diy solar

diy solar

Nice Solar Panel Ground Mounts

Repro said:
I had twelve 100W panels that I initially bought to keep mobile for various uses. Mostly for RV'ing and other portable uses. Since I no longer need them in that capacity, I wanted to set them up permanently and get some use out of them. I needed a ground mount and was contemplating building one when I found these ground mounts from Eco-Worthy. They can be found on Amazon if interested.

Here is the Description on Amazon and link:

ECO-Worthy Adjustable Multi-Pieces Solar Panel Mounting Brackets Kit System for 1-4pcs Solar Panels​


These are made from very sturdy steel galvanized channel struts and some other hardware. I have channel struts left over and thought I would build them myself. When calculating the hardware costs, it was much cheaper to buy these ready to go units from Eco-Worthy, even though I had left over channel struts. I mounted them to deck blocks that cost under $4 each, and they provide 180lbs of ballast keeping them very secure to the ground, yet can be moved if needed.

I bought 8AWG cables and ran them to my Victron MultiPlus II 3000 system. I have two Signature Solar 48v Lifepower rack batteries on that system, and it works great. I use about the top 30% each night, and these twelve panels have them topped off by 1pm each day.

All in all, these ground mounts are very affordable, super easy to assemble, can hold up to 5 panels each of my HQST 100W compact panels. I had so much room left on each side that I had to cut off the excess. I think these mounts are great and you will not get them cheaper. I hope this helps somebody out.
Click to expand...


what’s the actual width of the rack? I’ve looked and can’t find it. They just say they fit 4 100-195w panels.
 
I added together 4 of their 195w panels and that Calculated out to be 107.2“

The reason I’m trying to find this out is I want to modify them to work with my 41” wide panels. So if the above is true I can order 4 sets and that should cover my needs of 34.17 total feet plus the room for clamps.

Now wonder if they will sell me 6 more of those butt end connectors for the struts?
 
wildbillpdx said:
Width is 3000mm or 118.11 inches. I've got six that I'm installing. Still trying to determine location. Each one will only hold 3 of my Sanyo panels and I have 18.
Click to expand...
Great! Thank you for the info.

Another Question. Is the unistrut or superstrut whatever you may call it standard? Could I just go to home depot or Platt Electric to buy those connectors?

My plan is to buy 4 of them and connect all four together and bolt them to the roof of my shipping container. Like the O/P I started adding up what it would cost me @ Homedepot for the Superstrut,nut,bolts, hardware and would still have to make feet and connectors. I was well over $500. Fast and would still have to do way more work.
 
wildbillpdx said:
If you buy them on Ebay, 4 or more are only $119 each with free shipping
Click to expand...

Nice find! And there's the "Offer" button there, possibly good for an additional 5-15% discount.

I picked up a bunch of used panels from Santan, but mounting location is still TBD. My house roof sees a lot of shading, but I don't really want one more thing to have to mow around, so I may go with a roof mount, regardless. Shading doesn't bother me too much--the main reason I picked these panels up was to overpanel for overcast days.


OzSolar said:
I'd put few duckbill anchors in them
Click to expand...

I didn't even know they made these things... pretty neat! Do you think they could be attached directly to each foot? The marketing image shows the legs standing directly on grass. Wonder what other (safe) options might exist for mounting to dirt/clay.
 
Consumerbot3418 said:
Nice find! And there's the "Offer" button there, possibly good for an additional 5-15% discount.

I picked up a bunch of used panels from Santan, but mounting location is still TBD. My house roof sees a lot of shading, but I don't really want one more thing to have to mow around, so I may go with a roof mount, regardless. Shading doesn't bother me too much--the main reason I picked these panels up was to overpanel for overcast days.




I didn't even know they made these things... pretty neat! Do you think they could be attached directly to each foot? The marketing image shows the legs standing directly on grass. Wonder what other (safe) options might exist for mounting to dirt/clay.
Click to expand...
I’ve used the 30” screw in ground anchors to hold a 12x40 metal RV cover in place. They worked great.
 
Jack Rabbit Off Grid said:
Great! Thank you for the info.

Another Question. Is the unistrut or superstrut whatever you may call it standard? Could I just go to home depot or Platt Electric to buy those connectors?

My plan is to buy 4 of them and connect all four together and bolt them to the roof of my shipping container. Like the O/P I started adding up what it would cost me @ Homedepot for the Superstrut,nut,bolts, hardware and would still have to make feet and connectors. I was well over $500. Fast and would still have to do way more work.
Click to expand...
Unistrut is the trademarked originator of strut. They make various "flavors" with different coatings and or materials but they are all designed to be interchangeable. There are other companies that sell look alikes but unless its big job, most stick with the "Unistrut". As its commercial product, the retail cost is quite steep if you buy it at an electrical distributor, unless you do enough business to be a commercial account. For a private individual, Home Depot is about the best price you will find. The gold" colored strut they sell is a plated on corrosion barrier that IMO is superior to the standard strut which is hot dipped and has a rougher finish. Unless you are in a corrosive environment or trying to save weight stick to the superstrut.

Some caveats regarding corrosion. if you are bolting aluminum panels to galvanized steel strut in even mildly corrosive environments, there should be a corrosion barrier between the aluminum frame and the strut. If you do not do that, the coating on the strut will slowly deteriorate over many years. Not an issue for most folks, but in marine environment, the strut will start to show signs of rust in less than a year. I recommend using stainless steel bolts for attaching the panels to the strut for the same reason, zinc plated fasteners in direct contact with the aluminum will deteriorate over the years. If you buy stainless at the hardware store, they are expensive, but Amazon sells stainless by the bag or box for cheap usually cheaper than zinc plated fasteners at the hardware store. As the corrosion barrier, I bought UHMW sheet from Amazon and cut "square washers" with a slot in them with a pair of scissors. I assemble the parts then slip in the "washer" in between the surfaces and tighten things up.I also use "nylock" nuts. I also brush a bit of never seize on the threads of the stainless to reduce the chance of thread galling. Some folks just use a strip of 3M electrical tape for corrosion barrier.

Note, most racking systems come with compatible hardware and coatings so the corrosion aspect it not an issue. Using standard strut and off the shelf hardware, the corrosion approaches I mentioned above can cause electrical bonding issues between the panels and the frame. The solution is use use lay in ground lugs that screw into the panel frames and run a copper bonding wire to ground. Racking systems usually use "weeb" washers or fasteners that are designed to cut through the coating on the aluminum frames and the coating on the racking.

My original unistrut based array is over 20 years old and still seems to be holding up pretty well.
 
peakbagger said:
Unistrut is the trademarked originator of strut. They make various "flavors" with different coatings and or materials but they are all designed to be interchangeable. There are other companies that sell look alikes but unless its big job, most stick with the "Unistrut". As its commercial product, the retail cost is quite steep if you buy it at an electrical distributor, unless you do enough business to be a commercial account. For a private individual, Home Depot is about the best price you will find. The gold" colored strut they sell is a plated on corrosion barrier that IMO is superior to the standard strut which is hot dipped and has a rougher finish. Unless you are in a corrosive environment or trying to save weight stick to the superstrut.

Some caveats regarding corrosion. if you are bolting aluminum panels to galvanized steel strut in even mildly corrosive environments, there should be a corrosion barrier between the aluminum frame and the strut. If you do not do that, the coating on the strut will slowly deteriorate over many years. Not an issue for most folks, but in marine environment, the strut will start to show signs of rust in less than a year. I recommend using stainless steel bolts for attaching the panels to the strut for the same reason, zinc plated fasteners in direct contact with the aluminum will deteriorate over the years. If you buy stainless at the hardware store, they are expensive, but Amazon sells stainless by the bag or box for cheap usually cheaper than zinc plated fasteners at the hardware store. As the corrosion barrier, I bought UHMW sheet from Amazon and cut "square washers" with a slot in them with a pair of scissors. I assemble the parts then slip in the "washer" in between the surfaces and tighten things up.I also use "nylock" nuts. I also brush a bit of never seize on the threads of the stainless to reduce the chance of thread galling. Some folks just use a strip of 3M electrical tape for corrosion barrier.

Note, most racking systems come with compatible hardware and coatings so the corrosion aspect it not an issue. Using standard strut and off the shelf hardware, the corrosion approaches I mentioned above can cause electrical bonding issues between the panels and the frame. The solution is use use lay in ground lugs that screw into the panel frames and run a copper bonding wire to ground. Racking systems usually use "weeb" washers or fasteners that are designed to cut through the coating on the aluminum frames and the coating on the racking.

My original unistrut based array is over 20 years old and still seems to be holding up pretty well.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tutorial some good information.
 
Jack Rabbit Off Grid said:
I’ve used the 30” screw in ground anchors to hold a 12x40 metal RV cover in place. They worked great.
Click to expand...

Well, I was aware of the screw-in type of anchor, but hadn't heard of the duckbill.

Maybe I don't have a good imagination, but I don't see alternative options for how ground anchors could be attached/connected to the legs of this ground mount kit. I'm picturing something like OP's photos, perhaps with lumber instead of steel? Then maybe using a steel strap to connect to a ground anchor?
 
Went from a metal manufactured array to a diy unistrut design to something like the picture below but more like the one in the youtube video link.

Finally going to settle on the absolutely cheapest design I can think of.

Panels run horizontally.
Woven ground cover/landscape fabric.
3' long u or t posts, one on each end of each panel approx 1/3rd from the top of each panel.
I will be able to adjust the panels 15* to 45* and they will be hugging the ground. Still thinking about supporting the front of the panels but it might not be necessary.


1691124799237.png
 
Gotshocked! said:
Went from a metal manufactured array to a diy unistrut design to something like the picture below but more like the one in the youtube video link.

Finally going to settle on the absolutely cheapest design I can think of.

Panels run horizontally.
Woven ground cover/landscape fabric.
3' long u or t posts, one on each end of each panel approx 1/3rd from the top of each panel.
I will be able to adjust the panels 15* to 45* and they will be hugging the ground. Still thinking about supporting the front of the panels but it might not be necessary.


View attachment 160956
Click to expand...
Very nice looking setup.
 
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