[RE-wrenches] Solar World Wind Damage

[Peter Giroux]

Ray

  We use a lot of SW, lost our first system this last year on a ballasted 
roof mount during a hurricane.  Good Solar World contact below, if he is 
unable to help he should be able to point you in the right direction. 
Patience.

Mark Magallanes

Account Development Representative

Solar World Americas

Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

Office: 503.693.5204



thx

peter



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Walters" <ray at solarray.com>
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 5:30 PM
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Solar World Wind Damage


> Greetings All;
>
> I just had the dreaded call from one of my higher profile commercial 
> clients: a remote radio repeater station had modules ripped off the frame 
> by high winds.
> Two  SW285s were damaged.  The wind was strong enough to rip right through 
> the aluminum side rails.  We had used the proper stainless 1/4" bolt 
> hardware with washers on the inside, etc.  All the hardware was still 
> tight, it just tore the aluminum past the washers.  This is not a top down 
> clamp system, but uses bolts through the mounting holes on the back of the 
> module.  This was all on a DP&W rack with high wind option.
> In 20 years in business, I've never seen that happen.  Is there a contact 
> at Solar World?  I'm not getting through on the tech support line I have.
> First, I need to know what the wind rating is on the modules blowing from 
> the back side, and
> Second, a suggested fix for the remaining modules.
> One module was completely ripped from the frame and thrown 30 yds (total 
> destruction), a 2nd one has cracks in the Aluminum, but has not let go 
> yet.  I was thinking of adding some angle aluminum on the inside to beef 
> it up.  IMHO, the frames are pretty thin aluminum compared to older 
> modules.  I'll share some pics when available.
>
> As always thanks in advance for your comments,
>
> -- 
> R.Ray Walters
> CTO, Solarray, Inc
> Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
> Licensed Master Electrician
> Solar Design Engineer
> 303 505-8760
>
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