupyter into an isolated python environment. These directions guide you through the steps to use conda to do that.

Miniforge will install conda, but with the default source for packages set to conda-forge.

1. Go to the Miniforge github page to download miniforge. Pick the correct installation option for your operating system and follow the directions.

Windows:

• Use the default options and the .exe installer.

OSX / Linux:

• Open a command line (Type command + space to open Spotlight and type terminal and open your default terminal app) and copy and paste the commands and hit enter.

Installing pvcaptest

Open a command line, which we will use to run the conda commands required to install pvcaptest.

• Windows: Type miniforge into your search bar and select the Miniforge Prompt app, which should be the first option.

• OSX: Type command + space to open Spotlight and type terminal and open your default terminal app.

Now we can use conda to create a new conda environment and install pvcaptest, its dependencies, and Jupyter. Copy and paste the following command into the command line and hit enter:

conda create --name pvcaptest python=3.12 pvcaptest notebook

See the conda documentation for managing environments for more information on what that command is doing.

Once the installation finishes, you should see a message similar to the one below. The installation process should run for 5-10 minutes, but it will depend on your computer specs and internet speed.

```Preparing transaction: done Verifying transaction: done Executing transaction: done # # To activate this environment, use # # $ conda activate pvcaptest # # To deactivate an active environment, use # # $ conda deactivate

Retrieving notices: …working… done ```

Activate the environment using the command provded.

Try running this command in your terminal as a quick check that pvcaptest did install correctly:

python -c 'import captest; print(captest.__version__)

You may see some warning messages, but at the bottom you should see a version number.You should have the latest version installed; 0.13.3 or later. You can check what the most recent release is on pypi.

Congratulations! You now have pvcaptest installed in an isolated conda environment.

Run jupyter lab which will open jupyter lab in your default browser. You can now use pvcaptest in jupyter lab.

You may want to either navigate to the folder containing your project files in the terminal before running jupyter lab or store your project files in a location you can easily navigate to in jupyter lab’s file browser.

With uv - Contributors

Using uv is the preferred method for contributors setting up a development installation as of v0.13.3. See MAINTAINER.md for additional details, specifically the section on just.

Install uv and clone your fork of the repository.

The just recipes (commands) use uv run ... to run development workflow commands (e.g., uv run --python 3.12 pytest tests/) and uv run will ensure a venv with the necessary dependencies is used.

With pip

pip install captest

or with optional dependencies:

pip install captest[optional]

Note: The conda package is named pvcaptest and the pip package is named captest. The project is moving to consistent use of the pvcaptest name, but the package name on pypi will remain as captest.