Mounting solar panels

[zoolander]

I'm near to ordering all the items for my small solar system. 

One question is I'm DIY ING the panel mounting and wonder can you drill into the side of a panel for my fixings 

[BritManToo]

Why?

Just cut a bit of metal to pinch the lip on the panel to the mount.

And keep your 25 year guarantee intact.

[Elkski]

Pinch the lip? No fasteners.  Just punch the mount and panel edge together so they are locked?  Would fly away where I live with 70mph gusts  + 30 steady for days. 

[Crossy]

No problem drilling the frame, there's plenty of meat. Obviously, care is needed but it's not really risky. Check out the solar car-port thread for how we did ours.

 

That said, the cost of the "proper" mounting hardware has come down to more sensible levels than it was back when we did ours. Check out Lazada for complete kits.

 

[carlyai]

Global House has a  catalogue that shows a lot of fastening methods.

I just picked it up last year near the solar cells.

[007 RED]

 

During the initial design stage of my small scale system, I checked with the manufacturer of my panels (Sunpal) and they confirmed that drilling the aluminum side frame members to retain the panels would not invalidate their warranty provided that the drilling did not contact/damage their mounting board.  You may wish to do the same with your panel manufacturer so that you have a recorded note confirming that it is OK, or not to drill the side frame members.

 

As you will see from the photo above I've drilled below the mid point of the frame to ensure that there was good clearance with the actual panel mounting board.  As @Crossy said, just be careful.

 

FYI... The stainless steel panel mounting brackets were made for me by a local tin smith, so as to facilitate easy mounting onto the cement panel roof of my car port and allow a good air gap under the panels.

 

Good luck with your project

[Pink7]

49 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

 

During the initial design stage of my small scale system, I checked with the manufacturer of my panels (Sunpal) and they confirmed that drilling the aluminum side frame members to retain the panels would not invalidate their warranty provided that the drilling did not contact/damage their mounting board.  You may wish to do the same with your panel manufacturer so that you have a recorded note confirming that it is OK, or not to drill the side frame members.

 

As you will see from the photo above I've drilled below the mid point of the frame to ensure that there was good clearance with the actual panel mounting board.  As @Crossy said, just be careful.

 

FYI... The stainless steel panel mounting brackets were made for me by a local tin smith, so as to facilitate easy mounting onto the cement panel roof of my car port and allow a good air gap under the panels.

 

Good luck with your project

Look like a very cost and time saving construction, well done 007 RED.

 

Pink

[007 RED]

38 minutes ago, Pink7 said:

Look like a very cost and time saving construction, well done 007 RED.

 

Pink

Thanks.  My GTI system is small when compared to what you are installing.  Total cost of hardware 28,000 THB, no labour costs as it was a DIY install.  ROI about 2.5 years, based upon unit cost of electricity = 2.4 THB.

 

The research, design and install was a great experience and proves that your never to old to learn.  That said, I had a great deal of encouragement, advice and support from forum members, in particular from @Crossy.  

[Pink7]

13 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

Thanks.  My GTI system is small when compared to what you are installing.  Total cost of hardware 28,000 THB, no labour costs as it was a DIY install.  ROI about 2.5 years, based upon unit cost of electricity = 2.4 THB.

 

The research, design and install was a great experience and proves that your never to old to learn.  That said, I had a great deal of encouragement, advice and support from forum members, in particular from @Crossy.  

A smaller DIY without battery just sized to get the needed sun power in day time can be very cost effective and very fast ROi like in your case. I suggest that for people here who ask me about solar and budget. Do you have a link to your solar build tread?

 

Pink

[007 RED]

2 hours ago, Pink7 said:

A smaller DIY without battery just sized to get the needed sun power in day time can be very cost effective and very fast ROi like in your case. I suggest that for people here who ask me about solar and budget. Do you have a link to your solar build tread?

 

Pink

Yes my small scale GTI system has been great and as designed it is happily producing 75% of our daily electricity needs on most days for the past 15 months.  Specifically designed the system so that it should not produce a negative meter reading.

 

As l mentioned previously, using the price of electricity at the date of installation, it will have paid for itself in 2.5 years.  Obviously as the price per unit is increased, that 2.5 years will reduce ????.

 

Do l have a link to my build?  No, l piggy backed onto @Crossy original thread Budget solar system on car port.

 

l have a log of my design/install process and l have thought about starting an epic thread on how to build your own small scale GTI solar system, but a number of other issues took priority last year.  May be this year.  Watch this space.

[Muhendis]

Those solar panel mounting brackets are a neat idea.

I notice they are fixed to the trough section of the roof material.

Do I also see silicon sealant and rubber washers?

Good bit of engineering there.

 

[TronxII]

20 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

I notice they are fixed to the trough section of the roof material.

I thought the same.

Now you have them already 1 or 2 years, are there any leaks? Could you take a picture from underneath and share here?

[Muhendis]

10 hours ago, carlyai said:

Global House has a  catalogue that shows a lot of fastening methods.

I just picked it up last year near the solar cells.

Global House seems to be the go to place for solar equipment these days.

[Crossy]

I bought this kit for a friend, as noted prices are actually reasonable now, 4,500 baht, enough for 10 panels.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i3941051905-s15202701552.html

 

 

 

[007 RED]

15 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Those solar panel mounting brackets are a neat idea.

I notice they are fixed to the trough section of the roof material.

Do I also see silicon sealant and rubber washers?

Good bit of engineering there.

 

Thanks for your comment. 

 

Yes you do see silicon sealant.  Before bolting the brackets down I gave the underside of each mounting plate a good coating of silicon sealant.  This was to prevent any water getting under the mounting plates and causing leaks via the mounting screws.  Has worked well as there has not been any water dripping through the car port roof.

[007 RED]

16 hours ago, TronxII said:

I thought the same.

Now you have them already 1 or 2 years, are there any leaks? Could you take a picture from underneath and share here?

I can confirm that there have been no leaks during the 15 months that the panels have been installed on my car port roof.  This is possibly due to the silicone sealant which I applied to the feet of the mounting brackets before bolting the bracket down. 

 

Also it should be borne in mind that the top of the panels are almost at the apex of the roof, so when it rains, or when I clean the panels, the panels act as an umbrella for the mounting brackets.

 

I took a photo a few minutes ago of the underside of the car port roof, as requested.  Difficult to see the bracket mounting screws as they intentionally go into the horizontal steel framework of the roof supports. 

 

The only screws holding the mounting brackets which are visible from underneath are the brackets which I added mid panel to help support the panel's weight.  One set of screws (marked by arrow) can be seen coming through the cement roof panels.  You will notice no trace of water ingress. 

 

The photo below shows the layout of the mounting brackets on the car port roof before the panels were installed.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by 007 RED
photo added

[zoolander]

Many thanks for the replies. I like the idea of drilling the panel and making a solid fixing. But was concerned about panel expansion or is this not a problem 

[Crossy]

3 hours ago, zoolander said:

Many thanks for the replies. I like the idea of drilling the panel and making a solid fixing. But was concerned about panel expansion or is this not a problem 

 

I'm not aware of anyone who's had a problem even with much larger temperature ranges than we get here. Simply making the mounting holes a bit oversized and using large washers would permit a little movement.

 

Our panels are on steel rails, aluminium expands rather more than steel (coefficient of thermal expansion of 23 vs 12 for steel) and our end panels are solidly fixed, never seen an issue. I'm sure it all moves slightly but it's certainly not visible.

 

[Muhendis]

3 hours ago, zoolander said:

Many thanks for the replies. I like the idea of drilling the panel and making a solid fixing. But was concerned about panel expansion or is this not a problem 

Panel expansion is not normally a problem especially with brackets of thinner metal that can flex a little.

What can happen is that, if the glass panel is a tight fit in the frame, the glass can crack under the thermal strain. I have a panel which did just that. It's like crazy paving.

The panel stull works just fine because the silicone underneath is undamaged and the cracks seem to be still waterproof. 

[Crossy]

15 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

What can happen is that, if the glass panel is a tight fit in the frame, the glass can crack under the thermal strain.

 

Yeah, aluminium (23) vs glass (around 8 ) is a pretty big expansion differential. One assumes that it's taken up in the frame sealant (or not as your case seems to be). 

[Muhendis]

11 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Yeah, aluminium (23) vs glass (around 8 ) is a pretty big expansion differential. One assumes that it's taken up in the frame sealant (or not as your case seems to be). 

In case the OP is worrying It's important to understand this has very little to do with mounting the beasts and everything to do with manufacturing tolerances. 

I had some panels which were so poorly made that the ali strips were not making a good enough contact with the cells (series connections) and the higher resistance resulted in sufficient local heat to shatter the glass completely.

Very rare but immediately noticeable since the output goes down a wee bit. ????

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Muhendis