Greenhouse Loft Extension II

Having completed the assembly of the Greenhouse Loft Extension Assembly on the 8th March, and fitting the louvers over the fans openings I had been waiting for the weather to break and the sun to shine so I could test the solar panel and the twin fans before fixing them into the Dormer structure. 

The clouds parted and sunlight shone and I ran out into the garden with the solar panel and fans, and joy of joys they started spinning really fast. So I dashed back indoors and set about fixing them to the inside of the dormer front.  

The leads on these fans are a lot shorter than the first ones I purchased that had their own solar panel each, so I positioned them such that the leads faced each other and the middle of the dormer so that I could take the wire through the roof. 

I melted a hole in the roof, just back from the front panel just large enough to get the connection plug through one at a time and then filled the hole with silicone from the underside, As I want to prevent water getting in and down the wire and into the fans and also not allowing water into the twin wall polycarbonate. 

I used the Ryobi glue gun and sealed the hole also making sure it was raised so as to push water away from the hole anyway.

 

Having sealed the ends of the strip of twin wall polycarbonate that will support the solar panel the night before, I burnt out a recess for the back of the solar panel and the wires to go through and the four bolt holes with the soldering iron and then siliconed up the openings to stop water getting in the twin wall polycarbonate.

When I glued the legs onto the mounting plate, I used my Unwins Seed Box to hold the legs up and and tack glued the outside first and let it dry, then removed the box and glued the inside. Finally I applied silicone to the gaps in between.

Before fitting onto the mounting plate 

I found some nuts bolts and washers and mounted the solar panel to the supporting framework. 

Photo of the mounting in it's trial location. I wasn't happy with the way the wires and connectors were on the roof top and decided I would need to improvise a support, but having decided on a location that would offer some rain shielding for the connections I tack welded the legs to the roof.

Added a Twin wall polycarbonate offcut to hold the wires up off the flat roof deck and keep the joint under the panel support hopefully out of the rain, and glued it in place, then using the peg to hold the wire, I tack welded the wires onto the cross member. 

Bracket glued in place , the wires were much shorter on this one and I needed to come out via the roof and the solar panel has to face the sun.

Now ready to be taken down to the allotment and fitted.