[RE-wrenches] Galvanic compatibility of commonly used solar materials

Darryl Thayer daryl_solar at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 1 09:06:16 PST 2009


hi 
i have seen fast corrosion of copper on galvanized, it also seems as if once the galvanized is gone the steel underneath rusts very fast.  I have had good stability of galvanized on aluminum (or anodized aluminum.  


--- On Mon, 1/26/09, August Goers <august at luminalt.com> wrote:

> From: August Goers <august at luminalt.com>
> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Galvanic compatibility of commonly used solar materials
> To: "'RE-wrenches'" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Date: Monday, January 26, 2009, 6:00 PM
> Hi Wrenches,
> 
> I'm wondering what types of experiences you folks have
> with galvanic
> corrosion. As we all know, racking and ground systems
> commonly use copper,
> aluminum, steel, etc. which may or may not be compatible
> with each other.
> There's the theory:
> http://www.engineersedge.com/galvanic_capatability.htm
> and then there's real life experience.
> 
> I have first hand experience with aluminum lay in lugs used
> to bond modules
> corroding and turning to powder. We all know to use tin
> coated copper lugs
> for module and racking grounding. However, I see bare
> copper ground wires
> run over all sorts of different metals and I wonder what
> issues might pop up
> in the long haul. 
> 
> How well does bare copper hold up when it is touching
> anodized aluminum?
> What about copper and hot dipped strut? How do you run bare
> ground wire when
> you're connecting multiple arrays separated from each
> other? Has anyone seen
> issues arising between steel and aluminum racking parts?
> 
> I'm looking forward to seeing what types of field
> experiences you have seen.
> 
> Best,
> 
> August
> 
> 
> 
> August Goers
> 
> 
> Luminalt Energy Corporation
> O:  415.564.7652
> M:  415.559.1525
> F:   650.244.9167
> www.luminalt.com
> august at luminalt.com
> 
> 
> 
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