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<DIV>John,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> It's hard to imagine how the bolt
could work it's way out with all that weight on it but obviously it
did. I have ~40-50 DPW TPMs in the field (since late '90s) and have
not had a failure of any kind other than snow and that was pretty easily
repairable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> I just finished installing 2, 16
SW270's TPMs and if you don't already know, they are now being shipped
with a jamnut. Maybe jamnut with loctite is the way.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bill</DIV>
<DIV>Feather River Solar Electric<BR>4291 Nelson St.<BR>Taylorsville, CA
95983<BR>530.284.7849 / 6544 fax</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=cvsolar@aol.com href="mailto:cvsolar@aol.com">john</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, April 22, 2014 6:52
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [RE-wrenches] wrenches]
Solar World shattered module</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial color=black size=2>Dave,
<DIV> I just had my first ever failure of a DPW TPM-8 with 8
SolarWorld 260's on it. I installed it late last fall and the customer
called last week to say that it is on the ground. It turned out that the
nut on the main pivot bolt worked its way off, the bolt then worked its way
out of one of the ears and then the other ear bent 90 degrees and let the bolt
slide out. The whole rack then fell to the ground snapping the adjusting
bar off. The rack landed face down and the corner panel broke from
hitting the ground first and two more both hit the concrete base and broke.
The other five panels were OK and the rack parts are all OK except for
the adjusting arm and the cap. The main bolt holes in the strong-back
are a little roughed up. We had torqued the main bolt when we
installed it and then the customer adjusted it to spring angle a few weeks
ago. He said he didn't touch the main bolt. The only thing we
noticed on these current racks was the appearance of never-seize on the main
bolt. I would suggest that everyone in windy areas should check the bolt
torque often. I have been told by notable mechanical engineers that the
only way to assure that the nut does not loosen is to use lock-tite. We used
nyloks on all the racks we built in 2009 - 2011. We started buying DPW
racks again when we discovered that shipping was cheaper than renting space
for a rack shop.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>PS Dave, Plan on coming to SolarFest 2014. It's the
20th anniversary year and we are going to celebrate the good old days of
solar. (as well as the latest and greatest. I still remember when I was
the Newbee. Any other wrenches, I can get you free tickets (worth $75) contact
me off-list.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>John Blittersdorf</DIV>
<DIV>Central Vermont Solar & Wind.</DIV>
<DIV>email CVSOLAR@AOL.COM</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica">-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: Dave Palumbo <dave@independentpowerllc.com><BR>To:
'RE-wrenches' <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><BR>Sent: Mon, Apr 21,
2014 6:32 pm<BR>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Solar World shattered
module<BR><BR>
<DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_4e4456d4-a49b-4517-a75e-b586ef9a410f>
<DIV class=aolReplacedBody lang=EN-US vlink="purple" link="blue">
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>Wrenches,</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>I have a customer with one SW 230 poly V2.0 frame (top
mount) module that has shattered glass. It is on a DPW TPM10 pole mount. She
noticed it the other day and does not think that it was hit by anything. I
agree that is unlikely based on the site conditions.</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>Other than by a falling tree, thrown rock, or twisted
frame – is there another way that glass shatters on a 65 degree tilted pole
mount like this? We installed the system 2 years ago. The module was on
the lower corner of the array. </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 38.8pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN>Is it likely that this modules frame was being pressured
by the module(s) above it? TPM has two rows of 5 modules in landscape, so this
bottom module has 4 modules mounted above it. Again it is a top mounted DPW
pole array.</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 38.8pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN>Or, is there another way that glass shatters on this type
of module?</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>I have not visited the site yet, just received the phone
call today.</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>David Palumbo</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>Independent Power LLC </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>462 Solar Way Drive</DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>Hyde Park, VT 05655<B></B></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal>(802) 888-7194 </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=AOLMsgPart_3_4e4456d4-a49b-4517-a75e-b586ef9a410f
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