{"id":1108,"date":"2025-04-18T15:24:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/?p=1108"},"modified":"2025-04-18T15:50:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:50:02","slug":"solar-and-storage-framing-for-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/2025\/04\/solar-and-storage-framing-for-screens.html","title":{"rendered":"Solar and Storage – Framing for Screens"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have known since I put the batteries on the outside of the house that having them in direct sunlight for even part of the day was less than ideal.<\/p>\n

I looked at various options for covering them, but most ended up being a little too expensive for my liking.<\/p>\n

I ultimately settled on using some balcony screens and making a frame out of Unistrut<\/a> to attach them and then also put a bit of a roof on top.<\/p>\n

This is the design idea:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and with two of the screens attached:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There will be a third screen for the centre section so I can have relatively easy access to the sub panel.<\/p>\n

I ordered 6 x 3 metre lengths of Unistrut<\/a> and a bunch of connectors, cap screws nuts and washers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first step was to chop the 3m lengths into the lengths I actually needed using my Evolution Rage cold cut chop saw<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had created a cutting list before ordering, so I had already worked out the most efficient way of cutting the pieces to end up with the least amount of waste.<\/p>\n

The two pieces on the left of the picture are still waiting to be cut down to their final size and will bridge the gap over where the sub panel sits, the total ‘waste’ was 1 x 80mm piece and 2 x 445mm pieces.<\/p>\n

The next job was to start attaching the various pieces together to build the frame – it’s basically adult Meccano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Right side completed<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Left side completed<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both sides done, just need to cut the centre pieces<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Centre pieces cut and installed<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Close ups of some of the joints<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Framing complete<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next job will be to build the roof.<\/p>\n

The screens themselves have been ordered but won’t arrive for another week or so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have known since I put the batteries on the outside of the house that having them in direct sunlight for even part of the day was less than ideal. I looked at various options for covering them, but most ended up being a little too expensive for my liking. I ultimately settled on using…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-1108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1108"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hslracing.com\/myhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}