diy solar

diy solar

Broken Panel Brackets

I set the outside of my two channels to be exactly 30" apart, so one-quarter of the extra 10' strut would fit across them, one channel for four supports for two panels. Easily scaled up for more. Turns out they're a perfect width for any 26-28" wide panels too. Very common size. I also applied eternabond tape over the slots to protect and cover the vhb tape showing thru from the underside. If you freeze the tape it cuts really easy with regular scissors.

But if you wanted/needed to mount a wider panel, then sure, just modify your cross supports to accommodate the fastener into the channel.
Square aluminum tubing is a good idea if not a bit spendy, and getting a wrench in there might be a trick. Maybe something at the metal supply surplus section. I saw two angle bars bolted together - another good idea for the cross-mounts. I used all SS fasteners, nylocks are a good idea, or blue locktite is what I used. That way they won't come apart over time unless you want them to. Solar panels are designed to be mounted with just their frames. If you were mounting panels right next to each other they could easily share a common center channel - stagger the crossbars or stagger the panels themselves.

IMO the strut channel base is just brilliant. Solid, simple, easy to fasten down, they're strong, super versatile for mounting to. Alloy would be nice, but it's twice the cost and hard to get. I can't claim ownership of the idea - saw it here and on youtube. In fact, I had never even heard of strut channel or 'unistrut' till this project came along. Really cool stuff. And the sliding nuts are just fantastic. I painted everything before mounting them.

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