William, The rack in your photo appears to support modules that are not properly sized for that particular DPW unit. They appear to be fastened to the rack at their third points rather than their quarter points. I've never seen that before. All the modules I've seen have been predrilled near their quarter points and the manufacturer's instructions specify mounting dimensions. If the rack used improperly, I feel it is unfair to DPW to add your link without an explanation.
Dick Ratico Solarwind Electric --- You wrote: http://millersolar.com/MillerSolar/case_studies/Wind_damage/_wind_damage.html Miller Solar > On Apr 22, 2014, at 6:52 PM, john <cvso...@aol.com> wrote: > > Dave, > I just had my first ever failure of a DPW TPM-8 with 8 SolarWorld 260's on it. I installed it late last fall and the customer called last week to say that it is on the ground. It turned out that the nut on the main pivot bolt worked its way off, the bolt then worked its way out of one of the ears and then the other ear bent 90 degrees and let the bolt slide out. The whole rack then fell to the ground snapping the adjusting bar off. The rack landed face down and the corner panel broke from hitting the ground first and two more both hit the concrete base and broke. The other five panels were OK and the rack parts are all OK except for the adjusting arm and the cap. The main bolt holes in the strong-back are a little roughed up. We had torqued the main bolt when we installed it and then the customer adjusted it to spring angle a few weeks ago. He said he didn't touch the main bolt. The only thing we noticed on these current racks was the appearance of never-seize on the main bolt. I would suggest that everyone in windy areas should check the bolt torque often. I have been told by notable mechanical engineers that the only way to assure that the nut does not loosen is to use lock-tite. We used nyloks on all the racks we built in 2009 - 2011. We started buying DPW racks again when we discovered that shipping was cheaper than renting space for a rack shop. > > PS Dave, Plan on coming to SolarFest 2014. It's the 20th anniversary year and we are going to celebrate the good old days of solar. (as well as the latest and greatest. I still remember when I was the Newbee. Any other wrenches, I can get you free tickets (worth $75) contact me off-list. > > John Blittersdorf > Central Vermont Solar & Wind. > email cvso...@aol.com > --- end of quote --- _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change email address & 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
