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Looking for light weight racking material to build my own racking system.

Tony S

New Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2022
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124
Location
Ontario Canada
I have in mind to build my own racking system to be able to adjust my panels.

I honestly don't know which way is best to mount the panels - horizontal or vertical?
I plan to have 12 panels or less. (I might build another rack later - if needed.)
FYI - I will be mounting them onto or next to a shipping container.

I'm looking for light weight racking system material to be able to build my own adjustable array.

What did you use and where did you get it or where have you seen something I might be looking for?

PICTURES are helpful..

Thank you,
 
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I am interested in the same, but probably 30+ panels.
Anyone have any thoughts???
 
I too am looking at 30 panels. I am thinking telephone poles for the base poles. Need the other parts.
 
I was thinking maybe old bed frame rails would be a sturdy/cheap/light building material.
 
What about 1 1/2" square tubing from overseas shipping containers. Their 7'10 1/2" long. In New Orleans port they just toss them to the side for trash. Unless you have a contact at the port and you get for free or a few dollars. I do not have a contact at the port. I found them on Facebook MarketPlace for $15 each. Primed painted.
 
Stick with Unistrut. I have a small wall mount array and pole mount that is all unistrut.
 
Check out used fence panels or gates. Some of them are galvanized square tube, some are round tube.
I haven't found used ones that are the dimensions that I'd like but you might in your area. Something 4 or 5 feet high and 10 to 20 feet long would work for mounting panels in the portrait position.
 
2 KW Unistrut based Pole Mount. It was originally sized for smaller array. I rebuilt it to hold a slightly larger array. The Poles are rectangular tubing poured in large block of concrete. The array pivots on 3/4" stainless rod. I manually set the angle once a quarter. I built it solo. Putting the panels on is interesting. I would flip the array forward, install a panel, then flip the array facing north then install a panel and then flip it back. The panels are bolted through the frames using strut nuts. In order to keep corrosion from occurring between the strut and the panels, I bought UHMW sheet and cut some "c" shaped washers and slipped them between the strut and the panel frames.

I have one corner brace installed year round but in the winter I install a second one on the other corner. I can change the array angle in about 10 minutes.

I stuck with using standard single channel strut as I had lost my source with a discount at an electrical house so I bought standard channel at Home Depot. Unistrut makes double and triple depth strut that would simplify the installation but unless someone has contractors discount its quite expensive to special order.

20220626_154431.jpg20220626_154445.jpg
 
It getting close to 15 years old and still standing despite some gnarly weather in Northern NH
 
The unistrut still looks good...seems like that would last forever! I bet the cross bracing helps in the wind.

That design looks really nice. You could almost sell that as a kit just the way you built it.
 
I think the double rectangular poles are the only special part. I like them a lot better than using circular pipe as there is lot of surface area between the strut and the tubes. Plus someone gave me the tubing for free ;) I could clean it up a lot by using double or triple strut. It used to hold a smaller array and was modified to hold larger panels so I had to add some extra horizontal bracing to keep it from being too "floppy"
 
You can get 17' Ironridge XR-100 racking for ~$50 if it is local and you can pick up. About the same price as the cheapest Unistrut at 10'.

Handy for those that need the extra length and it seems they have a good amount of VARs that might be local.
 
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Where I lie nothing is "local" I had to buy my racking for my roof cut in half so UPS would deliver it and then had to splice it back together. Home Depot is about 30 miles away and stock Unistrut so that is what i used.
 
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I went with 2”x1/8” angle iron, for me welding is an option, not adjustable but light enough to get on the roof. So far I am happy, it took about 140lbs of angle iron to support 6 panels, probably could have used 1 1/2” angle iron. Oh well, I feel like it is plenty strong.4AB3B5C1-726E-4F77-B27D-A000893B31B9.jpeg
 
I was watching the YouTube Chanel “Ambition Strikes”. They put a big array on a shipping container- it tilts for summer &winter. They welded it together.

Good Luck!
 
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