Vertical solar on wall - fixing with roof rails?

Nelbert

Hi guys,

I did a quick search but couldn't find anything on this.

I'm looking to do a winter focused install on gable of our house (I know I need pp).

I've seen dedicated wall mounts etc. but all seem geared towards having panel at near 45⁰ angle which is not my aim.

I'm thinking a 70+ degree angle to be really not far from vertical and wondering if roof rails with spacers on the bottom to kick it out is a viable solution?

Has anyone done anything similar?

It would essentially mean base load gets covered on bright winter days for me so a good value / payback proposition for me.

bullit_dodger

Something like this?

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s1zulhtiof0g3q6xm5twl/20230918_121620.jpg?rlkey=f1grr3kllf0lyl9dopzyxwvef&dl=0

Although mine above is setup for "summer mode". In winter I move them closer to the wall by shortening the structs, to the point of them being flush. The big thing to be aware of is that the panels with the large surface area are pretty big sails in a huge wind. Lots of forces on those struts. For me, I've mine in a pretty sheltered alcove as you can see, but if it was flush exposed to the wind on the side of a house, I'd be slow to go more than 10 deg away from the wall in winter (storms etc)

Nelbert

@bullit_dodger your shed setup is one of the things that got me thinking on this.

I was actually thinking about 75-80 degrees - so 10-15 off vertical.

I more so had the idea of horizontal roof type rails.... one at the top and one at the bottom with angled spacers with some heavy duty anchors to the gable wall.

I'd be going for fixed rather than adjustable angle as my thinking is this is a couple of panels to maximise winter (although looking at the online calc, 75 degrees would still give good summer output).... the shed roof will be for summer is the thinking.

House roof is not an option as we've dormer at rear which would be a bit south of E facing and front is a bit north of W (so might do something there in the future for late evening summer sun).

Redlim

Would you have any room above the dormers for some panels in landscape orientation? You only need 200mm clearance from the roof ridge to the panels to comply with the regs (500mm from the roof sides).

bullit_dodger

Here's the "winter mode" - although I actually have a set of struts which are "in between", probably should be switching to them now as a matter of fact.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/43ojfl2oufesqgibgy9y5/2022-10-17-13.54.13.jpg?rlkey=7fzf1zmo8uzr04m2c81n0mfpj&dl=0

Problem for me is that the fence casts a shadow on the panels come November, but then again, I didn't want a massive gust of wind catching them so that was the trade off I made.

If attaching on the side of a house, I'd go landscape instead of portrait which I did here. With landscape your panels could get the same angle without having to "stick out" from the wall as much so it'd reduce the leveage forces. For me not an option as I was limited in space and could not fit the two panels in landscape

Nelbert

I was thinking landscape for the same reason i.e. minimise the kick out at the bottom.

Could you send me the fixings you've used for winter mode to have a look at?

Nelbert

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127139#Comment_121127139

Dormer is level with ridge and one of the conditions was not to put solar on top (not sure if that condition is null and void with the more recent change in roof rules).

We pushed the planning limits on the dormer to give us a full height extra bedroom.