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Friday Wind Warning- Storm Eunice

matty40s

By matty40s
in General Boating

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frangar Veteran II

frangar

Posted
Posted
Just now, matty40s said:

Stormzy was playing there next month....

I did see that....and laughed quite a lot!!....theres some more panels gone now.....I guess the wind has now got under the structure so it was never designed to cope with that....I also seem to remember the lifespan of the material was around 25-30 years when it was being built......

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Jim Batty Proficient

Jim Batty

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Around noon, in less than a second, a mighty gust of Eunice blew our 2x 100w solar panel set-up right off the cabin roof and flipped it over onto the lawn of Hungerford Wharf (K&A). There must be something to this storm, as that box has been up there on the roof for some 9 years and I've never seen it even move in the wind before.

 

It's torn the cables out of the (sealed?) panel junction boxes -- so not sure if it can be repaired. Amazingly, neither of the glass panels have broken, despite there being a raised mooring ring under that panel on the left. 

 

I now have 3 bags of coal holding it to earth. Diagonal hail ripping down here about an hour ago, now dark, wind still very wild. Think I'll let it all calm down a bit before sizing up the damage.

 

Solar-Panels-Blown-off-Roof.jpg.3cb4868d92f032b5d7234e49ca2a54bc.jpg

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robtheplod Influencer

robtheplod

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9 minutes ago, Jim Batty said:

Around noon, in less than a second, a mighty gust of Eunice blew our 2x 100w solar panel set-up right off the cabin roof and flipped it over onto the lawn of Hungerford Wharf (K&A). There must be something to this storm, as that box has been up there on the roof for some 9 years and I've never seen it even move in the wind before.

 

It's torn the cables out of the (sealed?) panel junction boxes -- so not sure if it can be repaired. Amazingly, neither of the glass panels have broken, despite there being a raised mooring ring under that panel on the left. 

 

I now have 3 bags of coal holding it to earth. Diagonal hail ripping down here about an hour ago, now dark, wind still very wild. Think I'll let it all calm down a bit before sizing up the damage.

 

Solar-Panels-Blown-off-Roof.jpg.3cb4868d92f032b5d7234e49ca2a54bc.jpg

not nice... how were they attached to the roof?

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Jen-in-Wellies Veteran II

Jen-in-WelliesDonate to Canal World

Posted
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51 minutes ago, Jim Batty said:

t's torn the cables out of the (sealed?) panel junction boxes -- so not sure if it can be repaired. Amazingly, neither of the glass panels have broken, despite there being a raised mooring ring under that panel on the left. 

It is likely that the top of the junction box can be unclipped by poking a screwdriver in slots to disengage plastic latches. That is a common way for these to be assembled and it seems to be the type you have as far as can be seen from the photo. So it should be a relatively simple job to reattach the wires. The glass over the silicon cells is amazingly tough, as you have just found!

Jen

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Jim Batty Proficient

Jim Batty

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Thanks. Yea, have bean looking online at these junction boxes, and most of the examples I see have those clips you describe. I don't remember mine having them though - just sealed boxes glued on. It's dark, still windy, and I've got it righted on the ground but under a pile of coal bags to anchor it overnight. Will check in the morning.

 

For those weighting -- I relied on the weight of the wooden box to hold it down. Which it did nicely for 9 years. Through some pretty wicked and blustery winters. Obviously not enough weight in 80mph or whatever gusts.

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Jim Batty Proficient

Jim Batty

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Just now, Rickent said:

my 4 panels are attached with brackets but I still put a rope over each one and tied them down.

Yes, good idea. My box base is cut to the roof's camber, isn't too high, and usually the panels act as a nice fairing. But I painted the roof in the late summer, so raised it up a couple of inches - from rail to rail - on those planks you see in the photo to protect the paint. I discovered it was nice to have our alu-gang-plank layed alongside the solar box bungeed onto those planks ... and then found it was handy to lay our various poles on the gang-plank (under the bungees) when not in use. 

 

Anyway, the whole lot is what blew over the side. 

 

I guess I'm glad it blew onto the shore, rather than into the canal. 

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Rickent Experienced

Rickent

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59 minutes ago, Jim Batty said:

Yes, good idea. My box base is cut to the roof's camber, isn't too high, and usually the panels act as a nice fairing. But I painted the roof in the late summer, so raised it up a couple of inches - from rail to rail - on those planks you see in the photo to protect the paint. I discovered it was nice to have our alu-gang-plank layed alongside the solar box bungeed onto those planks ... and then found it was handy to lay our various poles on the gang-plank (under the bungees) when not in use. 

 

Anyway, the whole lot is what blew over the side. 

 

I guess I'm glad it blew onto the shore, rather than into the canal. 

My brackets are fitted to the centre point both sides of each panel, had to put them there due to the curve of the roof, the downside is there is a slight rocking of the panels when it is excessively windy so didn't want to risk it.

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Tim Lewis Veteran

Tim Lewis

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7 hours ago, frangar said:

Seems the Dome/02 is trying to dismantle itself....that isnt going to be a quick fix...

 

 

 

 I was supposed to be boating passt there tomorrow on a friends narrowboat, we've put it for a while for some reason!

 

 

 

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