DIY top of pole rack using superstrut

[ghickman]

New here

This looks like a lot of great resources! Thanks for accepting me.

[inetdog]

Posting to Unlock attachments as well Great forum! I have a solar comm site on a hilltop that has been running for over a year now. Believe it or not the 5 panels have been on wood. TriStar 60 MPPT has been flawless. We are adding some more high power (50 Watts) microwave equipment and need to add panels and get them mounted and tilted correctly now. All other equipment was using 25 watts at most.

Good Times

Hi wifi442 and welcome to Solar Panel Talk! Looking forward to sharing from you about your experiences. What part of the country are you in? E.G. do you need to worry about snow on the panels?

[ahreno]

Great thread thanks

[wifi442]

Posting to Unlock attachments as well Great forum! I have a solar comm site on a hilltop that has been running for over a year now. Believe it or not the 5 panels have been on wood. TriStar 60 MPPT has been flawless. We are adding some more high power (50 Watts) microwave equipment and need to add panels and get them mounted and tilted correctly now. All other equipment was using 25 watts at most.

Good Times

[rschultz]

Looking for a Pole Mount UniStrut setup for 6 - Trina Solar Panels TS 290 PA14

Looking for some drawings, plans, ideas to mount 6 panels

[jdub]

I'm also posting to unlock attachments.

[Sunking]

Uni Strut will take a PE Stamp to pass.

[SunEagle]

Unistrut is sometimes used when installing and supporting a rack of electrical conduit.

One of the manufacturers (T&B) called their product Kindorf. I know it has a UL listing and is accepted as a viable support system because of that rating.

[peakbagger]

I wholly agree that Unistrut being UL rated, in no way covers the design and use of it for a structure. 2x4s are usually grade stamped but that doesn't mean they are any good for building skyscrapers. Generally what the rating is good for is that the product if used as designed will meet the minimum ratings published for the product. I.E. Unistrut publishes design values for bending stress, If I use a piece of Unistrut and load it up to the design loading it will not fail. Once I load it up over that values, it can fail. Generally a structural engineer will use these design values and design a structure that stays below the maximum bending stress with a safety factor. If the material is not certified or grade stamped, then the factor of safety is a lot larger.

The tough part is establishing what the safe load is over the life of the structure. Like Florida relearns every few years, structures rarely fail when the weather is nice but add in a Hurricane and poor design or failure to install correctly even with certified materials will inevitably lead to major damage. I remember watching a TV report once about a engineer who retired down in south florida, he was from a northern state and was concerned about hurricanes and built a house to meet expected conditions. They were interviewing him after a major hurricane and he and the family were sitting on the front porch being interviewed, they had some minor landscape damage and some wind blown debris damage but nothing major. The news camera then panned back to revealthe surrounding neighborhood which was totally flattened for blocks with no other structures standing.

[russ]

I think you have misunderstood. Super strut is UL listed and CE certified. So what does this have to do with your comment. Everything -UL Classification means that UL has tested and evaluated samples of a product with respect to certain properties of the product. UL classifies products to:

Applicable UL requirements
Standards for safety
Standards of other national and international organizations

Unless I am missing something.

Local conditions, wind loading, foundation requirements, fencing requirements and much more come from others and UL has nothing to do with certifying the design.

[Cipherion]

Thanks for the "informative" question/rebuff

What does the UL listing have to do with a structural member? Nothing so the person you talked to must have misunderstood the question.

I think you have misunderstood. Super strut is UL listed and CE certified. So what does this have to do with your comment. Everything -UL Classification means that UL has tested and evaluated samples of a product with respect to certain properties of the product. UL classifies products to:

Applicable UL requirements
Standards for safety
Standards of other national and international organizations

Unless I am missing something.

[BadgerBoy]

4.25 Kw system that this past month of June set our record for the most in one month of 710 Kwh of Power from Above.

Started with 6 Trina 220's, then added 8 Helios 250's and last year added 4 more Helios 255's. This year I'm just about to order 12 Canadian Solar 250's.

[SunEagle]

Yes, they are coated to prevent rust. However, I'm in the process of adding another 12 panel unit like that pictured and I'm upgrading my Strut to the Gold color that is supposed to be their best coating....Actually, I'm not sure right now if its SuperStrut or UniStrut. Our local Menards store carries it.

What is your total system wattage and who makes your panels?

[BadgerBoy]

I'd like to get a drawing of that mount listed above by PeakBagger. So this is my 10th post and now I can PM

[BadgerBoy]

Coating of the SuperStrut

Yes, they are coated to prevent rust. However, I'm in the process of adding another 12 panel unit like that pictured and I'm upgrading my Strut to the Gold color that is supposed to be their best coating....Actually, I'm not sure right now if its SuperStrut or UniStrut. Our local Menards store carries it.