Roof Mounting

Rails, clamps, legs and roof feet for putting a solar array on a roof.

Everything here is made to AS/NZS 1170, the loading standard that sets what wind and snow a structure on a New Zealand roof has to stand up to. It matters more on the mounting than anywhere else in a solar system. A panel is a sail, the roof is where that load ends up, and the mounting is the only thing between the two.

A roof array goes together the same way every time. Feet or legs fix to the roof, rails bolt to the feet, and the panels clamp to the rails. End clamps go on the outside edge of the array. Inter clamps sit between two panels and hold both at once. Both come in 35 mm, 40 mm and 50 mm, and the number is the thickness of your panel frame, so measure the thickness of the frame before you order rather than going by the panel wattage.

Rails come in 2100 and 3405 mm. Pick the length that crosses the roof with the fewest joins, and use the splice kit where a run needs two rails end to end. Counting clamps is easy once you know it: four end clamps for the row, and two inter clamps for every join between panels.

Adjustable legs tilt an array up off a flat or low pitch roof. The rear legs come in three ranges, 15 to 30, 20 to 40 and 30 to 60 degrees, and the front leg holds the lower end down. Open and closed lengths are on each leg’s page. The aluminium tin interface kit is how the whole thing lands on a long run metal roof.

The array frame needs earthing. The aluminium grounding lug bolts to the rail and takes the earth cable, which is in Solar Cabling along with the earth rod. The steel cable clips are there for tidying the cable up under the panels, and unlike cable ties they do not go brittle and let go.