[RE-wrenches] Spot welding PV's to rails for theft prevention: bad idea?

[Bill Hoffer]

Mick

Solar World welds their frame corners, but use a laser with high precision
and very low heat.  I have seen racks in Haiti welded instead of bolted to
keep people from walking off with the entire rack.  I would not recommend
welding a module frame, Too risky and would probably void warranty.  Of
course you can not warranty a stolen module either!  However welding a cross
bar to the racking that locks the module in place may be a reasonable
alternative because you could weld away from the frame.  Use asbestos
protection to keep harmful heat away from the module.  That just might work,
would be harder to replace, but harder to steal also.......although some
thief would still find a way around it!  Now all we need is a way to protect
against drunk hunters shooting holes in the modules for target practice!

Bill

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Mick Abraham <mick at abrahamsolar.com> wrote:

> Hello, we mounted some PV onesy modules as high as we could reach without a
> man-lift, but an enterprising thief could reach just as high. The "side of
> pole" mounts hold the bolt heads captive so I bought some aluminum
> "breakaway" nuts. However the nuts have a big diameter which would not fit
> inside the Kyocera PV frames.
>
> Has anyone tried spot welding the PV frames direct to the aluminum rails to
> which they are mounted? Would this over stress the glass laminate or cause
> other problems? I realize this would void the Kyo warranty but nothing voids
> system performance like a stolen PV module.
>
> Happy Friday,
>
> Mick Abraham, Proprietor
> www.abrahamsolar.com
>
> Voice: 970-731-4675
>
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-- 
Bill Hoffer PE
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™
Sunergy Engineering Services PLLC
2504 Columbia Ave NW
East Wenatchee WA 98802-3941
SunEngSer at gmail.com (509)470-7762
Cell(509)679-6165
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