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diy solar

Final big shipment'o stuff arrived

P

pvdude

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
624
Location
Florida
Solar panels arrived!!!
12_solar_panels_4380watts.jpg
12 REC 365 watt, will connect in series.
But first, need to build the PV mounting system.

Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 17.26.47.png

Steel pipe was delivered, and most of the pipe connecting brackets showed up w/ the PV order.
Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 17.31.23.png
Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 17.35.06.png
I dragged out the 1950’s vintage concrete mixer.
Need to obtain a pallet of bags of concrete mix.
My back already hurts, just thinking about pouring the piers.
Hoping giant son will drive over to help.
 
That is really interesting material, I had no idea such a thing existed!
I think part of the reason the PV mounting system requires such massive & heavy concrete
piers is to keep it from launching into the air in high winds.
The assembled array has the aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft wing!
The piers are 12” in diameter, fronts are 30 inches deep, rears are 58 inches.
That is 1800 lbs. of concrete, supposed to keep the array in place in 120 mph wind,
which is what we get here when the hurricanes visit.
 
Should power your Alpha amps nicely!

The only problems I have heard of with the foam cement is that if your water table rises above bottom of the foam it can displace posts out of the ground.
 
pvdude said:
That is really interesting material, I had no idea such a thing existed!
I think part of the reason the PV mounting system requires such massive & heavy concrete
piers is to keep it from launching into the air in high winds.
The assembled array has the aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft wing!
The piers are 12” in diameter, fronts are 30 inches deep, rears are 58 inches.
That is 1800 lbs. of concrete, supposed to keep the array in place in 120 mph wind,
which is what we get here when the hurricanes visit.
Click to expand...
time2roll said:
My last set of fence posts went in great using expanding foam instead of concrete. And no chiropractor.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sika-33-fl-oz-Fence-Post-Mix-7116170/300934597

Has held up very well including opening and closing the gate. With a narrow hole (6") you can easily get two posts per bag.
Click to expand...
From working with the engineers on quite a few sets of plans for ground mount systems, @pvdude has it exactly right. The concrete is there to provide a weight, almost like a ballast. The concrete is not "gluing" the racking to the ground moreso than weighing things down. If for example, you upgraded from a 2" pipe to a 3" pipe, to increase how far apart your piers are, now you need to increase the hole size and depth to maintain a similar "weight" of concrete.

Ground screws, however, are a totally different animal.
 
pvdude said:
Solar panels arrived!!!
View attachment 45718
12 REC 365 watt, will connect in series.
But first, need to build the PV mounting system.

View attachment 45719

Steel pipe was delivered, and most of the pipe connecting brackets showed up w/ the PV order.
View attachment 45721
View attachment 45722
I dragged out the 1950’s vintage concrete mixer.
Need to obtain a pallet of bags of concrete mix.
My back already hurts, just thinking about pouring the piers.
Hoping giant son will drive over to help.
Click to expand...
This is so interesting.. I had 12 REC 365AA panels delivered 3 weeks ago myself! (Well, they were NOT the alpha black panels I ordered). This has been an interesting problem from that point and still is. I will elaborate on this more later... Did you happen to get yours from Solaris by chance? Just curious. Excited to see your results! Thanks for sharing!
 
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