The Extra Panels installed and doing their bit ...

@PaulF007, I like your fasteners, is that m8 threaded rod with oversize washers? Like they say "n Boer maak n plan" .

Just now, Jaco de Jongh said:

@PaulF007, I like your fasteners, is that m8 threaded rod with oversize washers? Like they say "n Boer maak n plan" .

Like I said to you earlier , this is what a shoestring installation looks like... I used some galvanized brackets , cut to size and drilled , between the panels to "hold them down"  I don't know what their previous use were but they are now solar brackets .

The rest was pulled with m8 Threaded rods and split washers on the bottom. When I do a cleanup I will check if they are still locked. In time the rods will rust and those nuts will go nowhere. ..

15 minutes ago, PaulF007 said:

galvanized brackets

The difference in galvanic index between zinc and aluminium is even worse than between mild steel and aluminium. Apparently that means rust... despite the galvanizing. So I heard. Stick some rubber between the bracket and the panel so there is no electrical contact :-)

That's if you're worried about rust. In some places in this country you really don't have to be.

Installation looks great! I have a similar DIY frame, but I enclose the whole panels in angle iron, then welded more over the edges to make them un removable (hopefully)

2 hours ago, plonkster said:

That's if you're worried about rust. In some places in this country you really don't have to be.

The number of places increase by the day. 

5 hours ago, plonkster said:

The difference in galvanic index between zinc and aluminium is even worse than between mild steel and aluminium. Apparently that means rust... despite the galvanizing. So I heard. Stick some rubber between the bracket and the panel so there is no electrical contact :-)

That's if you're worried about rust. In some places in this country you really don't have to be.

Good idea I didn't know that galvanised also make part of this, one more thing to do next time ... 

@PaulF007, how's your farm solar system doing?

Hozid no sofar so good. It does help that it is summer and we have some extra sunlight trough the day and the panels are holding up well even when it is very overcast.

 

5 minutes ago, PaulF007 said:

Hozid no sofar so good. It does help that it is summer and we have some extra sunlight trough the day and the panels are holding up well even when it is very overcast.

 

nice  Always good to know that the systems we invest in returns good "dividends"

LOL yes, in my case not being reliant on Eskom and monthly levies of R 2350 per month makes for some good savings.. If I had to account for the deposit that needed to be paid , just to switch on the power , I have saved close to R 50k sofar. .

 

\]

On 2016/08/20 at 10:49 AM, PaulF007 said:

Finally the setup is sort of Presentable. I still have a couple of things to sort out but every thing is running well so far and no smoke coming out anywhere. With a bit of luck we will be moving in next week so then we will only be able to put the system through its paces.

 

Thank you @The Terrible Triplett and @edmundp for all the time spend and guidance given with this in stall!!

FYI 

http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=52153&sid=47409 

Just for fun

 

Hey Paul, 

 

would you mind sharing some updated picks of your system?

2 hours ago, SilverNodashi said:

Hey Paul, 

 

would you mind sharing some updated picks of your system?

Hey apart from the dust on every thing not much has changed in the batt room.  But there is a upgrade coming soon. I just need to get all the spares together. The home gone through quite a few changes but I guess it does not have much to do with the solar system.
Will take some picks once I start with the upgrade.

 

Ps. not a system upgrade just a wire-ring upgrade there is some stuff that has bugged me from the start and need to sort it soon. 

Oh no wait I did change something , I finally managed to sort some of my system grounding. 

 

 

 

19 hours ago, PaulF007 said:

Oh no wait I did change something , I finally managed to sort some of my system grounding. 

 

 

 

At what impedance does the earth leakage trip? 

As I said before , the solar system has been running for over a year untouched , I have done some minor changes but most of that has been software related. I have however spent quite a bit of time on home automation and flip it is a grate deal of fun. Still a work in progress but here is a short video of the interface.

 

Edited August 8, 20188 yr by PaulF007

Wow Paul. That looks great.

What hardware do you use to drive each device... some links to the suppliers would be great?  Are you using Windows or Pi?

Thanks

Mark

Hozid Mark , 

The backbone of the System is Openhab and Node Red running on MQTT. The Hardware used is Arduino , ESP8866 with the R-Pi as the main server. 

Most of it was put together by myself. I also have a few SonOff switches running but I am moving away from them apart from using them in a portable setting ( Like having them on a extension). 

I also had to redo the whole houses wiring but it had to be done anyway as it was in tatters when I bought the place.

Here is the link to some picks

 

The garage was done recently and I decided to setup its own system that communicates with the house.  It is running on a Orange Pi Zero (The cheapest board that I could get at the time) but it is only running Node Red and a MQTT server.
 

O ja suppliers has been a mix of different places , I would buy from who ever had the best prices at the time , 

I bought a fair amount of shares of these sites 

https://www.pishop.co.za
https://www.robotics.org.za/
https://www.diyelectronics.co.za/

Just waiting for the certificates but sofar they have not sent it to me