Operated for theU.S.Departmentof Energy by
Sandia Corporation
Albuquerque, Mexico 87185-
March 25, 2009
Solar Site Survey Tool Kit developed for the
Solar America Cities Tiger Teams
After a couple of SAC Tiger Team outings, I saw a need for a travel kit that would have the necessary tools to make the task of site surveys more manageable and safer. We have had great success using the kit in the field already. As with any tool kit, there is always room for improvement. So please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions.
Ed Baynes
Principal Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories, Dept 6418
Wk. Cell Ph. (505)-977-7915
E-Mail:
Solar Site Survey Tool Kit
1. Duffel Bag 24” long x 14” H x 11” D, with shoulder carry strap and end loop for rope hoop up. This duffel bag was selected because it can be folded or laid flat to pack. A backpack is harder to pack, and is a problem climbing through small roof hatches.
2. Solmetric SunEye
3. Stanley 2 wheel measuring wheel. Selected for its size and easy handle removal for packing.
4. 1” 3 ring binder with tabs for survey log sheets (this is a big help in keeping all of the documents in order).
5. 30’ rope with a carabineer at one end, a simple knot every 3’ and a hand loop at the top. The rope goes up the ladder with the first person and then is lowered down to haul up the equipment duffel bag.
6. Engineer’s drawing pad.
7. Travel desk clip board. (see next page for details)
8. Bottled water.
9. 25’ tape measure.
10. Roof pitch & angle inclinometer
11. Hand sanitizer and sun screen.
12. Flash light (see note 1).
13. 10x25 binoculars (great for reading labels and tags at 20 foot).
14. Garmin Etrex Vista Cx GPS, loaded with the 25 SACities maps (see note 1).
15. Digital camera (see note 1).
Note 1. The camera, flash light and GPS are powered by easy- to- find AA or AAA batteries.
Travel Desk\Clip Board Supplies
1. Saunders # 00468 Portable Desktop\Clip board
2. 3 hole paper punch\10” ruler (velcroed to lid).
3. Round retractable and standard erasers.
4. Basic (solar powered) calculator.
5. City map (Important backup for GPS).
6. Paper clips and pencil lead.
7. Rubber bands (great for holding down papers in the wind).
8. 0.7 &0.9 mechanical pencils, 2 ink pens and a hi-liter.
9. Small stapler and spare staples.