diy solar

diy solar

My DIY Ground Mount

My first post. I'm in yavapai county Az.
is there enough gain in PV output using a bi directional tracker .
with the blue sun 460 w bi facial panels.
also I'm using the eg4 LL batteries ( 2 to start with )
and the eg4 6500 ex 48 inv/cha (2 to start with.) wired together for 240
i plan on adding 4 more batteries as i can.
Anybody know of a electrical engineer that works with off grid in AZ. ( i will need this system certified )

thx
 
My first post. I'm in yavapai county Az.
is there enough gain in PV output using a bi directional tracker .
with the blue sun 460 w bi facial panels.
also I'm using the eg4 LL batteries ( 2 to start with )
and the eg4 6500 ex 48 inv/cha (2 to start with.) wired together for 240
i plan on adding 4 more batteries as i can.
Anybody know of a electrical engineer that works with off grid in AZ. ( i will need this system certified )

thx
Welcome to the forum. Please start your own post with this question. You will have more success getting answers to your question. Thanks.
 
Well, if you find a way to make a building code-compliant rack for less than $100/Panel, please share the design. I'm finding that this is a difficult barrier to break for a ground mount over 12" high.
My stuff is all scrounged. I'm a cheap bastry and I get a sense of satisfaction using materials others have discarded and consider junk. (I'm an odd duck) Everything I build is from what's available (for cheap) to me at the time. Mostly junkyards and the random old C-Band installs (These are 3 1/2 Sch 40 poles typically 10'). Unfortunately, it often means I cannot replicate the design simply for lack of finding the same materials again. My code inspectors are hurricanes. If it passes their test, I'm good with it :cool: My 300 watt array is 14' in the air. I scrounged the pole at no cost aside from my labor to remove and haul it. I guess that could be factored in, but I work for free for myself.
 
I used 48 4x4 posts, 34 pcs 10' unistrut for my 20,640w PV. I found some thicker aluminum unistrut 20' for my standard height/length Chevy 3/4T Express work van with 1000w PV.
I was considering wood but the prices were higher than junkyard metal and I hope it will last me a bit longer. I'm very comfortable working with wood. However I saw a LOT of wood structures destroyed after the hurricane. My panels may rip from the mount, but the mount will survive :)
 
I got my twelve 100 watt panels up. I have space on the mount for 3 more 100 panels or 2-200 watt panels. I'm pretty happy with how the mount turned out. Now I gotta build another mount for the 4-295 watt panels.
 

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My mount in situ as found in the wild :)
I appreciate the budget supplies for the rack. I was at Lowe's the other day and checked their price for 10' 14 gauge strut and it was $30 each. I thought that was crazy.... apparently I am cheap. I went to a local metal surplus store and they sell their metal for $1/pound. A steel square "tube" was $15 for 12 feet. I forgot to note the gauge, but it was reasonably thick. It will take a little more work on my end, but I will likely go with the square tube for the frame.
 
I appreciate the budget supplies for the rack. I was at Lowe's the other day and checked their price for 10' 14 gauge strut and it was $30 each. I thought that was crazy.... apparently I am cheap. I went to a local metal surplus store and they sell their metal for $1/pound. A steel square "tube" was $15 for 12 feet. I forgot to note the gauge, but it was reasonably thick. It will take a little more work on my end, but I will likely go with the square tube for the frame.
When I was first designing my build Unistrut was around $26 apiece. By the time I bought it had gone to $32 apiece :-( But I got mine at Home Depot and they had a discount if you bought ten or more pieces. I needed ten for both mounts so it worked out. Honestly with tubesteel, I'd just mig weld tabs in place for the panels to bolt to. I'll probably use TS for my next mount as well. With unistrut I had to cut brackets out of aluminum angle iron, drill two holes in each, and buy the unistrut nuts plus bolts. With tabs welded in place all you would need is bolts and plain nuts. I bought the angle iron I used for bracing from a metal supply house and it was very cheap compared to what home depot or lowes charged and 4' was the longest pieces they had. It was a 20' stick. If I can't find what I need at a scrapyard, I'll be buying from the metal supply house for my 3rd mount.
 
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I appreciate the budget supplies for the rack. I was at Lowe's the other day and checked their price for 10' 14 gauge strut and it was $30 each. I thought that was crazy.... apparently I am cheap. I went to a local metal surplus store and they sell their metal for $1/pound. A steel square "tube" was $15 for 12 feet. I forgot to note the gauge, but it was reasonably thick. It will take a little more work on my end, but I will likely go with the square tube for the frame.
Here is a video of the build.

 
I talked to the guy at the junkyard that I bought the pipe for my DIY ground mount from. He said that the pipe had come from chicken houses and that they used it for watering the birds. He said they get it all the time, chicken houses blow down, etc. So it looks like I'll be able to source some additional pipe for a couple more ground mounts I want to build. :) These are cheap to make aside from the Unistrut cost and I'm looking at some pallet racking I can pick up cheap as a replacement for Unistrut which will make them very inexpensive to build.

Here is a video of me putting the panels up if anyone is interested.

 
I talked to the guy at the junkyard that I bought the pipe for my DIY ground mount from. He said that the pipe had come from chicken houses and that they used it for watering the birds. He said they get it all the time, chicken houses blow down, etc. So it looks like I'll be able to source some additional pipe for a couple more ground mounts I want to build. :) These are cheap to make aside from the Unistrut cost and I'm looking at some pallet racking I can pick up cheap as a replacement for Unistrut which will make them very inexpensive to build.

Here is a video of me putting the panels up if anyone is interested.

Hello Dish Doc, That is a solid mount and looks to hold against a hurricane. Have you had any high winds on your smaller ground mount?
 
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