Hire a professional.... or Where is the solar panels salvage yard?

Photowhit · June 2021

So I have a very good friend who is a professional logger, and mostly retired at 65-66. He said he'd climb and limb the tree behind my solar array. Then later take down it and the other tree leaning toward it. I was uncomfortable with him climbing at his age.

So I have another friend who does tree trimming on the side, and trying to make it a full time job.

I should have given him gas money and sent him home when he started climbing without a hard hat.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/ek/s26jrn387k3e.jpg

There was plenty of room, he just was at a poor angle to cut his hinge, and dropped it on the array;

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/rx/j09pn3a6vin1.jpg

Amazingly, the top solar panel does not appear to have broken, I've been told with tempered glass I should wait until morning. The weight on the array broke the frame and the panel below the top one. Dang these panels are tough!

So I'm looking for a 200 watt Evergreen ES(?) panel or there abouts, or a 60 cell panel of similar size (they are 120 cell parallel with similar voltages)

I have lots of options, But none that involve having 3 different types of panels in the array. I have 6or7 72 cell panels of 185 watts, which are very similar size to the Evergreen, and 6 310-330watt panels of 72 cell, which might replace the outer row of 5 200 watt with 4 of the larger panels.

FWIW - I'll need to remove and replace the bottom 3 panels in the row with broken panel when I replace the 10 year old battery...

If shipping was cheaper, I'd open a "Solar Panel Graveyard" I'm sure this happens from time to time for others.

NANOcontrol · June 2021

The secret is a rope, pulley and a car. It will drop somewhere else. I'm about to do the same thing and I know I'm too old. I once had an old guy take down a very tall tree. He strapped himself up, lit a cigarette and finished the tree having never removed the cigarette once. The ash was still in place when when he got down. That's old school.

BB. · June 2021

Be very careful with attaching a car to a tree/limb being felled... "Green" wood is really heavy and larger chunks can weight as much or more than the "attached" car (and fling the car elsewhere on the property).

@250 "Gallons" of limb/trunk ~ 2,000 lbs (roughly 8lbs per gallon)
250 gallons = 33.3 cuft = 1.23 cubic yard (i.e., >~3ftx3ftx3ft cube of wet wood).

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

Density of green/dry woods...

-Bill

Photowhit · July 2021

FWIW- Looks like he didn't even try to cut a hinge to drop it...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/5c/4k3nodq3i9sl.jpg

It's sometime okay to use a rope to help direct a tree being fell, but It's very ill advised to do it with big heavy limbs. They land on their tops and the the heavy base part drops in a direction based on the based on gravity. With a rope attached in the middle it will have lots of leverage to pull the heaviest vehicle around.

Like felling a tree with the weigh, you have perhaps 30 degrees either side of direct gravity to manipulate the direction of the fall, but like cutting a tree down, you must cut a hinge. Other wise the limb or tree will splinter and create it's own hinge, see photo above.

Hire a professional.... or Where is the solar panels salvage yard?

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