Looking for mounting system advice. UniRac SunFrame vs. SunPower Invisimount?

[pman555]

We are looking to have an 8.5kW SunPower system installed on our home and are trying to decide which mounting system to go with.

I like the aesthetics of the SunPower Invisimount system, but it appears that it would have more roof penetrations than the UniRac SunFrame.
The SunFrame's top/bottom rails are shared between panels that are above and below, while the Invisimount system has two rails for every row of panels.

I've attached photos of each to this thread.

My house would have three rows of panels on our high roof, so the numbers of rails would be as follows:
Invisimount: 6
SunFrame: 4

Does anyone have opinions on the pros/cons of each system and advice on which we should end up choosing?
These panels are going on the front of our house, so aesthetics is definitely a concern for us.

Thanks in advance.

SunFrame.JPG
Invisimount.jpg

[truav8r]

I don't know anything about the UniRac, but my 9.38kW SunPower install starts on Monday, with the InvisiMount. Not sure when the rack and panels will be picture worthy, but I'll snap some photos.

[truav8r]

Here is the InvisiMount that went up on my roof this week. Now keep in mind, my Sunpower panels will be oriented in landscape (4 rows of 7 panels). My installer has several crews, and this was the first time this particular crew used the InvisiMount. They raved about it. Easy to put together. Not only is everything self-grounding, but it's stronger than other racks they've used. Installer gave the example that on a lot of racks, you need a foot on both sides of each splice. But the InvisiMount is stronger, so that is unnecessary. And he said while many racks require a foot every 48", this can go 60" between supports. So fewer roof penetrations, pound for pound. Looks like a great system to me. YMMV

[pman555]

Here is the InvisiMount that went up on my roof this week. Now keep in mind, my Sunpower panels will be oriented in landscape (4 rows of 7 panels). My installer has several crews, and this was the first time this particular crew used the InvisiMount. They raved about it. Easy to put together. Not only is everything self-grounding, but it's stronger than other racks they've used. Installer gave the example that on a lot of racks, you need a foot on both sides of each splice. But the InvisiMount is stronger, so that is unnecessary. And he said while many racks require a foot every 48", this can go 60" between supports. So fewer roof penetrations, pound for pound. Looks like a great system to me. YMMV

Thanks for the follow up.
What do you mean by "a foot on both sides of each splice?"

[truav8r]

Thanks for the follow up.
What do you mean by "a foot on both sides of each splice?"

Some racks require a support directly on both sides of a splice (where 2 pieces of rack are joined together). The InvisiMount is strong enough to not require any extra support at those areas.

[pman555]

Some racks require a support directly on both sides of a splice (where 2 pieces of rack are joined together). The InvisiMount is strong enough to not require any extra support at those areas.

It's just so weird. You'd think that if the Invisimount system required fewer roof penetrations, they'd be advertising the hell out of it!
But there's nothing online about it and when I called SunPower, they sent me a data sheet about the system but it doesn't mention anything about reducing the number of roof penetrations.

Now I'm not sure which system to go with...

[shet]

Reviving old post. pman555, which racking did you finally go with ? The Unirac SunFrame or the Inivisimount?

[pman555]

Reviving old post. pman555, which racking did you finally go with ? The Unirac SunFrame or the Inivisimount?

We ended up going with the SunFrame system. Per our installer, the Invisimount system requires more roof penetrations because it's a 2-rail sytem, not a "shared rail" system like the SunFrame. I definitely prefer the aesthetics of the Invisimount, but didn't want to create more holes in our roof than necessary.

[shet]

We ended up going with the SunFrame system. Per our installer, the Invisimount system requires more roof penetrations because it's a 2-rail sytem, not a "shared rail" system like the SunFrame. I definitely prefer the aesthetics of the Invisimount, but didn't want to create more holes in our roof than necessary.

Thanks. I was not sure whether you would respond since you were not active recently. So thanks again. I read some Unirac docs after my above post. Seems like SunFrame is better for string inverters (which was your case) since SunFrame is quite close to the roof. So for microinverters or optimizer better to go with two-rail system.