Post your Ground Mount Setup

DougfromdaUP · Sep 12, 2023

I installed 26, 390 watt bifacial panels. Since it snows so much here, it was important that they also tilt to vertical to shed snow. I used two 4x4 ground contact timbers embedded in about 350 lbs concrete.
The vertical tilt really helps capture reflected sunlight from the snow, giving me 12,000 watts often during sunny January and February days from a 10,140 watt nominal array.

RV10flyer · Sep 13, 2023

pvdude said:
Mine is all Snapnrack parts.
Sourced from the local Rexelusa.com. (Gexpro.com)
https://snapnrack.com/products/200-ground-mount-system/

Currently supporting 16 REC365AA = 5840 watts.
Upgrading this Winter to 16 SILFAB 490 = 7840 watts

2021 prices:
$805 for 10 pcs of 21' x 1-1/2" schedule 40 galvanized steel pipe
$1067 for the snapnrack parts
$100 for concrete mix

22' long, 13.5' wide.

SILFAB upgrade will require adding about 7 or 8' to the length,
so it will be about 30' wide, after the planned Winter 23-24 upgrade.

Front piers are 30" deep, rears are 60" deep.

View attachment 167186 View attachment 167187 View attachment 167188 View attachment 167189 View attachment 167190

Pier boring auger:
View attachment 167191

HalfBaked said:
Professionally installed by meView attachment 167199

I had a temporary set up like that all winter.

I sometimes drive them in at 45° angles at the base of my 4x4 post, 3 foot deep, drill holes in them, put lag bolts into my 4 x 4 post for extra strength.

AlanN · Sep 15, 2023

TK1979 · Sep 15, 2023

AlanN said:
View attachment 167738 View attachment 167739 View attachment 167740 View attachment 167741

This is a beast set up - well done!

AlanN · Sep 15, 2023

TK1979 said:
This is a beast set up - well done!

Thanks
It works pretty good

rancher1913 · Sep 15, 2023

here's mine, needed a portable set up but also needed to be able to take bad winds, had the old disk setting around and scrounged most everything else from my scrap metal pile. it weighs quite a bit with added tractor weights and all the steel, its all the hydraulics want to do to lift it.

AntronX · Sep 15, 2023

Professionally made from scrap (except rails and L brackets). Temporary and will be removed in case of hurricane.

rhino · Sep 15, 2023

My first ~1.2kW array on top of pole mount 20 years old now! Kyocera 120W and 130W panels.

Newer top of pole arrays installed few years ago. Also Kyocera panels.. ~ 7.5kW total:

And the current as we speak work in progress for 14.4kW array for QCELL bifacials on adjustable Sinclair mount:

Wv lew · Sep 18, 2023

hope this helps!

3 arrays 12 panels each for roughly 12kw of panels. Done all myself, so any mistakes are mine. Good luck.

TomC4306 · Sep 18, 2023

5.9 kwp of used panels.
Saw 5.2 briefly today near the equinox.
18 235/255 watt panels to a 6-1 combiner for one charger.
6 panels to a second charger.
4x4 posts 2 feet deep, no concrete.
2x8 with a ripped 2x4 as a stiffener and the rip is at an angle and gives me a bolting surface for the unistrut.
5.836 Mwh in the last 12 months.

Bad Randy · Sep 18, 2023

30-Canadian bifacial 390w
5S-6P
4- 2"x2" steel posts in concrete
2x12 beams
2x6 stringers
Unistrut
Growatt 12K
Growatt 4880
61 KW-EG4 lipo4's

Hedges · Sep 18, 2023

Upper right corner shows back of Unirac U/LA ground mount using bottom clips.

Close up is some commercial PV rail and top clamps, rails between 1" IMC on top of fence posts and on Unistrut bolted to block wall.

Front view of U/LA

easel with two 12V panels, powers 24V & 48V fans

Nobodybusiness · Sep 18, 2023

SilverbackMP said:
3x Sinclair. 72 panels 370 watt Aptos. Two Sinclair mounts would have been significantly cheaper but since these were going on the side of a pond dam, I didn’t want to press my luck on maintaining level with various angles and slopes.

View attachment 167180
View attachment 167181
View attachment 167182
They look smaller than what they are from the clear angle. It’s a weird optical illusion. They stretch forever when viewed straight on through the trees.

I am glad I went with three. You can see where the closest one went a bit caty wampus and there’s a peak in the center. We had to set the panels from that peak and go to either side of it.

Did you drive your post or Dig a hole and fill in?

SilverbackMP · Sep 18, 2023

Nobodybusiness said:
Did you drive your post or Dig a hole and fill in?

Dig. We had to use a miniex with a hydraulic post hole digger. Slope was too steep for a tracked skid steer (it was also wet and muddy as we had just had trees removed from the dam). There was only one guy around with a driver tall enough and he was backed up with fencing jobs.

20x 85lb bags of quickcrete per hole. If I had to much of the manual labor, I would have called a truck and piss anted it over in a bucket. I gave them (the guys actually doing it) the option and option and they said bags.

Fine, I don’t mind driving to Lowe’s and have em load up pallets of sackrete on the trailer.

At this point in my life, I have more money than back and knees.

Nobodybusiness · Sep 18, 2023

SilverbackMP said:
At this point in my life, I have more money than back and knees.

I hear ya. Same problem.

Did you get all 3 of your racks from Kyle at the same time?

I need another 36 panel rack for my new 18k array.
Was wondering if I could just add another post or 2 to the end of my array and move the cantilevers.

I guess I will have to ask Kyle but he’s been busy lately.

SilverbackMP · Sep 18, 2023

Nobodybusiness said:
I hear ya. Same problem.

Did you get all 3 of your racks from Kyle at the same time?

I need another 36 panel rack for my new 18k array.
Was wondering if I could just add another post or 2 to the end of my array and move the cantilevers.

I guess I will have to ask Kyle but he’s been busy lately.

They were all shipped together. I ordered via Practical Preppers (Engineer 775) as Sinclair didn’t seem to want to sell directly.

Nobodybusiness · Sep 18, 2023

SilverbackMP said:
They were all shipped together. I ordered via Practical Preppers (Engineer 775) as Sinclair didn’t seem to want to sell directly.

Kyle sold to me initially but I gather from his lack of response this time around he wants us to go through a reseller.

I got nothing against Scott but just don’t want to pay an extra $2000 to go through them.

SilverbackMP · Sep 18, 2023

Nobodybusiness said:
Kyle sold to me initially but I gather from his lack of response this time around he wants us to go through a reseller.

I got nothing against Scott but just don’t want to pay an extra $2000 to go through them.

I probably would’ve built something if I had the time (at the time) and it wasn’t on the side of a dam. I wanted a straight line to get plumb and level rather than a plane that a different set up would introduce.

If I expand this, I probably will build my own.

Maybe just an inclined “deck” like setup made of pressure treated built on sonotube piers (I am in the no modern pressure treated wood in the ground camp).

Maybe steel if I can find tublar seconds in my area (it’s hit and miss).

I have a Lincoln SA500 that needs some use.

BarrieM · Sep 19, 2023

It's not mine sadly but this is just a great DIY solar tracking ground mount. It's French with English subtitles. The engineering is well worth the watch.

mestariviheltaja · Sep 19, 2023

I made this back in 2018 when panels were expensive and less efficient than nowadays:

Post your Ground Mount Setup

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