Off Grid Homestead Gets a New MT Solar Pole Mount 

That's certainly true, and something we always watched out for on the old panels. It's a bit more complicated with the 48" concrete footing compared to the old one, but we'll probably just mark it for now and let the grass round things off a bit. Those wires are super heavy duty a nd 30 years old. They are precious. Ran new smaller wires to the old panels.

@@LiraeloftheClayr Looks like a really nice installation. The QCell 480's are a state of the art module. We've been pleasantly surprised with the output of our Bifacials here in northern VT (Islands). Its amazing the spike observed on a sunny day after fresh snow. Our panels go to full clipping for hours...even in the dead of winter. Plus the backside uptake is usually good enough to activate the module and heat it up enough to slide the snow off. Compared to neighboring ground mounts with conventional modules, ours are usually clear first.

@@jeffmaling9577 The snow clearing info is great to hear. We're really looking forward to the winter to see how well they work. It's been great so far.

Jeff, the homeowner was very involved with this project, including running the conduit. He will definitely be protecting it, possibly by burying. This isn't the typical inspected site for sure.

It wasn't too hard to slide the panels over, but tightening the middle clamps required some acrobatics for sure.

I was thinking the same. Like how this going to work.

5 parallel strings of 2 in series. It's a little over the max wattage for the charge controller based on STC ratings but should be perfect.

Yes, I believe we could have used an 8", but they're on a mountain, it was very high off the ground and they are large panels.

@@benssolarandbattery OK, thanks!

It's fixed azimuth but manually adjustable tilt with a handle on the back. Trackers aren't really worth it in the long run in my opinion.

That's a 21' pole, but you're right about that. It was not a cheap system for sure, but should easily last them another 30 years which was the goal. Originally, it was 3.3kW. That original pole mount is only 760W. We added 4.8kW for a total of 8.1kW. Thanks for watching!

@@benssolarandbattery Oops, forgot about the footage buried underground.

Seasonal adjustability and small footprint.

We all were! We did have ladders strategically placed under there to give him a chance if it let loose. We also used 2 chain falls instead of 1, but it was still sketchy.