We just finished an install on the roof of City Hall in El Centro, CA. 36 BP SX-140 modules, 2 SB2500 inverters and UniRac Solar Mount racks. While everything was installed and commissioned to spec, the UniRacs were problematic. Now I remember why I stopped using them: the tolerances are inconsistent, mounting bolts easily gall, and manufacturing inconsistencies abound. Why would one mounting foot have the pivot hole elongated into an oval on the Y-axis and the next have it on the X-axis is beyond me.

From my experience, the ProSolar mounting systems are superior and provide a better value. The www.prosolar.com website is an encyclopedia of knowledge.

If anyone needs pole mounts, I have opinions on them as well.

I haven't used and commercial rack systems and have wondered if it was worth the costs. One my system , I used 2"x2"x1/4" L brackets for the frames.. they were hurricane shutter support rails and as very strong. they were on sale at Lowes at 75% off to clear out the old stock.

I realize this doesn't really help others except for the fact it really isn't a big deal to just buy raw stock and build your own.

What have others done for racks ??

I haven't done anything (yet), but the comparisons are useful. Could you guys maybe post some of the costs for the systems/racks you've installed, as well as comments on the degree of labor and effort required, etc.?

We can build a pretty good comparison that way.

Well it comes down to a time vs money thing

If you have lots of time ... you can save lots of money making your own racks.

My system took me about 3 weeks of labor to build the rack , dig the footings , mix the concrete (by hand) , mount the panels , run the conduit , pull the wire and terminate all 48 panels.

I like ground mounting for the easy of adjustment and since it took so long to do all that wiring work with the AWG #6 wire ... it was a life saver.

But if you use the new sharp panels which come with the MC connectors and go sunnyboy for high voltage/low current , this would save probably half off the time of my installation took ...

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I did a ground mount.

I went to lowes and got 4, 8 foot landscaping timbers and cut two 5.5 foot long and three 2.5 foot long. Put all 5 in concrete a foot and a half in the ground. Put a 10 foot 4x4 across the top of the 4 foot high ones and bought 8, 8 foot long pcs of angle iron with the holes up and down the length. I cut 8 pcs about 2 holes long and mounted them as hinges on the top of the 4x4 s. Put a 2x4 across the 3 shorter ones and then cut three more 2 hole long pcs for hinges and mounted them to a 2x4 10 foot long for the bottom side. Mounted 8 pcs of the angle iron to the solar panels and then hooked the 8 hinges on the 4 foot high side to the angles and then to the bottom side of the 2x4 on the lower side or south side. Made 3 legs out of the angle and hooked to the hinges on the bottom or south side. In the summer you pickup the lower end which lets the legs unfold and they swing down in place and you put a couple of bolts in the angle iron you put on the lower post (the ones I have not installed yet being it has not been summer yet). And in the winter you just unbolt the legs and fold them back under and bolt it back in the winter position.

Now that was pretty clear huh? lol cost around just over a hundred bucks and I even have spair junk to toss out behind my battery sheld.

Jon

Jon,

If you could post some pictures, that would be great for everyone to see!

I have pics of my homebrew battery box and my controller inverter breaker box setup on my yahoo profile but will need to take some pics of the panel mounts. Maybe I can do that some time today. As I said I do not have the foldout tilt legs installed.. Why... well that is easy.. I"m lazy.. I'll have to do it pretty soon because it is changing from winter to spring. I'll post the link as soon as I get the pics uploaded.

Ok here are some pics. I finally had a sunny day and the time to do some work on my setup in between chores. I have only installed 2 of the fold down legs so far but you can get the idea from the pics. I found out the hard way to put a bungee cord or spring on them if you want them to flip back up so you can put it back down to the winter setting. I as well added two Evergreen panels to the mix so it was changed a little from my first plans but very little only made longer from top to bottom to add the two panels.

the forum would only allow me to post 5 pics but I so happened to have 6. so here it is..

Thanks for the pictures


Thats reversed from my first system, on your it would seem summer adjustment means you LIFT the front of your rack, that must be a bit of a challenge weight wise

On my first system, it was similar, but I had to lift the back. I did make the rails slide though with detents, so I could use both hands to lift and the rails would slide into the next position but if I was to do it again, I would have the rails like a see-saw so it would be netural on the weight ...