  Photospheric electric fields, estimated from sequences of vector magnetic
field and Doppler measurements, can be used to estimate the flux of magnetic
energy (the Poynting flux) into the corona and as time-dependent boundary
conditions for dynamic models of the coronal magnetic field. We have modified
and extended an existing method to estimate photospheric electric fields that
combines a poloidal-toroidal (PTD) decomposition of the evolving magnetic field
vector with Doppler and horizontal plasma velocities. Our current, more
comprehensive method, which we dub the "{\bf P}TD-{\bf D}oppler-{\bf F}LCT {\bf
I}deal" (PDFI) technique, can now incorporate Doppler velocities from
non-normal viewing angles. It uses the \texttt{FISHPACK} software package to
solve several two-dimensional Poisson equations, a faster and more robust
approach than our previous implementations. Here, we describe systematic,
quantitative tests of the accuracy and robustness of the PDFI technique using
synthetic data from anelastic MHD (\texttt{ANMHD}) simulations, which have been
used in similar tests in the past. We find that the PDFI method has less than
$1%$ error in the total Poynting flux and a $10%$ error in the helicity flux
rate at a normal viewing angle $(\theta=0$) and less than $25%$ and $10%$
errors respectively at large viewing angles ($\theta<60^\circ$). We compare our
results with other inversion methods at zero viewing angle, and find that our
method's estimates of the fluxes of magnetic energy and helicity are comparable
to or more accurate than other methods. We also discuss the limitations of the
PDFI method and its uncertainties.
