Greetings all
Just awaiting the delivery of 6kw of panels that I'll be mounting on top of the (nearly) flat roof of the shed (barn) so I'm starting to think about mounts, especially being able to set a summer/winter inclination.
I was planning on making the basic tilt frames welded up from 1.5" square steel tube but all the commercial mounts seem to be extruded ali - is this just for convenience or is there some other factor such as heat expansion, differing materials etc coming into play here.
When the panels arrive I'll be able to see if their frames are pre-drilled (is that normal?) or require some special clip.
So far I think I'll have 3 rows (24 panels, each 1.65x1m) mounted on their side, so only requiring 2 rails, on the roof which is 14x6m. The back row I might stand vertically, not done the geometry to check on shading yet!!
I live in a high wind zone so I'd prefer the added strength of steel, I don't want to end up doing things twice due to missing some basic facts!!
Cheers