14.4kW array online this morning

Just in time for these relentless cloudy days. Producing about 800W at 10:30AM local time with this solid cloud cover.. enough to actually start charging battery bank again which is now at 37%.

30 480W Q.PEAK DUO XL-G10 on Sinclair mount. Connected to a EG4 18kPV which is only being used as solar charge controller currently. Two strings of 6 and two strings of nine paralleled together. There are four other older arrays totaling less then 9kW.

Hi Rhino. Looks great. I see you have an adjustable mount too. Nice.

Clean wiring too. I suppose it has to be with bi-facials.

Did you find a good local ground mount installer? They seem hard to find with the emphasis on roof mounted solar, in densely populated areas.

That is a seriously nice install, love that you have maximized it for your location

rhino said:

Just in time for these relentless cloudy days. Producing about 800W at 10:30AM local time with this solid cloud cover.. enough to actually start charging battery bank again which is now at 37%.
View attachment 182105View attachment 182106
30 480W Q.PEAK DUO XL-G10 on Sinclair mount. Connected to a EG4 18kPV which is only being used as solar charge controller currently. Two strings of 6 and two strings of nine paralleled together. There are four other older arrays totaling less then 9kW.

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Really nicely done !

Very nice indeed, very similar to my Sinclair and my 34-400w Canadian solars. 4 posts, season adjustable. Your ground is flatter than mine-I had to move some dirt to even it up and it’s still not that level.

That array will be killer this summer!

rhino said:

Just in time for these relentless cloudy days. Producing about 800W at 10:30AM local time with this solid cloud cover.. enough to actually start charging battery bank again which is now at 37%.
View attachment 182105View attachment 182106
30 480W Q.PEAK DUO XL-G10 on Sinclair mount. Connected to a EG4 18kPV which is only being used as solar charge controller currently. Two strings of 6 and two strings of nine paralleled together. There are four other older arrays totaling less then 9kW.

Click to expand...

I see you got the Seasonal adjust rack.
Very nice.
Hard to go wrong with Sinclair.

Thanks for the comments. Took a total of about 10 months from receiving panels (last Feb) until now to get it all done. Always some little part or piece needed.. isn't even completely "finished" with proper wiring but all connected at least to generate power.

SunDave said:

Did you find a good local ground mount installer? They seem hard to find with the emphasis on roof mounted solar, in densely populated areas.

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I did it myself.. biggest issue I had is trying to make sure the posts stayed in right spot when concrete poured into the 7ft deep holes. First post kicked out and I freaked.. I had to lift the post out of the concrete by hand (there was only about foot at bottom of hole) and reposition it.

great looking install!

rhino said:

Thanks for the comments. Took a total of about 10 months from receiving panels (last Feb) until now to get it all done. Always some little part or piece needed.. isn't even completely "finished" with proper wiring but all connected at least to generate power.

I did it myself.. biggest issue I had is trying to make sure the posts stayed in right spot when concrete poured into the 7ft deep holes. First post kicked out and I freaked.. I had to lift the post out of the concrete by hand (there was only about foot at bottom of hole) and reposition it.

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Wow. That's a big accomplishment. I did the parts sourcing and a lot of the work on the system I have so far. I am looking to do less of the work with the big ground mount.

The winter details are nice. The snow gap between the rows is probably a good call. I would like to do something very similar, but I am also trying to figure out a way to get more height. I have some slope east to west, and that makes it so that some of the poles wouldn't be as far in the ground. Or possibly split it up into two or more arrays.

SunDave said:

The winter details are nice. The snow gap between the rows is probably a good call. I would like to do something very similar, but I am also trying to figure out a way to get more height. I have some slope east to west, and that makes it so that some of the poles wouldn't be as far in the ground. Or possibly split it up into two or more arrays.

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Seems like Sinclair will design however you want. They make all the array components from raw steel coils in house in Michigan.

rhino said:

Seems like Sinclair will design however you want. They make all the array components from raw steel coils in house in Michigan.

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Not necessarily, I'm currently in the process and had some requirements I wanted and it seems they might not be able to accommodate those requirements. One problem is the clearance to ground. I get snow drifts here that would easily cover the bottom with their standard clearance to ground at full winter tilt. I'm not shoveling snow in front or rear of a 30 panel array.

Zwy, that's the exact potential scenario I am trying to avoid at one of my solar projects. I wonder if we could make it work by using cement and not sinking the posts as far. Tough to do in frost climates though as we have to get to a certain depth to avoid problems. And if I solve the post height solution by digging and making a huge foundation, I have negated the whole point of a nice pile driven system. I just wish they made much longer posts, but then the equipment to drive them gets larger too.

If you come up with a genius solution, I would love to hear it. Seriously. Whatever you have dreamed up to deal with snow.

Zwy said:

Not necessarily, I'm currently in the process and had some requirements I wanted and it seems they might not be able to accommodate those requirements. One problem is the clearance to ground. I get snow drifts here that would easily cover the bottom with their standard clearance to ground at full winter tilt. I'm not shoveling snow in front or rear of a 30 panel array.

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Is this because they are limited by the gauge of steel being used for the posts?

SunDave said:

Zwy, that's the exact potential scenario I am trying to avoid at one of my solar projects. I wonder if we could make it work by using cement and not sinking the posts as far. Tough to do in frost climates though as we have to get to a certain depth to avoid problems. And if I solve the post height solution by digging and making a huge foundation, I have negated the whole point of a nice pile driven system. I just wish they made much longer posts, but then the equipment to drive them gets larger too.

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I'm not sure where this ends up, it's in sales order mode right now and engineers have to look at structural loading. I had informed Kyle I can bore 8.5 feet, up to 36 inch diameter if necessary plus form up top and pour what is needed above ground. I'd just make up 2 round cements forms (can have local welding shop roll the steel for me) and pour 2 holes at a time.

SunDave said:

If you come up with a genius solution, I would love to hear it. Seriously. Whatever you have dreamed up to deal with snow.

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I'm tempted to just order the mount and do what I want with it but will wait until engineering comes back. Kyle actually said check with MT Solar which I already own one of their mounts. It's not perfect, I'd build something similar and address those deficiencies plus use some 7 inch oil well pipe which is cheaper. I beam needed was about $1200. I didn't measure up for square tubing, but the big thing was I would have to use landscape pattern which also wouldn't fit well with panel VOC to charge controllers. Only so many good places to go in the yard. Portrait pattern works much better. I liked the Tamarack mounting but it isn't cheap either. MT Solar raised their prices quite a bit.

I'm only 7 hours away from Sinclair so I can save the $2100 for shipping. That makes a huge difference.

rhino said:

Is this because they are limited by the gauge of steel being used for the posts?

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If that was the case, then add more posts and put them closer together. It seems they like 4 posts for a 30 panels array as an example. I'm not sure why 2 more couldn't be added. What I don't understand is Engineer775 pounds posts in without concrete but somehow with concrete footings it wouldn't pass engineering? That to me is confusing.

Zwy said:

It seems they like 4 posts for a 30 panels array as an example. I'm not sure why 2 more couldn't be added.

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For a fixed array I'd agree. There's already slots in the z-purlins where a girder can be bolted to it with an extra post about half way between mine. Also like you said you can easily gain another foot or more just by having the concrete a foot above ground. My concrete is about level with the ground except for the 2nd post from the West where I stopped about a foot below ground level so I can run conduit however I wanted and not have it embedded in the concrete. I mounded the dirt around the posts since I wanted grass over it.

It would have been nice if mine were another foot above ground at maximum tilt but I still have option of reducing tilt if that becomes an issue AND these are split cell modules so even if the bottom half of the lower row of panels is completely buried in snow it will only reduce the panel by half instead of losing the entire row.

Ran into couple "issues" from generating too much power.. my main battery bank breaker is only a 250A MCCB breaker. I think with the snow and full sun I would easily have gone over the 200A limit plus I have another 9kW of panels on other arrays.. Had to configure the EG4 18kPV to limit to 150A. Trying to figure out what best option is since I am also using that as a disconnect.

Also one of my JK BMSs tripped off because went over the 150A charge limit it was set for (this was on a 560AH battery) so raised that slightly.

rhino said:

Ran into couple "issues" from generating too much power..

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Say what ?

Is that like being too rich or too thin ? What an unusual concept.

Asking for a friend ?

rhino said:

For a fixed array I'd agree.

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Should not make a difference tilting of fixed. Adding 2 more poles with the adjusters should allow for more loading.

rhino said:

There's already slots in the z-purlins where a girder can be bolted to it with an extra post about half way between mine. Also like you said you can easily gain another foot or more just by having the concrete a foot above ground.

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They seemed to ignore this as an option. Doesn't make sense to me, added ballast plus just because it is a foot higher means it will fail compared to a foot lower? Must be a magic one foot that prevents a failure. This brings up the question, is is 2,4,6,8 or 10 inches extra that will fail?

I informed them I do not need any permits for this install.

rhino said:

My concrete is about level with the ground except for the 2nd post from the West where I stopped about a foot below ground level so I can run conduit however I wanted and not have it embedded in the concrete. I mounded the dirt around the posts since I wanted grass over it.

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I just have grass on the outside of the concrete on the MT Solar mount. Concrete is level with the ground. I installed one pvc conduit thru the cement on one pole, wish later I installed an extra conduit with one as a spare.

rhino said:

It would have been nice if mine were another foot above ground at maximum tilt but I still have option of reducing tilt if that becomes an issue AND these are split cell modules so even if the bottom half of the lower row of panels is completely buried in snow it will only reduce the panel by half instead of losing the entire row.

Click to expand...

Snow will drift in here.

Zwy said:

Not necessarily, I'm currently in the process and had some requirements I wanted and it seems they might not be able to accommodate those requirements. One problem is the clearance to ground. I get snow drifts here that would easily cover the bottom with their standard clearance to ground at full winter tilt. I'm not shoveling snow in front or rear of a 30 panel array.

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Dig a pond in front of the array

G00SE said:

Dig a pond in front of the array

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My wife thinks she is building a new house in that spot, I say it would look nice as a pond.

So nothing goes there.

Too much shade there anyway.