Post a picture you took today.
- Thread starter tixer
- Start date
germansheperd
New member
Those mountains are real cool
Dumb local codes, here I see them on footings and clean/crushed stone under them.
tixer
Lincoln Evangelist
Looks like you've got yourself a new carport, too.
Kudos on your solar rig. Please keep us posted on your results. I love this stuff, and I'm glad to see the price has gotten as low as it has.
HOTLNC
LOD Officer
Long Sad Story
Yeah, that's the way it's done around here. But it wasn't the local codes. We live out on the boonies.
The story is: Back in April we contracted with a company that had great references and were in the solar business over 30 years. But a month later the owner, Donald, started having financial and health problems (we did not know this). He hired a third party contractor to install a beam type foundation for the solar rack. But they never done solar before and the "boss" was in hospital. Hence they dug trenches for the 11 risers for the rack. They must have used a beer can for a compass, as they were aimed too far east by over 20 degrees. They poured the concrete in the trenches. We now had 11 each 18 inch by 11 foot "turds" in the ground. After a few months of phone calls, another third party contractor came out and told us the "turds" were aimed wrong and they were going to remove them. They were then going to drill pier holes for an IronRidge Solar rack. An hour later, they found out a little skid steer tractor isn't going to budge one these heavy turds. So they drilled eight pier holes around and between the turds. IronRidge is a real company. I got on line and using their online tool, designed a solar rack system. Based on the 36 panels that the first company showed in their contract, I would need 10 pier holes. They would be spaced 12.5 feet apart east-west and 7.5 feet apart north-south. Having to miss the turds, the pier holes that were drilled were too shallow and were not spaced properly. I asked if they were to Ironridge specifications and they said yes. Yeah Right. They were not even in line. After consulting with IronRidge, there was no way their system would even fit the current pier holes, even if two more were drilled correctly. NOW I find out about the financial and health problems with my buddy Donald. I also found out he lied and used certification and references from an former company he worked for in Florida. These are the guys that had the certification, insurance and experience. There was no way we were going to continue using this first company, so I fired him. By this time he had most of our money. Since they did "work" on the project, I have no legal way to charge them with theft. The only thing I could do was sue them in civil court.
We contacted a construction company and asked them for a quote to pull the turds and fill the useless pier holes. Their quote was about half of what we already spent with my buddy Donald. Well that ain't gonna work. We might as well throw that much money at an lawyer and hit the court system. So being an engineer that can do anything but wield the crack of dawn and put wheels on a carriage return, I decided to do the solar install myself. So I went out and designed a solar system using modern panels and electronics, all on top of a solar rack system from IronRidge. Using a 72 cell solar panel that will do 335 watt, I would need 32 panels. This would give me a yearly average energy usage of zero, so long as I have 5.5 hours of sun per day. The IronRidge rack would need ten pier holes. Pier holes ain't gonna work, because the turds are in the way. So, we called the contractor who did the concrete work on our house. Pulling the turds is too expensive. So he suggested pouring a 10 foot by 50 foot by 1 foot concrete slab on top of the turds. The concrete would weigh about 44 tons and far exceed the wind loading specifications on the rack. I modified the IronRidge design to cut the vertical legs down to "above ground" lengths and wielded them to steel pads bolted to the concrete.
And that is what we are doing.
Yeah, that's the way it's done around here. But it wasn't the local codes. We live out on the boonies.
The story is: Back in April we contracted with a company that had great references and were in the solar business over 30 years. But a month later the owner, Donald, started having financial and health problems (we did not know this). He hired a third party contractor to install a beam type foundation for the solar rack. But they never done solar before and the "boss" was in hospital. Hence they dug trenches for the 11 risers for the rack. They must have used a beer can for a compass, as they were aimed too far east by over 20 degrees. They poured the concrete in the trenches. We now had 11 each 18 inch by 11 foot "turds" in the ground. After a few months of phone calls, another third party contractor came out and told us the "turds" were aimed wrong and they were going to remove them. They were then going to drill pier holes for an IronRidge Solar rack. An hour later, they found out a little skid steer tractor isn't going to budge one these heavy turds. So they drilled eight pier holes around and between the turds. IronRidge is a real company. I got on line and using their online tool, designed a solar rack system. Based on the 36 panels that the first company showed in their contract, I would need 10 pier holes. They would be spaced 12.5 feet apart east-west and 7.5 feet apart north-south. Having to miss the turds, the pier holes that were drilled were too shallow and were not spaced properly. I asked if they were to Ironridge specifications and they said yes. Yeah Right. They were not even in line. After consulting with IronRidge, there was no way their system would even fit the current pier holes, even if two more were drilled correctly. NOW I find out about the financial and health problems with my buddy Donald. I also found out he lied and used certification and references from an former company he worked for in Florida. These are the guys that had the certification, insurance and experience. There was no way we were going to continue using this first company, so I fired him. By this time he had most of our money. Since they did "work" on the project, I have no legal way to charge them with theft. The only thing I could do was sue them in civil court.
We contacted a construction company and asked them for a quote to pull the turds and fill the useless pier holes. Their quote was about half of what we already spent with my buddy Donald. Well that ain't gonna work. We might as well throw that much money at an lawyer and hit the court system. So being an engineer that can do anything but wield the crack of dawn and put wheels on a carriage return, I decided to do the solar install myself. So I went out and designed a solar system using modern panels and electronics, all on top of a solar rack system from IronRidge. Using a 72 cell solar panel that will do 335 watt, I would need 32 panels. This would give me a yearly average energy usage of zero, so long as I have 5.5 hours of sun per day. The IronRidge rack would need ten pier holes. Pier holes ain't gonna work, because the turds are in the way. So, we called the contractor who did the concrete work on our house. Pulling the turds is too expensive. So he suggested pouring a 10 foot by 50 foot by 1 foot concrete slab on top of the turds. The concrete would weigh about 44 tons and far exceed the wind loading specifications on the rack. I modified the IronRidge design to cut the vertical legs down to "above ground" lengths and wielded them to steel pads bolted to the concrete.
And that is what we are doing.
tixer
Lincoln Evangelist
Wow. what a story. It seems that these last few years in particular, a large percentage of contractors are near worthless. Every day, I find that I have to "do it myself" to do things right.
At least you've got an lead engineer you trust now, and a really clean, finished product, installed to spec.
I might have to research your "micro-inverters." I haven't heard of that approach.
At least you've got an lead engineer you trust now, and a really clean, finished product, installed to spec.
I might have to research your "micro-inverters." I haven't heard of that approach.
HOTLNC
LOD Officer
I'm using an Enphase IQ 6+ micro inverter. Their address is enphase.com. You daisy chain the micro inverters together at the 220VAC outputs. Each panel feeds one inverter. Due to wire loading, you can only connect together 13 IQ6's. So I'm running two 11 panel strings and one 10 panel string.
HOTLNC
LOD Officer
All Wiried Up -- The panels at any Rate
The micro inverters are in place. The two panel connections are connected to each inverter. The three trunk lines (220VAC) are connected. Two lines have 11 inverters and one has 10 inverters. Now I need to dress the wires.
The inverter has a lamp that shows electrical status. The light flashes GREEN three times to show it is receiving power from the panel. Then it flashes RED to show the AC power is not on.
This system will only operate if there are batteries present (to be charged or used) or there is AC power to the system. If AC power is applied and the panels are generating power, they must shut down within three seconds or so to protect linemen/utility equipment.
But I still had to increase my homeowner's liability insurance from 300K to 500K to meet a power supplier requirement.
The micro inverters are in place. The two panel connections are connected to each inverter. The three trunk lines (220VAC) are connected. Two lines have 11 inverters and one has 10 inverters. Now I need to dress the wires.
The inverter has a lamp that shows electrical status. The light flashes GREEN three times to show it is receiving power from the panel. Then it flashes RED to show the AC power is not on.
This system will only operate if there are batteries present (to be charged or used) or there is AC power to the system. If AC power is applied and the panels are generating power, they must shut down within three seconds or so to protect linemen/utility equipment.
But I still had to increase my homeowner's liability insurance from 300K to 500K to meet a power supplier requirement.
Attachments
tixer
Lincoln Evangelist
Jerry,
I've looked up your microinverters. Very interesting. Are you running their "AC Battery" also? or just going grid-tied? My mind is struggling to grasp an "AC" Battery. I want to know what kind of wizardry is going on inside that box..
Good to see that 'ol Leroy Blue is still around to do the heavy lifting.
I've looked up your microinverters. Very interesting. Are you running their "AC Battery" also? or just going grid-tied? My mind is struggling to grasp an "AC" Battery. I want to know what kind of wizardry is going on inside that box..
Good to see that 'ol Leroy Blue is still around to do the heavy lifting.
