I'll try to make this as brief as possible. I have a galvanized steel rack on my roof, specifically designed to have solar panels mounted directly to it. It is already sloped correctly and has "rails" in place for mounting panels to. The person who built it had intended to simply use a bolt, nut, and couple of washers, drilled through the galvanized steel rails, to make his own mid clamps. While I have no doubt this would work, I do have questions. I don't intend on scrapping the rack - It's in perfectly fine shape and should last for many years. I just want to utilize what we have while ensuring that we limit the potential damage to the panels as much as possible.
1. Since the panels are anodized, they should be good to sit directly on the galvanized steel rails, so long as we don't scrape off the coating where it contacts the galvanized, right?
2. Are there any mid/end clamps that I can use in this fashion? Most require them to be slotted into the aluminum rail channel, but I don't have that here. I need something that I can drill the hole through my galvanized rail, and tighten down the nut to attach. I can make my own using the bolts and washers of course, but I'd prefer to have something specialized to the task.
3. Regardless of whether I make my own or buy an off the shelf product, what material should the clamp and bolt be made out of in order to limit the galvanic reaction between the materials? I was thinking galvanized hardware would be the way to go, but not entirely sure on this one.
1. Since the panels are anodized, they should be good to sit directly on the galvanized steel rails, so long as we don't scrape off the coating where it contacts the galvanized, right?
2. Are there any mid/end clamps that I can use in this fashion? Most require them to be slotted into the aluminum rail channel, but I don't have that here. I need something that I can drill the hole through my galvanized rail, and tighten down the nut to attach. I can make my own using the bolts and washers of course, but I'd prefer to have something specialized to the task.
3. Regardless of whether I make my own or buy an off the shelf product, what material should the clamp and bolt be made out of in order to limit the galvanic reaction between the materials? I was thinking galvanized hardware would be the way to go, but not entirely sure on this one.
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