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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / DIY Solar Racking - product review
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offgrididaho
Member
# Posted: 16 Jun 2019 18:52
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Thought I would post quick review of solar racking kit we used for 6 panels. Everything I found looking around online (nothing available locally) seemed crazy price wise, thousands of dollars. I considered DIY with wood but island in Washington is not climate that's very kind to wood and we needed something that was going to be pretty burly as we get rather heavy winds.

So went with this company: https://www.doityourselfsolarracking.com

You buy their kit and then supply ~20' of 2 1/2" Sch40 pipe (we went galvy) and 6-8 12 gauge struts... everything else is included in the kit.

Total cost ended up being $900 but that included quite a few extras:
1) We did add two extra struts (as recommended in the instructions) to top and bottom of rack for more stiffness
2) We used 26" earth anchor screws on all four corners, connected to the panel with Dyneema cord and turnbuckles (to adjust tension) to help secure the rack more for high winds.

Did the build last month, really worked out very nicely. Instructions were good, all the parts were there, finished product feels pretty solid.

To be clear, I have nothing to do with this company, just an end consumer, but I was pretty happy with how it went all things considered.






























-- Bass

dprocopio
Member
# Posted: 21 Aug 2021 02:33
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Hello! This mount seems exactly what I am looking for, except the company is no longer in business. I think I see what is going on and can replicate it, except for the panel attachments. I see the spring nuts and the bolts, but I can't see how they attach. Does the bolt come down through the panel hole or does the spring nut go into the panel? Do you still like the mount?

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 21 Aug 2021 09:54
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The long thin metal sections are called unit strut and available many places. You could make your own anger brackets to hold the unit strut to the vertical posts.

I dont see the two sections of uni strut being strong enough to keep this from flopping around in a wind storm. Those two middle sections are the only thing keeping it from moving.

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