[RE-wrenches] Seasonal Adjusters

[R. Walters]

On Aug 15, 2009, at 6:49 PM, jay peltz wrote:

> I don't have a photo, but have seen a pole mount, in the ground,  
> run up the side of the building, supported by the building by a  
> bracket,  which can mount a tracking or non tracking pole mount.

> jay
>


We've done mounts like this before, when the roof was too sketchy to  
mount to, or an off grid system with a roof not facing close enough  
to south. It works pretty well: no penetrations or loading on the  
roof, still allows one bolt  tilt adjust,  azimuth to due south  
regardless of building orientation, etc.
We normally would sit the pole in concrete, and then attach it with  
unistrut to the wall in a couple of spots. The unistrut would be long  
enough to catch 2 or 3 wall studs, and then attach to the pipe with   
a 6" unistrut  clamp.
As better roof mounting products have become available, we have been  
moving away from this method. Also, Grid tie just isn't near as  
critical for panel orientation, where as a small off-grid system in  
the winter really needs to be tilted to at least 30 deg, and within  
20 deg of south to work right.
Funny teaching us old off gridders to quit tilting, etc. with grid  
tie. Bill Brooks had some humorous examples of off grid sensibility  
applied in very ugly fashion to grid tie systems. At some point, I  
think NABCEP should consider separate certifications, as Off grid and  
grid tie have such different design requirements.

Ray Walters