Thanks Niel for the input. The original panel was mounted using RV mounts and had less than 1" of clearance. I now have 4" of clearance and the increase in height should be an improvement. If I raise the panels higher they are visible from the ground and at risk for theft. Mark

most go with 6 or more inches, but you've improved it over what it was and that's good. i do understand about the theft. vandalism is a good possibility too as i'm in the same boat with people around me. i saw evidence of one of my pvs being hit with something as it was forcibly pushed out of place a fraction of an inch. it could've only been done by something such as a rock and i didn't see the rock on the roof below the pv. anyway there's no damage as i have unisolar 64s. they have no glass to break. just one of your pvs can produce what 2 us 64s can and with a longer warranty too.

I have inspected a few ground mount systems in the San Diego area and it is common to see unistrut being used to support the panels. The vertical supports are either galvanized pipe or more unistrut. I can post some pictures if there is interest. I plan to use unistrut for my ground mount system (36 Kyocera 200 watt modules) but I still need to figure out how to set it up so that I can adjust the angle twice a year.

go ahead and post those pics as it's always interesting to see how others do things. who knows i might learn something or think of something new.

Here are pictures of a ground mount system using Prosolar rails. Prosolar provides the aluminum rails and the installer provides the pipe and Speedrail fittings.

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