My first solar panels were a pair of Harbor Freight 15W panels and those you could easily carry both in one hand. Then I went to a pair of 60W panels and those were easy enough to carry up a ladder with one hand. It was a bit of a shock when I first tried to lift a 270W 60-cell panel up onto the roof. I think it's more the size/shape than the weight that makes them hard to handle alone. After doing a few of those, I decided to build my hoist. Nice thing is after you are finished with it, you can tear it down for the unistrut to use for something else.
I didn't get any shots of that, but it's just like picking them up on the ground. I just stand behind the panel and slide if off the side of the lift until one corner is on the roof. Then just tip it up vertical and pick it up by grabbing each side. No leaning over the edge of the roof required.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for the reply. Maybe my 250 W panels are just too heavy for me alone and feels very unsafe. I will look for help. Thanks for the video!
Unfortunately, I didn't make a drawing for this. I just pieced together scraps of material I had around along with the lengths of Unistrut, the trolley wheels (link in the video description) and the rope pulley from a local hardware store.
Hey, thanks! I shared 3 pictures of my creation inspired by yours. Haha you were right, my panel lift is heavy! next time I will do aluminum as well. A slight difference is that mine works as a ladder on one side and as a lift one the other.
@@GreenHydrogen That looks great, the ladder idea is awesome. Yes, these things can get heavy. That's why I'm looking to remove the wood I added to mine, it's not really required and just makes it harder to move around.
Thanks. For sure, carrying a full size (60 or 72 cell) panel up on a ladder is no fun. I did 3 of them up onto my patio roof and that was my limit. It's only about 8' high and I could push the panels up the ladder and onto the roof w/o too much trouble. A gust of wind at the wrong time or a missed step and $200 of panel could hit the ground or fall on me, neither of which would end in a good result. Really easy to make the hoist and the cost was less than a single panel. So much nicer to grab the panel off the hoist at a comfortable height (no bending down over the edge of the roof) and carry it to where it's going to be installed.
+R Brown (4Crawler) ... bottom, I wanted to say. - I am working currently with a 23 metres commercial elevator on a roof rebuild project, that's why I started to be interested in the topic. Congratulations for your fine diy elevator!
+Christian Geiselmann That sounds like a proper elevator indeed. Mine is good for a single solar panel, so maybe 20kg total weight. I could up that with another set of pulleys to give more mechanical advantage or adding a small hand cranked or electric winch.
Shouldn't be too hard to find something like that, here's one on Amazon: amzn.to/2mJmhHS I use a simple chain and turnbuckle setup to tilt mine: th-cam.com/video/StWtXLuWMys/w-d-xo.html
I imagine any electrical distributor would have it. I ordered these from Mcmaster-Carr. In hind sight, I think the steel Unistrut on it's own would be strong enough to do away with the wooden frame. Might actually be lighter, too. Although you might need to weld sections of the steel Unistrut together if you needed more than 10 ft. length in order to work with trolley wheels.
That is a really cool little invention! It's fantastic. Good job. The only thing is, I couldn't imagine putting in all of that effort (and materials) to build it when I'm only going to use it one time. I mean, there's always the possibility that I could add more panels at some point but then I would have that thing sitting in my garage taking up space. A portable version of what you built would be great for a solar installer to have :)
Not a lot of either actually. The wood was all scrap lumber off my old patio enclosure, so that was no cost. And in fact the size of the rack was dictated by how long two of those scrap pieces was, that way I didn't need to cut them shorter. The Unistrut and rollers can be easily unscrewed and used for other purposes. I want to build a light hoisting trolley system in my shop to run along under the roof rafters. I'll be re-using the hoist material for that project once I'm certain I'll not be needing the panel hoist again. I've used it to raise up two solar panels, all the racking and also to lower all sorts of random material I had on the roof for other projects like concrete and wood blocks, etc. So it was not used to just lift one panel . If I were to make it again, I would probably use 10' sections of steel Unistrut and then shorter sections bolted on for cross bracing. That would make it quite portable for someone with a work truck.
Yes, you got that right. After lifting a few up to the roof by hand up a ladder, it seemed to be a big risk doing it that way. So this hoist has a sturdy shelf on the bottom them a lever at the top that flips down over the top of the panel to keep it from tipping forward and falling. Then it can be raised to a comfortable level to slide it off the hoist and onto the roof from above.
apparently that that's sad like they're really that's that's the solar pillar put up wasn't that heavy but why didn't he just go up on top of the roof tie the thing together at this pull it up didn't have to make a choice to are your panels heavier than his why couldn't you do it like that yourself you don't need to make something that kind of a Contraption unless you can't lift the paddle yourself so how did you get the pedal off of the dolly if you can lift it you can pull it up with a rope just going to type it correctly you don't need to make at least listen to heavy if you get a second buddy all he had to do was call me I want to listen to him and get a look at the roof and took it up he didn't need to go up the latter stupidly like that if he was smart he would have put it between two letters and pull it up just like your pulley system
Pure awesome! Thanks for sharing. Will do best to imitate.
BEST Idea I have ever seen!!!! Thank You
Wow, thanks! I have one more panel I need to use hoist with.
Thank you for sharing. This is a great idea, simple to reproduce and a clear video of how it was made.
Glad it was helpful! Still use this from time to time. I may be redesigning it to lessen the weight by using only Unistrut.
boy wished I had watched this before all that work I did. Thanks for letting me know about your video
My first solar panels were a pair of Harbor Freight 15W panels and those you could easily carry both in one hand. Then I went to a pair of 60W panels and those were easy enough to carry up a ladder with one hand. It was a bit of a shock when I first tried to lift a 270W 60-cell panel up onto the roof. I think it's more the size/shape than the weight that makes them hard to handle alone. After doing a few of those, I decided to build my hoist. Nice thing is after you are finished with it, you can tear it down for the unistrut to use for something else.
I would like to see how to pickup these 50 lbs panels once they reach the top
I didn't get any shots of that, but it's just like picking them up on the ground. I just stand behind the panel and slide if off the side of the lift until one corner is on the roof. Then just tip it up vertical and pick it up by grabbing each side. No leaning over the edge of the roof required.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for the reply. Maybe my 250 W panels are just too heavy for me alone and feels very unsafe. I will look for help. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
By any chance do you have a drawing of this incredible invention?
Unfortunately, I didn't make a drawing for this. I just pieced together scraps of material I had around along with the lengths of Unistrut, the trolley wheels (link in the video description) and the rope pulley from a local hardware store.
Here's a photo album with some additional information:
photos.app.goo.gl/GGRAHwY6yFPRVCCk9
Hey, thanks! I shared 3 pictures of my creation inspired by yours. Haha you were right, my panel lift is heavy! next time I will do aluminum as well.
A slight difference is that mine works as a ladder on one side and as a lift one the other.
@@GreenHydrogen That looks great, the ladder idea is awesome. Yes, these things can get heavy. That's why I'm looking to remove the wood I added to mine, it's not really required and just makes it harder to move around.
wow thats really nice......
Excellent. I was thinking that I would need to hire someone to carry these up to the roof but I can see them getting hurt or dropping a panel.
Thanks. For sure, carrying a full size (60 or 72 cell) panel up on a ladder is no fun. I did 3 of them up onto my patio roof and that was my limit. It's only about 8' high and I could push the panels up the ladder and onto the roof w/o too much trouble. A gust of wind at the wrong time or a missed step and $200 of panel could hit the ground or fall on me, neither of which would end in a good result. Really easy to make the hoist and the cost was less than a single panel. So much nicer to grab the panel off the hoist at a comfortable height (no bending down over the edge of the roof) and carry it to where it's going to be installed.
For an electrical winch, do not put it at top of your ladder but on the buttom. Commercial lifts are made that way, too.
+Christian Geiselmann Good tip. If I ever add an electric winch to mine, I'll keep that in mind.
+R Brown (4Crawler) ... bottom, I wanted to say. - I am working currently with a 23 metres commercial elevator on a roof rebuild project, that's why I started to be interested in the topic. Congratulations for your fine diy elevator!
+Christian Geiselmann That sounds like a proper elevator indeed. Mine is good for a single solar panel, so maybe 20kg total weight. I could up that with another set of pulleys to give more mechanical advantage or adding a small hand cranked or electric winch.
Where did you buy the trolleys for the Unistrut
I think I got them from McMaster-Carr. Search for Strut Channel Trolleys
i need a portable winch to tilt solar panels to a certain angle , hand operated one
Shouldn't be too hard to find something like that, here's one on Amazon:
amzn.to/2mJmhHS
I use a simple chain and turnbuckle setup to tilt mine:
th-cam.com/video/StWtXLuWMys/w-d-xo.html
I didn't know unistrip made aluminum struts, I wish Home Depot had them...
I imagine any electrical distributor would have it. I ordered these from Mcmaster-Carr. In hind sight, I think the steel Unistrut on it's own would be strong enough to do away with the wooden frame. Might actually be lighter, too. Although you might need to weld sections of the steel Unistrut together if you needed more than 10 ft. length in order to work with trolley wheels.
That is a really cool little invention! It's fantastic. Good job. The only thing is, I couldn't imagine putting in all of that effort (and materials) to build it when I'm only going to use it one time. I mean, there's always the possibility that I could add more panels at some point but then I would have that thing sitting in my garage taking up space. A portable version of what you built would be great for a solar installer to have :)
Not a lot of either actually. The wood was all scrap lumber off my old patio enclosure, so that was no cost. And in fact the size of the rack was dictated by how long two of those scrap pieces was, that way I didn't need to cut them shorter. The Unistrut and rollers can be easily unscrewed and used for other purposes. I want to build a light hoisting trolley system in my shop to run along under the roof rafters. I'll be re-using the hoist material for that project once I'm certain I'll not be needing the panel hoist again. I've used it to raise up two solar panels, all the racking and also to lower all sorts of random material I had on the roof for other projects like concrete and wood blocks, etc. So it was not used to just lift one panel .
If I were to make it again, I would probably use 10' sections of steel Unistrut and then shorter sections bolted on for cross bracing. That would make it quite portable for someone with a work truck.
Just don’t drop the panels.
Yes, you got that right. After lifting a few up to the roof by hand up a ladder, it seemed to be a big risk doing it that way. So this hoist has a sturdy shelf on the bottom them a lever at the top that flips down over the top of the panel to keep it from tipping forward and falling. Then it can be raised to a comfortable level to slide it off the hoist and onto the roof from above.
apparently that that's sad like they're really that's that's the solar pillar put up wasn't that heavy but why didn't he just go up on top of the roof tie the thing together at this pull it up didn't have to make a choice to are your panels heavier than his why couldn't you do it like that yourself you don't need to make something that kind of a Contraption unless you can't lift the paddle yourself so how did you get the pedal off of the dolly if you can lift it you can pull it up with a rope just going to type it correctly you don't need to make at least listen to heavy if you get a second buddy all he had to do was call me I want to listen to him and get a look at the roof and took it up he didn't need to go up the latter stupidly like that if he was smart he would have put it between two letters and pull it up just like your pulley system
Best comment ever
An INPLIX is a place where you can learn how to make it yourself much cheaper.