[RE-wrenches] Subject: Re: Best Ground Racking?

Jason Andrade jason at westcoastsustainables.com
Thu Feb 6 10:20:14 PST 2014


Racking:

I used Prosolar for a long time and then switched to Iron ridge, I am pretty
happy with it in all areas but the rails are pricy.

Things I like 
-It has minimal deflection when tightening, but you have to tighten the
Ubolts evenly.
-The new mid clamps have teeth that penetrate both the module and the
racking so you do not need weebs for module grounding.
-End caps for sealing the rails are cheap.
-It has slots like uni-rack that allows for a decent amount of adjustment.
-As for wire management, there are two types of stainless rail clips for
managing enphase size cable or attaching up to four pv wires on
parallel rail runs.
-When using central inverters I run all of my inverter to module cables in
emt-heyco stain reliefs to MC connectors this turns out extremely tidy  
-For the grounding I use a weeb grounding lug that sits in the top rail with
a 7/16 stainless bolt that allows for a strong connection.

Things that do make it tedious
there are a lot of stainless bolts, I use pentrox as a anti galling
compound, what do other people use?

when installing a micro inverter system you have to get all of your inverter
mounting bolts in place before installing the cabling, they have to be end
loaded, I would prefer and bolt similar to the mids that twists and locks
in.

If you would like a few pictures I can send them to you or you can see them
on our facebook page West Coast Sustainables


Jason

West Coast Sustainables
Jason Andrade
C-46# 974647
(530) 410-4745 Cell
(530) 241-7498 Office
Jason at westcoastsustainables.com

Watch This!

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Best Ground Racking? (Aaron Mandelkorn)
   2. Re: Best Ground Racking? (william at millersolar.com)
   3. Re: Best Ground Racking? (Kelly Larson)


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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 17:28:42 -0700
From: Aaron Mandelkorn <reosolar at gmail.com>
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Best Ground Racking?
Message-ID: <ED5186BE-1CBA-44E8-9DF3-887DF5D01BD1 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Connection through concrete and soon tubes. The horizontal main support tube
(4 x 4 square tube) makes wire management easy. It can easily hold wire
gutters, j boxes and conduit runs. Typically I will run the home runs in
free air and into a wire gutter mounted on the 4x4 horizontal tube.  Then
conduit down to the bos equipment mounted on a vertical support pole.   

Aaron


Aaron Mandelkorn
Owner/Solar Specialist
Renewable Energy Outfitters
719-221-5249
970-596-3744
www.reosolar.com
reosolar at gmail.com


> On Feb 4, 2014, at 4:45 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks, Aaron.  How are you handling wire  management and connection to
the ground?
> 
> Blessings,
> Kelly
> 
>> On Feb 4, 2014, at 2:41 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn wrote:
>> 
>> I like SnapNrack 200 Series as well as DPW Solar Multi Pole Mount.
>> 
>> Aaron Mandelkorn
>> Owner / Solar Specialist
>> Renewable Energy Outfitters
>> Box 65 Salida CO. 81201
>> 719-221-5249
>> 970-596-3744
>> reosolar at gmail.com
>> www.reosolar.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Feb 4, 2014, at 3:28 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> We are looking to install some 4KW ground mounted arrays.  What racking
are you using?  Best ground connection?  Wire management?  The shows have so
many choices, and I keep doing the same ol thing...
>>> 
>>> Blessings,
>>> Kelly
>>> 
>>> Kelly Larson
>>> Electrical Engineer
>>> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installation Professional
>>> IREC Certified Master Trainer
>>> CA Electrical Contractor# 868189
>>> SolarKelly.com
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 20:47:42 -0800
From: <william at millersolar.com>
To: "'RE-wrenches'" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Best Ground Racking?
Message-ID: <07a001cf222d$68315550$3893fff0$@millersolar.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Kelly:

 

Ground mount racking choice is determined on a case-by-case basis.  If the
ground is flat and area plentiful, we use ballasted on gravel (Dyno-Raxx).
If you need to seasonally adjust, we like the DPW MPM.  If the ground is
sloped other than gradually south, top of pole mounts may be your choice.
For flat ground, low tilt (grid-tied)  ?fence post? arrays like the DPW LGM
work well.  For high wind areas, consider the DPW TTRGM on piers spanned by
strut.

 

Lest anyone think I am the cheering section for DPW, I suggest you avoid the
DPW P6 or P8 ?Tilt Kit? assemblies.  The brackets are flimsy.  Also, avoid
DPW?s L-feet.  They are bent aluminum and come pre-stress cracked at no
extra cost.  For L-feet, use Unirac ?Serrated L-feet.?

 

It is refreshing to hear someone ask about wire management upfront.  All too
often this is an afterthought.  In the industry vacuum we have been
developing wire management systems on an ongoing basis.  Below is a link
that depicts some of our ideas.

 

http://www.millersolar.com/public_html/MillerSolar/practices/PV_wiring/_PV_W
iring2.html

 

The Code now requires wire shielding on ?readily accessible? PV which means
ground mount. Just managing the wire is not enough, you must shield it from
touch.   One option is to enclose the PV in chain link, which ramps up the
ugly factor (I don?t think three rail pasture fence or even barbed wire
complies). Once you fence the array you can dispense with shielding, but you
still don?t want the leads dangling in a year or two, so avoid any flavor of
plastic wire ties.  There have been studies proving they don?t last (US Navy
is one source).

 

We have looked at racking members with larger interior cross section (i.e.
Pro-Solar) with the intent of running AC and DC leads inside and we have
even mocked up a few, but fitting leads and the proprietary nuts into the
same channel has proven impractical.

 

Good luck.

 

William Miller

 

PS:  Speaking of racking systems, did anyone get the news that SnapNRack and
indeed the entire REC Residential juggernaut has been sold?  Read the rest
of this story

 

Wm

 

 

 


On Feb 4, 2014, at 4:45 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:

Thanks, Aaron.  How are you handling wire  management and connection to the
ground?


Blessings,

Kelly

 

On Feb 4, 2014, at 2:41 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn wrote:

 

I like SnapNrack 200 Series as well as DPW Solar Multi Pole Mount.

 

On Feb 4, 2014, at 3:28 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:

 

Hi,

 

We are looking to install some 4KW ground mounted arrays.  What racking are
you using?  Best ground connection?  Wire management?  The shows have so
many choices, and I keep doing the same ol thing...


Blessings,

Kelly

 

Kelly Larson

Electrical Engineer

NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installation Professional

IREC Certified Master Trainer
CA Electrical Contractor# 868189

SolarKelly.com <http://solarkelly.com/> 

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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 20:54:09 -0800
From: Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com>
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Best Ground Racking?
Message-ID: <139AA58F-F12F-47E8-9A94-67DA3AC2C333 at asis.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi Aaron,

Can you post a picture?  It is hard to envision that.

Blessings,
Kelly

On Feb 4, 2014, at 4:28 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn wrote:

> Connection through concrete and soon tubes. The horizontal main support
tube (4 x 4 square tube) makes wire management easy. It can easily hold wire
gutters, j boxes and conduit runs. Typically I will run the home runs in
free air and into a wire gutter mounted on the 4x4 horizontal tube.  Then
conduit down to the bos equipment mounted on a vertical support pole.   
> 
> Aaron
> 
> 
> Aaron Mandelkorn
> Owner/Solar Specialist
> Renewable Energy Outfitters
> 719-221-5249
> 970-596-3744
> www.reosolar.com
> reosolar at gmail.com
> 
> 
> On Feb 4, 2014, at 4:45 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks, Aaron.  How are you handling wire  management and connection to
the ground?
>> 
>> Blessings,
>> Kelly
>> 
>> On Feb 4, 2014, at 2:41 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn wrote:
>> 
>>> I like SnapNrack 200 Series as well as DPW Solar Multi Pole Mount.
>>> 
>>> Aaron Mandelkorn
>>> Owner / Solar Specialist
>>> Renewable Energy Outfitters
>>> Box 65 Salida CO. 81201
>>> 719-221-5249
>>> 970-596-3744
>>> reosolar at gmail.com
>>> www.reosolar.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Feb 4, 2014, at 3:28 PM, Kelly Larson <solarwrench at asis.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> We are looking to install some 4KW ground mounted arrays.  What racking
are you using?  Best ground connection?  Wire management?  The shows have so
many choices, and I keep doing the same ol thing...
>>>> 
>>>> Blessings,
>>>> Kelly
>>>> 
>>>> Kelly Larson
>>>> Electrical Engineer
>>>> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installation Professional
>>>> IREC Certified Master Trainer
>>>> CA Electrical Contractor# 868189
>>>> SolarKelly.com
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>>>> 
>>>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>>> 
>>>> Change email address & settings:
>>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>> 
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http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
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>>>> List rules & etiquette:
>>>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
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>>>> Check out participant bios:
>>>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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