[RE-wrenches] Enphase J-box brackets

[William Miller]

Jason:

How do you use 3/8" hardware to attach a bell box to a module mounting 
rail?  Could you share a picture of your typical practice?

The standard bell box has small, flimsy tabs to be installed on opposite 
corners of the box.  Only one of these tabs would line up with the slot in 
the rail and the tab is too small to drill a 3/8" diameter hole.  (We have 
drilled a hole in the back of these boxes and used hardware with neoprene 
washers, but this takes up valuable volume inside the box and is generally 
not a preferred method.  More importantly, this would not allow the box to 
be mounted across the end of the rail, a most advantageous position.)

You may not be aware that the brackets depicted have holes to allow 8/32 
machine screws in each of the 4 corners of the back of the bell box, making 
a very secure connection.  The bracket allows mounting a box across the end 
of the rail opens many possibilities for conduit routing.  A lot of thought 
went into the design of these brackets and it is too bad they are no longer 
made.  Do you have any spares you did not use?

William Miller


At 07:29 AM 12/18/2011, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01CCBD99.DAC6A840"
>
>Why not just use 3/8" hardware in the rail channel to attach the junction 
>box? Especially if your AHJ allows you to bury the junction box under a 
>module, this works and looks great. Otherwise, just extend the rail 
>outside the last module and attach the box there. I never saw the point of 
>the bracket.
>
>Jason Szumlanski
>Fafco Solar
>
>
>From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org 
>[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of JRQ
>Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 1:21 PM
>To: RE-wrenches
>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase J-box brackets
>
>William,
>
>I actually prefer to use Unirac L-brackets for mounting J-boxes. Sometimes 
>I'll use the Enphase one because it comes with the Enphase whip (and 
>therefore I save paying $2.75 on an extra L-bracket). However, I find the 
>L-brackets to be sturdier and less visible.
>
>Jeffrey Quackenbush
>NABCEP-certified PV installer
>Ninja Solar
>
>
>From: William Miller <william at millersolar.com>
>To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 11:33 PM
>Subject: [RE-wrenches] Enphase J-box brackets
>
>Friends:
>
>Enphase has changed the design of the brackets they provide to support a 
>j-box.  This is a problem because the new ones are inferior for these reasons:
>1. They do not have a hole adjacent to the back of a mounted box (to the 
>best of our knowledge).  This hole allows for the use of the back hub in a 
>standard "bell" box.
>2. They can not be mounted offset (to see the benefits and application 
>browse to:
>http://millersolar.com/MillerSolar/practices/Technical_Procedures/micro-inverter_wiring/_micro-inverter-wiring.html
>3. They do not accommodate one and two gang bell boxes.
>
>I'd like to buy a quantity of these brackets.  A jpg depiction is 
>attached.  Does anyone have surplus?
>
>Does anyone else miss these enough to write Enphase and ask that they be 
>reinstated into the catalog?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>William Miller
>
>
>Miller Solar
>Voice :805-438-5600
>email: <mailto:william at millersolar.com>william at millersolar.com
>http://millersolar.com
>License No. C-10-773985
>
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Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: william at millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985
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