It may not be a strength issue so much as fatigue from bouncing. Regardless, in addition to replacing the bolts I would cut some pieces of round tubing to fit inside the rectangular tube (don't need to weld anything, just run the bolts through the spacer tubes) to support the walls of the rectangular tube against the clamping forces. Flat plates on the outside won't hurt, but they're not as effective alone as spacers alone would be.
OH you have there SUPER old version.. the new one is 10000 times better! Also we can see that you havent been doing your weekly inspections as the manual suggests :)
For the amount that is listed for I'd have just made a ground mount with more panels. You'd think there would be some current sensor for the linear actuators so they don't end up tearing the entire assembly apart. $559 is absurd for the quality of what you got.
What a nightmare!! Chinese equipment (cheap stuff anyway) needs a thorough inspection for low grade hardware. A few high grade bolts should get you back in biz!
I still think that the attachment points are much too close to the axis of rotation. Especially the East/West one. It would probably be fine for a single panel, but for your multiple panel setup there just isn't enough triangulation for strength and durability. It needs longer linear actuators attached farther out from the centerline on the panel end. From what I can see it would benefit hugely from triangulating the arm the actuator attaches to. From the end where the actuator attaches angling up to the solar panels opposite the side the other end of the actuator attaches to. It seems really odd that it doesn't come with a triangulating tube there already. It's putting an unnecessarily large amount of force on those bolts that broke and everything in the vicinity. Triangulation would have completely prevented this failure and would probably greatly reduce the oscillation in the wind. It's an easy fix, too.
They look like stainless steel bolts but I think you're right to use the word "shear". The two brackets should nest in some way to prevent the side loads from creating enough shear force to cut the bolts. Some steel tabs welded along the brackets would have prevented this from happening. I'm not a big fan of bolting through steel pipe without reinforcing the cross section.
I just got one these I don't get the winds you do but a storm will bring some good wind gust how long does it take to go flat and what kind of wind speed does it go flat
So it depends on an additional sensor that you will need to add unless they are shipping them with the wind sensor now. You can adjust the speed at witch the array will set flat and it takes a good couple of minutes. There are some other videos on my channel that can give you more info. Check out the solar tracker play list.
@Alone in an Earthship they ship the wind sensor now I tried giving it a good spin nothing happened I'm connected to the grid so think if I know its gonna be stormy ill just flatten it out and cut the power too it
It may not be a strength issue so much as fatigue from bouncing. Regardless, in addition to replacing the bolts I would cut some pieces of round tubing to fit inside the rectangular tube (don't need to weld anything, just run the bolts through the spacer tubes) to support the walls of the rectangular tube against the clamping forces. Flat plates on the outside won't hurt, but they're not as effective alone as spacers alone would be.
I had the same thought about the sleeves to support the walls of the rectangular tube.
OH you have there SUPER old version.. the new one is 10000 times better!
Also we can see that you havent been doing your weekly inspections as the manual suggests :)
It´s a shame. I hope you can fix it. Regards from Brazil.
For the amount that is listed for I'd have just made a ground mount with more panels. You'd think there would be some current sensor for the linear actuators so they don't end up tearing the entire assembly apart. $559 is absurd for the quality of what you got.
Was that tracker originally designed by the Mfr, for three large solar panels?
No, it was designed for 4 smaller panels, but they are now selling the same one and suggesting it can handle 6 smaller panels.
The most important element of the video is when you tossed the broken bolt directly into the middle of the wheel without touching anything.
What a nightmare!! Chinese equipment (cheap stuff anyway) needs a thorough inspection for low grade hardware. A few high grade bolts should get you back in biz!
Chinese low grade bolts as you can tell there no good!!!😂
I still think that the attachment points are much too close to the axis of rotation. Especially the East/West one. It would probably be fine for a single panel, but for your multiple panel setup there just isn't enough triangulation for strength and durability. It needs longer linear actuators attached farther out from the centerline on the panel end.
From what I can see it would benefit hugely from triangulating the arm the actuator attaches to. From the end where the actuator attaches angling up to the solar panels opposite the side the other end of the actuator attaches to. It seems really odd that it doesn't come with a triangulating tube there already. It's putting an unnecessarily large amount of force on those bolts that broke and everything in the vicinity. Triangulation would have completely prevented this failure and would probably greatly reduce the oscillation in the wind. It's an easy fix, too.
Exact same failure I had 2 months ago. Back up and running as well.
This is exactly what happens when you re-engineer something not originally engineered for...
Solar array shear bolts. That’s a new one for me. Cheap weak bolts.
They look like stainless steel bolts but I think you're right to use the word "shear". The two brackets should nest in some way to prevent the side loads from creating enough shear force to cut the bolts. Some steel tabs welded along the brackets would have prevented this from happening. I'm not a big fan of bolting through steel pipe without reinforcing the cross section.
I just got one these I don't get the winds you do but a storm will bring some good wind gust how long does it take to go flat and what kind of wind speed does it go flat
So it depends on an additional sensor that you will need to add unless they are shipping them with the wind sensor now. You can adjust the speed at witch the array will set flat and it takes a good couple of minutes. There are some other videos on my channel that can give you more info. Check out the solar tracker play list.
@Alone in an Earthship they ship the wind sensor now I tried giving it a good spin nothing happened I'm connected to the grid so think if I know its gonna be stormy ill just flatten it out and cut the power too it
I’m welding mine together!
Man,i wondering why peopele buyng thats pieces of scrap mounting when with less money you buildit yourself and much stronger definetlly
I made my own
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