No idea on the production quality of these, has anyone ever tried them?
EG4 BrightMount Solar Panel Ground Mount Rack Kit | 4 Panel Ground Mount | Adjustable Angle (Pre-Order)
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I've seen multiple references to skid steer hydraulic augers here. Just an FYI but you can put those on a tractor FEL as long as you have third function hydraulics on the tractor. Most tractors today come with skid steer mount for the FEL but they make the augers for JD and Kubota mounts as well. I was going to do ground mount but I ended up putting my panels on the shop due to the distance to where I could do a ground mount. But I use my auger for 18" holes over 3' deep for h-brace posts on fences and I drilled 24" holes 5' deep when I added a lean-to onto the shop. The 24" holes were done with my bigger 75hp tractor but the 18" holes I do all the time with a 35hp. I'm not saying this is a viable solution in this your case, but for those out there who already have a tractor with a loader it is an incredibly handy attachment. Definitely one of my favorites.
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I bought the Premier MD140PHD. The lighter ones won't hold up on your 4707 (love that tractor) and you have plenty hydraulic flow for it. I bought an 18" and 9" auger. Already had a 12" I adapted from an old 3 pt auger. I've found I only use the 18" about 90% of the time. My neighbor had a 24" I used for the posts for my leanto (in the picture). I could see using one sometimes but it isn't worth buying one to me.What auger did you use? I have a massey 4707 and this would be perfect for me.
These figures seem outrageous but are they actually, how much do you feel it should cost? You won't be able to save on the materials, cost of rebar, concrete and metalworks, might even cost you more since you can only purchase retail. Of course if you put in all the elbow grease you'll save on labor, digging, trenching, setting up rebar for footings, pouring concrete and the mounts. I think if you did all that yourself you might save half that cost in best case scenario.I have three quotes for three different solar installers with good reputations in my area. All are pretty outrageous, all came in at $40k for ~12kw, All said the issue was that I want a ground mount. 32 panels.
Quote 1 was $8400 extra for the ground mount.
Quote 2 was $8700 extra for the ground mount.
Quote 3 was $9000 extra for the ground mount.
You have to be kidding me. I live in a county with zero permitting or inspections required for a ground mount. I have a spot 95 feet from the breaker box that has 100% unobstructed southern exposure 365 days per year. There is absolutely nothing between where the panels would go, and the breaker box, so the trenching is no problem. The one issue with this area is that we do get high winds, it is not theoretical, we *will* get 80-100MPH gusts out of the northwest at least once per year. This is Colorado.
I have decided to go DIY for the entire project.
I looked at some of the DIY racking people have shown on here and a lot of them clearly aren't going to hold up to 100MPH.
Has anyone done a DIY install that has held up to these kinds of winds, and what did you use?
looks very nice, care to elaborate on the movable functions?This is what I built with 400$ worth of materials, all the labor, welding, and assembly by myself. This rotating array can hold up to 1500W of panels.
The bottome T-section of the array frame is a 4" schedule 40 pipe that sits on top of a 3.5" schedule 40 pipe sunk 3' in concrete. This allows the frame to be rotated left-right to track the sun from East to West. The vertical panel members are welded to the horizontal portion of the T-section with hinges, so the frame can be tilled up and down to change declination. So, this allows both daily and seasonal adjustments. All members besides the pipe are all either full-channel or half-channel unistruts.looks very nice, care to elaborate on the movable functions?
I have and use a Danhauser designed for low flow. Have like five augers from 9 inch to 24 inch. No issues running it with a Kubota MX5100. Doesn't spin extremely fast but clay will release with a little shake.What auger did you use? I have a massey 4707 and this would be perfect for me.
Yes and No.Way back in the day when panels were $4/watt it made a lot $ense to pull out all the string on both automatic and manually adjustable racking. But now just a little bit of shopping around and buying in roughly 5kW increments you can have new panels delivered to you door for less than 50 cents/watt including shipping and liftgate if needed. Used panel in 10kW increments can possibly be had for 30 cents or less I suspect.
Anyway... if you've got the room it can make more sense to oversize your array than to fiddle around with season adjustment or tracking. Watts are cheaper than concrete and steel.