solar panel roof mounts

October 15, 2009 by SolarInfo
Filed under solar power energy

Why Choosing The Right Solar Panel Mounting Option Is Critical

Even though selecting the right solar panels for your home is one of the most important decisions you'll have to make, ensuring you mount them correctly is just as important. The solar panels can account for as much as half the cost of your home solar power system and you need to be sure you have these fragile solar panels mounted securely to your home to prevent damage. The good news is that there is a wide variety of choices for solar power mounting options and you need to give it a little thought before deciding which one to use.

Home Orientation To the Sun

The first and most critical thing you need to consider is the orientation of your home. For you to get the highest output out of these solar panels, you need to be sure they are facing as due south as possible. This allows panels to have the best sun exposure throughout the day and enables them to generate their peak output for the longest amount of time. Some homes are fortunate enough to have a rear roof surface that is perfectly aligned for southern exposure and provides the perfect solar panel mounting position for your equipment. In these cases you can use one of the many rail based solar panel mounting solutions available to secure your panels. These rail systems use fewer mounting points than older individual brackets and allow you to easily expand your home solar power systems by simply sliding additional solar panels onto the rails at anytime and locking them down.

Angling Your Panels Is Now Easier than Ever

If you are not lucky enough to have a roof that has the alignment you need, but is pretty close, you can also find several solar panel mounting systems that allow you to angle the panels slightly once they are secured to adjust for small deviations in sunlight. These are not much more expensive than the standard solar panel mounting systems and can provide enough adjustment to increase the output of your panels substantially.

If you can't find a roof on your home with the right exposure, you still have a few solar panel mounting options. The simplest would be to use a ground based mounting rack that can be secured near the home. By using one of these systems you have the flexibility to orient it any way you need to catch the maximum amount of sunlight. Additionally, this type of solar panel mounting arrangement is at ground level, making it easy to clean if needed and also provides simple access for service and installation. The downside to using a ground mounting system is that it can be a bit unsightly and take up a good bit of backyard real estate. If you have a large enough lot, this may not be a problem for you.

Smaller Installs

Another solar panel mounting option for smaller installations is a pole mounting system. These consist of a set of brackets that mount to the top or side of a pole that is secured to the ground that the solar panels are mounted onto. Because you can locate the pole wherever you need, you can easily adjust the solar panels for optimum output.

Tracking Systems

The last type of solar panel mounting system can be installed as an upgrade to most of these basic mounting systems. It is called a tracking base and allows the solar panels to be adjusted throughout the day so that it always faces the sun at the best possible angle. These tracking systems have a sensor that can raise or lower the angle of the panels to adjust for the travel of the sun throughout the day. Even though these might initially seem like an expensive option, they can boost the output of your home solar power system by over 20% in many cases and will easily pay for themselves over time.

About the Author

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