Panel mounting questions

[JonboyP]

Mounting questions:

My panels will be landscape to fit my roof shape. Can I run the rails ‘landscape’ too or do I have to put the rails running vertically using 90-degree brackets on the hooks? If so, why is that?

Spacing for roof hooks – is there a defined standard? Does it depend on which mounting system you use? What would people recommend? My panels are 1722 x 1134mm.

Clamping point seems to be ¼ distance from each end of the long edge, seems sensible to me – have I got that right?

Rails seem to come in standard lengths, I assume you can just cut them down with a hacksaw to the required length so as not to leave any excesses on show?

I know to keep at least 300mm from the edges, and max height above roof surface is 200mm. Anything else I need to be wary of?

Getting the last cable through the roof and into the loft so I can run it down to where the hybrid inverter will be – any tips on this?

Thanks
Jon

 

[binky]

Mounting questions:

My panels will be landscape to fit my roof shape. Can I run the rails ‘landscape’ too or do I have to put the rails running vertically using 90-degree brackets on the hooks? If so, why is that?

Spacing for roof hooks – is there a defined standard? Does it depend on which mounting system you use? What would people recommend? My panels are 1722 x 1134mm.

Clamping point seems to be ¼ distance from each end of the long edge, seems sensible to me – have I got that right?

Rails seem to come in standard lengths, I assume you can just cut them down with a hacksaw to the required length so as not to leave any excesses on show?

I know to keep at least 300mm from the edges, and max height above roof surface is 200mm. Anything else I need to be wary of?

Getting the last cable through the roof and into the loft so I can run it down to where the hybrid inverter will be – any tips on this?

Thanks
Jon

At the risk of sounding rude, if you are asking these questions, you don't know what you are doing. If you are determined to do the installation yourself, please do a lot more research, and come back with any outstanding issues that are bothering you. You need to assess your roof for wind exposure and that is affected by elevation. Frame manufactures offer online design tools to help. What isn't discssed much is the screws which fix it all to your roof. Go do some serious reading and come back to me. I will answer your questions then. NB also check out clamping zones on panels.

 

[JonboyP]

Didn't sound rude at all, and you are correct, I know very little about the specifics which is why I am here.

I have started researching elsewhere also, for example I have found some helpful documentation on the Renusol site and can now just about visualise how the mounting going to work and what the various components are called and which one ones I will need.

The manufacturer specs and data sheet for my panels makes no mention of no-clamp zones but I will look into this further.

Thank you kindly.

 

[binky]

Didn't sound rude at all, and you are correct, I know very little about the specifics which is why I am here.

I have started researching elsewhere also, for example I have found some helpful documentation on the Renusol site and can now just about visualise how the mounting going to work and what the various components are called and which one ones I will need.

The manufacturer specs and data sheet for my panels makes no mention of no-clamp zones but I will look into this further.

Thank you kindly.

Good, schletter publish installation guides too. You need to look at max unsupoorted span of the rails (around 1.4m max) and the spacing of your rafters, normally around 600mm, to you need a roof hook every 1.2m to support the rail correctly - that can vary depending on the rail you buy and the size it is. Most rails allow an overhang of around 400mm on the ends, as it is rare to get the roof hooks / rafters /panels to match up on the ends. If in doubt put an extra roof hook in and have a bit of rail on show from under the panels.

If you look at the panel data sheet it normally shows clamping zones, normally around 300mm form the ends of the panels on the sides. Some panels can be clamped on the ends, but not all.

Screws, you want at least 2off mushroom heads, ideally stainless, per roof hook. Whoever you buy the frame from should have suitable screws.