50ShadesOfDirt
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2021
- Messages
- 437
There are some number of folks on this and other forums who have or want to get a bunch of solar gear into a trailer-mounted scenario, myself included.
Anytime anything gets onto a trailer, and if used for any terrain scenario other than highway and perfect asphalt (no potholes), I'd expect a shortened lifespan. My guess is these DC Solar trailers took, and are probably still taking, a beating anytime they move. It's a hard life on open terrain. I'm still pondering how to get a number of typical pieces of equipment to survive the terrain around my measly 40 acres.
If you have a chance, @sunshine_eggo, a few pics of what DC Solar did to perhaps make this equipment survive trailer-mounting would be appreciated. If there's no special cushioning arrangement, and they just relied on the trailer suspension, I'd think that to be a smoking gun.
Take the normal lifespan of anything, and derate by 50% or more for trailer-mounting. Add in the "jarred-loose" wires, connectors, and the all-important "ground connection wire" (not having a lock washer), and it's another downtime % for the diagnostics.
Of course, anytime we buy anything used, we are just buying other folk's problems, and we'll never know fully what they were (leading to the sale) ... perhaps the best use for such items is to either part it out, or plan on pulling everything off and rebuilding it (bionic man fashion).
Anytime anything gets onto a trailer, and if used for any terrain scenario other than highway and perfect asphalt (no potholes), I'd expect a shortened lifespan. My guess is these DC Solar trailers took, and are probably still taking, a beating anytime they move. It's a hard life on open terrain. I'm still pondering how to get a number of typical pieces of equipment to survive the terrain around my measly 40 acres.
If you have a chance, @sunshine_eggo, a few pics of what DC Solar did to perhaps make this equipment survive trailer-mounting would be appreciated. If there's no special cushioning arrangement, and they just relied on the trailer suspension, I'd think that to be a smoking gun.
Take the normal lifespan of anything, and derate by 50% or more for trailer-mounting. Add in the "jarred-loose" wires, connectors, and the all-important "ground connection wire" (not having a lock washer), and it's another downtime % for the diagnostics.
Of course, anytime we buy anything used, we are just buying other folk's problems, and we'll never know fully what they were (leading to the sale) ... perhaps the best use for such items is to either part it out, or plan on pulling everything off and rebuilding it (bionic man fashion).
