Mounting Solar Panels DIY Guide

General guidance around DIY Solar Panel Mounting 

As we experience increased reliance and rising costs on electricity, many homeowners are looking towards renewable energy solutions and solar energy as a way of attaining some level of self-sufficiency. With over 26 years in this industry, this is something that we can assist with and help prevent you from common pitfalls during planning and final installation.

Planning 

Before you start, remember that every solar panel fixing installation needs to be planned extensively.

Step 1 is to measure the roof and fully understand the size of the solar panels you intend to use. We offer solar panel fixing kits for any roof type. From 1 panel through to 200 solar panel fixing installations.

Note : The size of solar panels have increased over the last 20 years, from 150w up to 500w. Therefore it is important to make sure the domestic property project is correctly scaffolded to prevent accidents occurring. Where the installation of solar panel fixing is on ground level, we offer the same degree of help to assist with any sized installation. To give you an idea, solar panels are on average 1200mm wide by 1800mm in length. So, by measuring the available space, you will then have an idea of how many panels your roof or ground mount will accept.

Mounting Types and Considerations

Once you have familiarised yourself with this basic outline, you can then look towards our web site to find the correct solar panel fixing kit to match your needs.

 

Our on roof kits are designed around 450mm spacing of the rafters. If you have a new untiled roof, then set out the solar panel fixing brackets to match this preferred layout.

 

Affixing Solar Panels to Existing Roofs –  If you are affixing solar panels to an existing roof, then you need to remove tiles to affix solar panel fixing brackets securely in place. Essentially you are fixing stainless steel brackets to wooden rafters to hold solar panel fixing rails.

 

Types of Brackets and Screws – The need to use stainless steel brackets with stainless steel screws is very important. Unless you have a very good reason, use stainless steel to prevent corrosion over the lifetime of fixing.

 

Bracket Positioning – Another important part of the solar panel fixing layout is to understand where to affix the brackets from top to bottom along the rafters. This again changes, dependent on the physical dimensions of the solar panel. All solar panels have fixing points on the rear of panels, You should measure these to understand the width apart, solar panel fixing rails should be positioned. Write this information down on your planned layout. If when you place the first solar panel fixing bracket onto rafter, it looks to be sitting too low. Then the rafter should be packed to lift the brackets to required level.

 

Bracket Flashing Kits – We provide a solar panel bracket flashing kit as standard, each kit will contain hardwood pieces to assist with this packing issue. Once all of the brackets have been securely affixed to roof rafters, then it is possible to mount solar panel fixing rails in place.

 

Rail Joiners – Where two rails need to be side by side, we offer rail joiners to make a permanent joint. These can all be permanently secured in place using T bolts and M10 nuts. With the rails in place, it should then be possible to position solar PV panels using end clamps, with mid clamps being used to clamp down two or more solar PV panels.

 

Bracket Flashing Kits (cont.) – In the flashing kit we provide many extra parts, these include cable tidy clips, to prevent loose solar panel cables form moving in strong winds. This will prevent possible future damage to MC4 connections, where they can be cut broken or damaged. We offer in our kits rail end caps to finish solar panel fixing installations.