Mick Solar World welds their frame corners, but use a laser with high precision and very low heat. I have seen racks in Haiti welded instead of bolted to keep people from walking off with the entire rack. I would not recommend welding a module frame, Too risky and would probably void warranty. Of course you can not warranty a stolen module either! However welding a cross bar to the racking that locks the module in place may be a reasonable alternative because you could weld away from the frame. Use asbestos protection to keep harmful heat away from the module. That just might work, would be harder to replace, but harder to steal also.......although some thief would still find a way around it! Now all we need is a way to protect against drunk hunters shooting holes in the modules for target practice!
Bill On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Mick Abraham <m...@abrahamsolar.com> wrote: > Hello, we mounted some PV onesy modules as high as we could reach without a > man-lift, but an enterprising thief could reach just as high. The "side of > pole" mounts hold the bolt heads captive so I bought some aluminum > "breakaway" nuts. However the nuts have a big diameter which would not fit > inside the Kyocera PV frames. > > Has anyone tried spot welding the PV frames direct to the aluminum rails to > which they are mounted? Would this over stress the glass laminate or cause > other problems? I realize this would void the Kyo warranty but nothing voids > system performance like a stolen PV module. > > Happy Friday, > > Mick Abraham, Proprietor > www.abrahamsolar.com > > Voice: 970-731-4675 > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Options & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > -- Bill Hoffer PE NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™ Sunergy Engineering Services PLLC 2504 Columbia Ave NW East Wenatchee WA 98802-3941 suneng...@gmail.com (509)470-7762 Cell(509)679-6165
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