mounting panels to treated-wood frame

[bcroe]

Looks good to me. I did not bother with any concrete on my 5 year expectation, treated wood
array (still looking decent at 7 years). The front and back posts are connected together at the
40 inch depth by braces, it is going nowhere. No lateral bracing on any of my first arrays, the
panels are supposed to stiffen them.

My treated wood is held together with hot dipped galvanized bolts, no lag bolts. I was
able to keep a hole through a 2 x 6 centered by pre drilling almost everything on a drill press.
Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

Your setup using treated wood and hot-dipped galvanized bolts sounds like a sturdy and long-lasting solution. It's great that you took the time to pre-drill and ensure everything is aligned properly. Your approach with no lag bolts and relying on the panels to provide stiffness is an interesting one. It's impressive that your array has held up well for 7 years!

Hello hueycol and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

You do understand that this thread is over 3 years old.

[J.P.M.]

Hello hueycol and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

You do understand that this thread is over 3 years old.

Yea, and I'd be wondering how the wood frame is holding up.

[bcroe]

Yea, and I'd be wondering how the wood frame is holding up.

.

The wood frame is holding up pretty well reaching 10 years old.
It looks pretty much the same as this 2013 picture. It was originally
intended as a 5 year experiment, with possible life to 10 years.
Apparently a lot of luck caused it to perform very well in helping
the system deal with clouds and snow, and now smoke haze.

I learned a lot of what works here in northern IL , and built more
permanent stuff with concrete and rebar underground, 6061
aluminum and 18-8 SS hardware above. There is a layout on
paper of upgrading everything and moving panels. But as it
already exceeds the annual 28,000 KWh I require, some failure
of the wood may be needed to cause action.

Certainly all the wood is expendable, metal through it very soon
cannot be removed or used again. The panels are in contact
with aluminum rail, still serviceable. Perhaps not obvious, the
array follows the 10% grade of this land, the bottom of a panel
at the high end is about level with the top of a panel at the low
end. I consider efforts to make solar perfectly level on slopes
to be a waste, and even counter productive for such things as
maintenance and snow clearance.

I also do not care for all the slip bolt channels and edge clamps
used to speed up installations. All assembly holes are purpose
drilled through here. Bruce Roe

DSCN0721.jpg

[J.P.M.]

.

The wood frame is holding up pretty well reaching 10 years old.
It looks pretty much the same as this 2013 picture. It was originally
intended as a 5 year experiment, with possible life to 10 years.
Apparently a lot of luck caused it to perform very well in helping
the system deal with clouds and snow, and now smoke haze.

I learned a lot of what works here in northern IL , and built more
permanent stuff with concrete and rebar underground, 6061
aluminum and 18-8 SS hardware above. There is a layout on
paper of upgrading everything and moving panels. But as it
already exceeds the annual 28,000 KWh I require, some failure
of the wood may be needed to cause action.

Certainly all the wood is expendable, metal through it very soon
cannot be removed or used again. The panels are in contact
with aluminum rail, still serviceable. Perhaps not obvious, the
array follows the 10% grade of this land, the bottom of a panel
at the high end is about level with the top of a panel at the low
end. I consider efforts to make solar perfectly level on slopes
to be a waste, and even counter productive for such things as
maintenance and snow clearance.

I also do not care for all the slip bolt channels and edge clamps
used to speed up installations. All assembly holes are purpose
drilled through here. Bruce Roe

DSCN0721.jpg

Thank you.

J.P.M.