*Mounting Solar Panels*
This article is for those that may think they need some kind of complicated set up to mount solar panels on their home. I had no real place on my roof to mount panels so I decided to go with the small tin roofed "Carport" on the side of my house.
My first thought was "What the heck am I going to mount this with?" Well I figured that I could bolt on two lengths of wall shelving brackets to the panel and they would be long enough to let me bolt them to my roof. You can get these at almost any hardware store. One side had a hole for the bolt but the other required me to drill one out. Very simple to do. Here is how it worked out.
And the finished product below. Came out even too, not too bad for my first try. Using 4 bolts I secured it to the panel, This is secure and not going to blow away any time soon.
Now it was time to mount the panel. For the record I would recommend you have someone help you do this, I did not have help at the time, and it was very heavy and hard to lift up high enough. Make sure you have someone hand you the panel, trust me.. it is not as light as it looks. After it was on the roof, I simply drilled 4 holes in the metal roof, dropped the bolts in the pre drilled holes in the shelving rack, and it was on the roof safe and secure. A quick tightening of the bolts and it was up there good. We have had some strong winds out here today, and it shows no signs of moving.
The best part of this whole little project is a now realize that I have a whole lot more room for more panels. I can add them easily right to the very same rack or bolt another one on. Just goes to show you, you do not need to spend a fortune for an expensive rack system. There is always something you can use to mount the panels securely on a roof
.
This panel replaced my two smaller ones, (shown below) and now that frees them up to be used mobile or right where they are now, charging my ham radio backup battery.
Once everything was mounted neatly and secure on the outside, I ran the wires in though the wall in a pre drilled hole with some PVC Tubing in it, and hooked it back up. Everything was humming along, and I noticed that within 10 seconds my batteries were topped off with the new panel. Using the old ones, it used to take all day for the "Charged" green LED light to light up on my charge control.
My system has come a long way from the days of one 12 VT battery and a tiny panel. Now I feel secure in using this system to power something full time. With the new 1000 watt inverter and 2 deep cycles it has more then enough power to run most anything you can think of within reason. I plan on using it whenever I need power in the garage.
eXe
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