Been busy with building raised beds/planting, but found time to weld up a free standing tracking frame for a 8 panel array, for a fellow. I have built this type before so it goes pretty quick (already made my mistakes)....was just thinking since I have my equipment ...welders/chop saw/ fab table/ all set up, if someone has their panels and wants to copy my design.. PM me to set up time, and you can bring your panels over and your welcome to copy my design, will take about 10 straight hours to fab up...you supply the steel. limited time offer as this soon wont be here to copy, as it will be taken to another site .
base from old oilfield pipe (price was right I think).
This design describes roughly a 220-240 degree arc. I can supply you with steel dimensions, and places to buy if you don't have steel. Likely 400.00 dollars total, cheap considering what you would pay for a commercial one, and you can harvest power from sun up to sun down.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Wow, kudos 🙂
HopeImReady
"The thing about smart mother f*ckers, is that they sometimes sound like crazy mother f*ckers to dumb mother f*ckers." -Abraham .”
So.... I have built these driven by v belt pulley, by chain drive (better) but I am using a trailer jack as the actuator for this one. On sale at Princess auto for 44 dollars. It has 15 inches of travel and is rated for 5000 pounds, likely 4500 more pounds than I need 😀 I think I will use these if I build any more.The price is right
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
These panels are from the year 2001 And the panels were bought used so could have been 2, maybe 4 years old. so a reasonable quess is 17-18 year old panels. He got tired of having to climb the roof to sweep the snow off them, so this ground mount array will make keeping the snow off easy.
can only work on this in the evening, as its been to hot in the day. I think I will give these panels a load test after I get them hooked up, should be interesting to see how they are performing after 20 years (almost).
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
UPS came today, I got a new crimper for the MC connectors, if anyone is doing their own system and near by, you can borrow mine, saves you having to buy a crimper for a one off.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I have to have this delivered for Tuesday. Surprised no one was interested. well built with two axis of movement. Only 400.00 in steel roughly. I don't belive you could buy any thing comparable for less than 3Grand, maybe 4 ,Last Chance,its a long weekend, Pm me in the AM, and I can tell you were to get the steel, pick it up Friday and you can be at my place Saturday and we will knock one off Saturday (a long Saturday,Excluding mounting panels onto it) you can come back Sunday for doing that. ill provide the rod and welder/ cut off saws, You provide refreshments...Bavaria beer from Holland, or Johny walker black, or Ron Zacapa rum.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I have to have this delivered for Tuesday. Surprised no one was interested. well built with two axis of movement. Only 400.00 in steel roughly. I don't belive you could buy any thing comparable for less than 3Grand, maybe 4 ,Last Chance,its a long weekend, Pm me in the AM, and I can tell you were to get the steel, pick it up Friday and you can be at my place Saturday and we will knock one off Saturday (a long Saturday,Excluding mounting panels onto it) you can come back Sunday for doing that. ill provide the rod and welder/ cut off saws, You provide refreshments...Bavaria beer from Holland, or Johny walker black, or Ron Zacapa rum.
It's not the lack of interest!!! If only I was around...
Its not likely my last build, if I do another I will give you a heads up with a pm.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Thank you for your generousity. This is something that I may have been interested in had time been in more abundance than at present. We have a bank of 10 panels that I manually change the angle on twice/year. Winter setting and summer setting. But flexibility, that would be a bonus.
At present our panels are disconnected awaiting our new meter from good ole Fortis on our new location.
Wilderness Survival and Bushcraft courses in Alberta
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It's not the lack of interest!!! If only I was around...
Ok HP here is notice... I will be building another ground mount, movable, adjustable array. I need another for my place. I want to say I will be building next year, but the way things are looking, it will be the year after. Size will be for 1 to 1.5 kw (roughly) so you have one year, maybe two to buy some panels and if your interested you can come over and we will weld up two of them, one for you, one for me. Can mount your panels on and wire them up at the same time. Build time will be a little longer than a single weekend as I am moving a hell of a lot slower than in 2016.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Well, if I’m around and not on a job, you can count me in. If not to build myself one, to learn about the build at the least.
Long time since I was on! sorry I've been off grid for while.... Property was devastated by hail and we've been rebuilding and dealing with insurance for the things that are covered. I would love to see your set up as I want to set something up here as well-larger. My panels survived on the barn due to their angle at the time of the storm but I only use those for light and the chicken door.
Hi Dakota,
Sorry to hear about the hail storm. Any lessons learned you can share? What went right/wrong. Things you would do differently.
Per scrounger, the remedy to common occurrences is most welcome, another item is, given the fact we get hail, snow buildup, freezing rain....assuming one has some land and not just a small city or suburban lot, should one not put the panels on the ground? Easier to Perhaps rotate twice a year for optimal angles, clean off dirt and all the white stuff we get in Canada, maintain any connections and protect on temp basis from hail....?
Also, In an emergency situation or simple ageing... it’s even more important that maintenance be easier to do, less risk of falling, or any other stress and work due to panels being up on a roof. Even repairs to a roof will be cheaper and easier to effect.
Long time since I was on! sorry I've been off grid for while.... Property was devastated by hail and we've been rebuilding and dealing with insurance for the things that are covered. I would love to see your set up as I want to set something up here as well-larger. My panels survived on the barn due to their angle at the time of the storm but I only use those for light and the chicken door.
Got a email to check the board as someone was looking for me...I see I got a message waiting in my pm emails and this post from you Dakota, your welcome to come up, I will give you a pm with contact info.
As for Clarence , you hit the nail on the head, if your "off grid" don't put the damn things on the roof, where you see them on the roof that is 95% of the time a grid tie set up, where it doesnt matter if it takes a week or two for the snow to melt off. You do not want to be climbing a ladder at -25 trying to clear your panels of snow, sometimes day after day, yes you can get the old lady to do it for a few years, but even she will tell you to go pound it after a while.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.