Idea for pole mount on fence?

[BlueMarblePA]

I have very limited roof space because of trees, complicated dormers, etc.

Would it be crazy eye sore or would it be unsafe to mount panels to the fence posts around the swimming pool? Also I could put two on the shed roof also. This is the south facing side of the yard.

I am just trying to find somewhere to get more panels

 

[Lt.Dan]

Solar fence? Not the greatest angle for light capture though...lol

 

[Bluedog225]

Better to have a dedicated ground mount. All together and properly done. Once and done.

 

[BlueMarblePA]

Solar fence? Not the greatest angle for light capture though...lol

I have read about vertical panel placement. Does it work?

 

[Lt.Dan]

I have read about vertical panel placement. Does it work?

It works, its just less than ideal due to the angle. Especially in summer months when the sun is directly overhead.

 

[BlueMarblePA]

Better to have a dedicated ground mount. All together and properly done. Once and done.

Makes sense.

 

[MaximusAnonus]

It works, its just less than ideal due to the angle. Especially in summer months when the sun is directly overhead.

TBH if you get a killer deal on some used panels and have some scrap laying around for the mounts then put this up and heat water with it or something. Especially if everywhere else is full.

 

[Danke]

I had an old boat that my father got from my grandfather. He stood in my garage for a long time until my family and I wanted to go somewhere to rest. Then I thought it would be nice to repair this boat and take it with me. I didn't know who was repairing boats in my area, but thanks to my friend from work, who also has a boat, he advised me to try to contact elpasoconcretecontractors.com . I contacted these people, but they told me that they were not doing this, then I got upset. However, one of these employees knew people who could help me and gave me contacts. It really worked and they fixed my boat for me. After that, we spent a wonderful weekend with my family.

You have a very cool and big pool, my friend! It would be nice if you built a fence around your pool made of expensive wood materials. Then your pool would be surrounded by truly luxury screens and you could show such impeccable beauty to all your friends and brag about it. If you don't want to invest a lot of money in fencing, then you can try to fence your pool with simple materials. This method will also look beautiful, only more budget-friendly. In any case, you are a huge fellow for thinking about it, you will definitely succeed and I think that you will have the coolest fence among your neighbors. Good luck friend!

WTH? Bot?

 

[BlueMarblePA]

WTH? Bot?

Agree. What is going on here?

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Solar fence? Not the greatest angle for light capture though...lol

Great for snow zone if you get sick of cleaning them off. Some production hit but so what?

 

[pollenface]

I think it's a great idea but also if a ground mount is an option for you, that's pretty much the ducks nuts in my opinion ?

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I have read about vertical panel placement. Does it work?

I have 800W vertical to combat snow. At my latitude whatever my loss is in summers don’t even matter one iota because I’m fully recharged by 9AM generally LOL and solar runs the fridge and whatever else all day.
In winter, around 55* is approximately correct, so that 10* off vertical is not a big deal PLUS I get huge output volts on cold, sunny days.
Not much of a compromise.

summer months when the sun is directly overhead

I have an additional 2kW of panels I’m putting online to eek out cloudy weather charging. I’m already overpaneled big time in summer even with vertical orientation year round. It’s a fun test but will have practical results to compare whether it is successful or not. The sun never is quite overhead in Vermont; in climes closer to the equator it might not be as good of an idea if usage wants high production numbers.
I just didn’t want to constantly have to scrape ice and snow off at 15*F in a 15mph wind everyday. It works, here.

 

[Mithril]

Looking to do something like this. I would assume mounting to an existing fence should be fine? wind load should be darn close to identical I imagine

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Grass or snow drifts are the only concerns

 

[shadowmaker]

I have very limited roof space because of trees, complicated dormers, etc.

Would it be crazy eye sore or would it be unsafe to mount panels to the fence posts around the swimming pool? Also I could put two on the shed roof also. This is the south facing side of the yard.

I am just trying to find somewhere to get more panels
View attachment 113044

Nice pool area!

I'm in the middle of making solar fence with steroids, but then I live in Finland and vertically installed panels make sense with all the snow we have here in the winter time. While vertically installed panels lose productivity due to their angle, using bifacial panels help. At least you can capture some of the lost production with better backside angle and they are also much easier to eye.

I would use only vertical poles of that fence and install panels horizontally between. This way you can avoid making shadows on the backside and make it look like a fence plus it would be easy to use better tilt on your panels instead installing them completely vertical. 70-80 degree tilt shouldn't look all that bad and would rise productivity significantly. Even in up north here I'm installing my panels 5-10 degree shy from being totally vertical to get more production during summer noon. Wintertime they are almost ideally tilted and still vertical enough to keep snow off.

 

[parksnorris]

I have 800W vertical to combat snow. At my latitude whatever my loss is in summers don’t even matter one iota because I’m fully recharged by 9AM generally LOL and solar runs the fridge and whatever else all day.
In winter, around 55* is approximately correct, so that 10* off vertical is not a big deal PLUS I get huge output volts on cold, sunny days.
Not much of a compromise.

I have an additional 2kW of panels I’m putting online to eek out cloudy weather charging. I’m already overpaneled big time in summer even with vertical orientation year round. It’s a fun test but will have practical results to compare whether it is successful or not. The sun never is quite overhead in Vermont; in climes closer to the equator it might not be as good of an idea if usage wants high production numbers.
I just didn’t want to constantly have to scrape ice and snow off at 15*F in a 15mph wind everyday Master Groups Fencing and Landscaping. It works, here.

Looking for a little inspiration as far as building solar panel mount. Planning on using an off the shelf system to hold the actual panels, so what I'm really looking for is some input on footing(s), single pole versus ground mount etc.

Most likely looking for something that is capable of holding 3 72 cell panels (~900 watts), so probably looking (according to specs) using 4" schedule 40 pipe if I go with a single pole (~9' pipe to get 6' off ground, 90+ pounds), that's getting heavy and is going to require big hole which equals lots of bags of concrete to haul and hand mix.

My complicating factor is I don't have vehicle access to our property, so everything has to be brought in by boat and then carted to the property. All work will be done with hand tools / small power tools (so I can at least use a 1/2" drill to mix concrete for example).

If I were at home, I would just dig a hole and use sonotube and set the pipe in concrete with 1/3 of its height below ground (frost line is not very deep - coastal Washington). And that may still be what I do, but that means lots of haulage as noted above.

We have to mow the yard a few times a year with a tractor, so we're hoping to have the panels up higher (5-6' off ground) to lessen chances of death to a panel from flying rocks so a classic "on the ground" ground mount isn't ideal, but maybe a ground mount with posts on four corners would be more amenable to some sort of pier block / footing arrangement instead of buried footing?

Anyone have any brilliant ideas of easier ways to mount panels up off the ground a ways without wrestling with lots of concrete and/or lots of large schedule 40 pipe?

 

[shadowmaker]

Looking for a little inspiration as far as building solar panel mount. Planning on using an off the shelf system to hold the actual panels, so what I'm really looking for is some input on footing(s), single pole versus ground mount etc.

Most likely looking for something that is capable of holding 3 72 cell panels (~900 watts), so probably looking (according to specs) using 4" schedule 40 pipe if I go with a single pole (~9' pipe to get 6' off ground, 90+ pounds), that's getting heavy and is going to require big hole which equals lots of bags of concrete to haul and hand mix.

My complicating factor is I don't have vehicle access to our property, so everything has to be brought in by boat and then carted to the property. All work will be done with hand tools / small power tools (so I can at least use a 1/2" drill to mix concrete for example).

If I were at home, I would just dig a hole and use sonotube and set the pipe in concrete with 1/3 of its height below ground (frost line is not very deep - coastal Washington). And that may still be what I do, but that means lots of haulage as noted above.

We have to mow the yard a few times a year with a tractor, so we're hoping to have the panels up higher (5-6' off ground) to lessen chances of death to a panel from flying rocks so a classic "on the ground" ground mount isn't ideal, but maybe a ground mount with posts on four corners would be more amenable to some sort of pier block / footing arrangement instead of buried footing?

Anyone have any brilliant ideas of easier ways to mount panels up off the ground a ways without wrestling with lots of concrete and/or lots of large schedule 40 pipe?

Maybe THIS THREAD will give you new ideas.

 

[Gold Country Russ]

Actually, a solar fence works great when using bifacial panels and it runs north & south. The east & west faces do a great job in the morning and afternoon. You decide when you want peak production, for example you need to start recharging batteries earlier in the morning and run air conditioning late into the afternoon. In that case, face panel fronts 50% east & 50% west. The amount of KWH produced daily will only be slightly lower than a true south facing tilted panel. In an ideal system, a blend of E&W vertical and properly tilted S facing panels would produce a near steady power profile with three small peaks that should eliminate clipping and optimize inverter capacity. A bonus, vertical panels run much cooler and thus will produce extra power and last longer. A great concept for agricultural and ranching applications.