MichaelK
Solar Wizard
Finally got it done. Wanted to show you all the changes I've made to my V4.0 design.
First change, the unistrut beam. I mated two unistruts together, opening to opening, then welded them together. The resulting bolt-gaps just allow a 3/8" bolt to pass through without any drilling. I made both the T-post and solar-frame backbone out of these unistrut beams.
Next, I constructed the main array frame with vertical unistruts spaced to mount the panels in landscape with the factory-drilled holes. For diagonal trusses, I used rebar instead of half-channel unistruts. Finally, I'm only using unistrut trusses (Z-dimension) on the outboard vertical members. No cantilevered trusses on the inner unistruts.
All together, these changes make the whole array frame lighter, and I was able to position it and bolt it in place alone.
Here's the frame with six 250W panels mounted.
First change, the unistrut beam. I mated two unistruts together, opening to opening, then welded them together. The resulting bolt-gaps just allow a 3/8" bolt to pass through without any drilling. I made both the T-post and solar-frame backbone out of these unistrut beams.
Next, I constructed the main array frame with vertical unistruts spaced to mount the panels in landscape with the factory-drilled holes. For diagonal trusses, I used rebar instead of half-channel unistruts. Finally, I'm only using unistrut trusses (Z-dimension) on the outboard vertical members. No cantilevered trusses on the inner unistruts.
All together, these changes make the whole array frame lighter, and I was able to position it and bolt it in place alone.
Here's the frame with six 250W panels mounted.
