ScrotusGobbleBottom
Solar Enthusiast
No thanks. It looks ghetto.
IntegraRack: Ground Mount with Epoxy Ground Stakes and Ballast Options
- Thread starter Will Prowse
- Start date
hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
I enjoy a video on anything in the DIY segment of racking, including this one. Racking is just a conundrum like that, no way to achieve everything in one product.
ScrotusGobbleBottom
Solar Enthusiast
I am certainly interested in racking options that dont look ghetto. I have already been thinking of replacing mine with a couple Brightmounts. There was someone on youtube who doubled the capacity of the rack by screwing to panels together end to end. It looked "ok" ish.
HighTechLab
AKA Dexter - CTO of Current Connected, LLC
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2019
- Messages
- 1,702
The BrightMounts are cheaper until you have to add concrete. If you have existing concrete that is one thing, but I don't know many off-gridder's that have huge fields of concrete. The IntegraRack does not require any concrete. So, to make a fair comparison, please add cost of concrete to the BrightMount and added installation time requirements.
You should be a smart shopper and consider total cost of ownership, not the shiny sticker on the pretty box. That's one of the problems these days, consumers fall victim to the illusion of lower sticker price but fail to realize it might be the more expensive option in the long run.
You should be a smart shopper and consider total cost of ownership, not the shiny sticker on the pretty box. That's one of the problems these days, consumers fall victim to the illusion of lower sticker price but fail to realize it might be the more expensive option in the long run.
David in nh
dreaming of 48 volts
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2019
- Messages
- 129
good news i got through to their site and ordered
bad news , yup i am a zipper head thought the price was to good to be true lol i now will be the proud owner of one arm lol
bad news , yup i am a zipper head thought the price was to good to be true lol i now will be the proud owner of one arm lol
Drunk Engineer
New Member
The IntegraRack seems fine if you have a perfectly flat surface to work with. My ground mount sits on sloping land with undulations, and putting IntegraRack in such a location would be more trouble than its worth. It is also much simpler to attach conduit and boxes to PT wood.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Wow... I just mentioned using IBC totes for ballast this week
solarpowerdistributors.com
IntegraRack IR-G Series BallastRack™ Adjustable Solar Module Racking Systems – Solar Power Distributors
solarpowerdistributors.com
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
It's not so much the "cheapest possible" as much as "best value" where all the parts required (conduit, concrete, epoxy, et al) is added in is more important. That racking is nice, and the way the notches and clamps work is a great idea, but considering it's adding $100+ to the cost of each panel really hurts the value. As mentioned, on perfectly flat land it's great but if your dirt isn't straight you're making concrete footers for each one just like the Bright stuff and that adds in.
I keep thinking of the kits that come with different connectors that bolt to standard 2in pipe (Ironridge?) and what kind of value that provides. That would be an interesting comparison and really useful, even if it was just napkin math on a whiteboard. Say you had 16 panels, X would be the total cost of System-X, any Y would be the same panels on System-Y and so on including pressure treated lumber in the math.
As you have pointed out many times in your videos, Value is more important than Cost alone, or we'd only be buying crap batteries and PWM controllers and the like.
Also, open pipe and wasps are going to happen!
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OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
That's what I was seeing as well. We've used a pretty innovative racking system from Osprey a couple of times. It's actually pretty impressive how well it handles uneven terrain. It's pricey but as has been mentioned if you really take a look at the total cost, particularly when you're paying contractors to dig footings and pour concrete it's not that bad.
Zero mechanical civil work was required at any of the sites we did them at. We did use a shovel and get the top 3" of grass out of the way from under the footplates.
Big adjustments happen with telescoping legs that pin into place and the fine adjustments happen with something akin to a trailer jack.
No concrete or ballast, they are held down with "duckbill anchors".
No affiliation with them in anyway, just sharing this as something that I found really interesting.
seneysolar
Solar Enthusiast
That takes a lot of planning.
How long in advance do you plant the tree before it’s ready like that
.
ScrotusGobbleBottom
Solar Enthusiast
That is AWESOME!
seneysolar
Solar Enthusiast
Yeah its a buddy of mine... i tried selling him a pole mount, he wasnt having itThat takes a lot of planning.
How long in advance do you plant the tree before it’s ready like that
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
Looks like the locals approve of the install 
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
And Will the very first question with any of this racking is permit and inspections or none.
Thank you for showing a new option for me to consider! This type of post is helpful for me and my search this year. I appreciate it!
It has a wind rating of 150mph. The clamps are not UL, but they plan to be soon.
hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
I'm finishing up my brightmount now and it only took an entire year and blood, sweat, and tears.
That's with some pretty big breaks of course, but between all the project stages it's at least several project days for even a competent DIYer I think. The way I did involved: Power augering footers, setting and aligning sonotubes, the concrete poor and anchor setting, and finally assembling.
Each of those are like two project days for me, especially aligning the sonotubes that was a painstaking process. And it involves setting the anchor bolts along a string line during the concrete pour. All that is paying off now during assembly though which is going well.
That's with some pretty big breaks of course, but between all the project stages it's at least several project days for even a competent DIYer I think. The way I did involved: Power augering footers, setting and aligning sonotubes, the concrete poor and anchor setting, and finally assembling.
Each of those are like two project days for me, especially aligning the sonotubes that was a painstaking process. And it involves setting the anchor bolts along a string line during the concrete pour. All that is paying off now during assembly though which is going well.
