Panel Installation

We hired a couple of roofers to mount the rails. They did a fine job and the cost was reasonable.

The key when installing the rails is to insure that the L-feet are firmly lagged into the trusses.  Roofers are good at that, though one does end up having a few extra holes in the roof — nicely sealed, of course, or, in roofer-speak, 'gooped'. Chalk-lines helped keep things aligned.

The rails are mounted horizontally so that they will support the solar modules, which are 'portrait' oriented: the longest dimension of the module is vertical. The L-feet are no more than 48" apart.

The weather was starting to get cold. Because the wires from each Tigo Maximizer run between the panels (as shown in the previous post) we put adhesive cable tie holders at strategic locations on each module. It was so cold that evening that the adhesive wouldn't stick so I had to warm up the aluminum frame a bit and slap on the cable tie holder. It took a couple of hours.

A few days later my son and I started mounting panels.  Earlier in the project I was a bit reluctant to scramble around on the roof but the rails made getting around a lot easier. First thing was to slide the mounting bolts and clips into the track of each rail: 42 mid-clips and bolts, 12 end-clips and bolts, and six grounding straps over the rail splices.

We forgot the grounding wire clips! Slide off about half the clips and bolts, slide on the grounding wire clips and slide back on the other clips and bolts.  Ready.

We mounted the first panel. Almost. The end clips went on just fine and held the panel pretty firmly but we were anxious to get the other side of the panel secured. It would not be good if the panel came loose and slid down the roof. That's when we discovered that the 2-1/4" stainless bolts used to secure the mid-clips were too short! Big mistake by Wholesale Solar! We needed 2-1/2" bolts! So it was a mad dash off to the local hardware store and pick up a bag of 50 bolts.

Slide off 42 mid-clips and bolts, six end clips and bolts, the six grounding wire clips, and the six grounding straps.  Replace the mid-clip bolts and slide on 42 mid-clips and bolts, six end clips and bolts, and the six grounding wire clips.  Forgot the six grounding straps.  Slide, rinse, repeat.

We mounted the two panels immediately below the original panel, connecting the Tigo maximizer cables, and called it a day.

During the evening, as I was checking and double-checking everything, I realized that the new 2-1/2" bolts we had installed were galvanized, not stainless steel. This was not good — the galvanized hardware would have a galvanic reaction to the aluminum rails causing the metal to degrade. Sigh.