Solar panels mounted on trailer

I have 10 250-watt Santan used panels mounted on my car trailer, I can move them around the yard when needed. Do I need to ground these panels to a ground rod? I have 5 running to each inverter through a pv switch and no other protection. Should I add a 15A inline fuse to each set of 5 panels as well?

Lacking a slab foundation or the roof joists of normal homes, it’s not safe to put solar panels on trailers. They’re simply not designed to take those kinds of loads.

@bones1, it looks like the deck of your trailer is made out of wood. The horizontally mounted solar panels need to be elevated off of the deck to provide air movement (cooling).

Here is a recent thread that covers the topic you're asking about:

Ormorant said:

Lacking a slab foundation or the roof joists of normal homes, it’s not safe to put solar panels on trailers. They’re simply not designed to take those kinds of loads.

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I assume you are talking about wind loads? I'm not really sure this is something he is worried about.

He could leave a truck parked on those ramps, that might hold it down. Or he could raise those flat solar panels up a bit and put a bunch of cinder blocks under there. Drive some ground screws in and tether it down using a handheld auger? Put legs on the back so when the wind starts blowing it over it hits the legs first and has more resistance / support? Obviously it's not to code, but if it's on his huge yard and he wants to do it, more power to him.. get it, more power? ?‍

Personally, I think he should do them up like a teepee Ʌ with panels facing E/W touching each other at the top at an angle, and load the middle with secured cinder blocks. If wind manages to come and take it away, he would probably have bigger problems than his solar trailer.

Yes, a ground rod will help protect you and anything that might touch the metal bits.

If this is a fairly permanent location put in the grounding rod in nearby so you can reposition the trailer if needed. This way you can disconnect the wire from the rod, move the trailer, then attach the wire to the rod again.


Put a cap on the top and use something like battery jumper cables with tight clamps.

However, it is not required for the operation of the panels and the production and use of AC from the inverter. The only thing grounding the panels does is provide a very low resistance path to the ground so it doesn't shock whatever touches the metal parts of the panels or the trailer.

HRTKD said:

@bones1, it looks like the deck of your trailer is made out of wood. The horizontally mounted solar panels need to be elevated off of the deck to provide air movement (cooling).

Here is a recent thread that covers the topic you're asking about:

To ground or not to ground

Hi all, I am building an off grid solar trailer. All of the components will be inside of the enclosed trailer including the combiner boxes. My plan is to ground the main panel box and frame of the trailer to an 8ft copper rod directly outside the trailer. My question is around whether or not...

diysolarforum.com

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They are partially elevated but I ran out of daylight yesterday. I will use some 4x4s I have laying around. Thanks.

cs1234 said:

I assume you are talking about wind loads? I'm not really sure this is something he is worried about.

He could leave a truck parked on those ramps, that might hold it down. Or he could raise those flat solar panels up a bit and put a bunch of cinder blocks under there. Drive some ground screws in and tether it down using a handheld auger? Put legs on the back so when the wind starts blowing it over it hits the legs first and has more resistance / support? Obviously it's not to code, but if it's on his huge yard and he wants to do it, more power to him.. get it, more power? ?‍

Personally, I think he should do them up like a teepee Ʌ with panels facing E/W touching each other at the top at an angle, and load the middle with secured cinder blocks. If wind manages to come and take it away, he would probably have bigger problems than his solar trailer.

Click to expand...

Correct, not worried about wind loads or codes here, they are anchored down pretty well. I will move the trailer inside the pole barn if the wind reports are scary enough, unplug 4 connectors, and roll. Now if the relatives want to borrow the trailer too bad.

jasonhc73 said:

Yes, a ground rod will help protect you and anything that might touch the metal bits.

If this is a fairly permanent location put in the grounding rod in nearby so you can reposition the trailer if needed. This way you can disconnect the wire from the rod, move the trailer, then attach the wire to the rod again.

ERICO 5/8 in. x 8 ft. Copper Grounding Bar Rod 615880UPC - The Home Depot

ERICO copper-bonded ground rods are the highest quality ground rods available today. We use a unique manufacturing process, which includes drawing the steel rod to size before the copper bonding process

www.homedepot.com

Put a cap on the top and use something like battery jumper cables with tight clamps.

However, it is not required for the operation of the panels and the production and use of AC from the inverter. The only thing grounding the panels does is provide a very low resistance path to the ground so it doesn't shock whatever touches the metal parts of the panels or the trailer.

Click to expand...

I do have a ground rod within 100 feet I can use and the wire is there already. I used some of a 500 ft roll of 3 conductor 10ga well pump wire so I already have a third wire to use. I was just thinking about a ground for lightning we get a lot of.

why would you need to ground a car hauler, not even for safety? I mean people put solar on their RVs all the time and go dry camping and they don't ground their RV to ground Rod when they are camping LOL ( not being plugged in at an RV park, talking dry camping or traveling ) If you don't have bare wires your good. I would gound the panels to each other and an inverter needs to be grounded but your solar panels on a car hauler NO... that's dumb

let me take back my commet about grounding this trailer as " Dumb", it's not, But its unessery, I mean if it makes you feel better then do it. but it won't help from a solar panel shock hazard. let me explain. It's not AC power it's not trying to go to the ground AC does that because the power plant that makes the power is grounded and the power trying to go back to the generator plus power poles are grounded etc. But DC from a battery or a panel is trying to go back to the Neg side ( or pos depending on where your line break is ) of that source so if you have a bare spot on your hot wire and it's touching your trailer and you touch it ( the trailer or wire ) . it doesn't care ( if your trailer is grounded ) unless you are also touching maybe the frame of the solar panel, in either case, the trailer being grounded ( or not ) won't change the outcome of you being shocked .....