Quick way to test a Solar panel I found?

[timmygobang]

I found a rather nice looking solar panel discarded by the bins at the weekend.

I'm sure it's a duff, but on the off chance it was discarded by a rather rich boat owner who has upgraded his solar panels and just thrown the old one out, I took it home.

Is there a quick and easy way to tell if it works? I have a handheld battery meter but I'm a complete noob when it comes to these devices and wouldn't even know what setting to put it on.

 

[savageseadog]

Set you meter to DC volts and see what voltage you get in daylight, shouldn't be less than 15 in reasonable light. If your meter will read DC current, clip across the panel terminals you should get 1-2A in daylight.

 

[VicS]

First thing to do would be to stick it if full noon sun light.. angled towards the sun, and using a voltmeter, or digital multimeter, measure the output volts to see if you can get close to the specified open circuit volts of 22.2 volts DC.

If you can then I suppose stick the multimeter on its 10amp range and see if you can get anything close the the specified short circuit current of 3.54 amps (??)

next I suppose would be to load it and see if you can get close to the specified maximum power current at the specified maximum power voltage ( you need two meters to do that) sorry cannot read those last two figures.

 

[NickRobinson]

Can I come and have a dig in your bins please? All there is in my marina is empty bottles

It may have a broken track which means if you put the meter on ohms it will read zero (both ways, remember the diode) on the output terminals

Leave one terminal connected (ohms or volts if in sunlight) and go searching for the break in the circuit. You'll get a reading when you move over the break onto the good bit.

Then use one of these to repair but don't spend more than the panel's worth!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_t...TRC0&_nkw=conductive+paint&_sacat=0&_from=R40

Nick

 

[nigelmercier]

It may have a broken track which means if you put the meter on ohms it will read zero...

Not if it producing any voltage it won't. Better to check for breaks with a voltmeter, and why not solder the joint?

 

[timmygobang]

Thanks for the replies, there's two wires + and - (of course) coming out of the back, so I'll get a volt meter on that and set it to DC Volts on Saturday and see what happens.

Can I come and have a dig in your bins please? All there is in my marina is empty bottles

Yup it was a surprise for me too!! Sometimes it just takes a bit of fiddling to fix these things if you know what you're doing. I blatantly dont but I'll give it a go

 

[lenseman]

. . . . . If your meter will read DC current, clip across the panel terminals you should get 1-2A in daylight.

and if you do this, if it was working, it won't work afterwards !!



.

 

[William_H]

and if you do this, if it was working, it won't work afterwards !!



.

Where did that idea come from? Short circuiting a solar panel with an amp meter is a recognised and safe test. Indeed the manufacturer usually gives figure to expect. olewill

 

[NickRobinson]

Not if it producing any voltage it won't. Better to check for breaks with a voltmeter, and why not solder the joint?

Oops- on ohms, I meant infinity, honest. Using ohms on a working circuit just gives a qualitative indication of continuity, like a test lamp, nothing more.

As to solder- I assumed that wiring faults may have been eliminated before binning so I was a anticipating the need to find faults on the printed circuits that may be on the glass panel, like fixing heated rear window tracks?

N

 

[Blueboatman]

Connect a 12v lightbulb across the pos and neg, with the panel covered in a blanket.
Then partially remove the blanket.
Then a bit more...
If light bulb illuminates, well and good!

 

[Sandyman]

Connect a 12v lightbulb across the pos and neg, with the panel covered in a blanket.
Then partially remove the blanket.
Then a bit more...
If light bulb illuminates, well and good!

You mean a 12v electric lamp.....................everyone knows bulbs grow in gardens

 

[duncan99210]

Nice things do happen sometimes; there was this Italian catermeran 2 down the pontoon from us a year of so back and he threw out 4 Solara panels. I happened to see him doing it, grabbed my multi meter, checked voltages and helped myself to them. OK, the performance is somewhat less than when they were new but I've now proved to SWMBO that they do work and have agreed a replacement programme, so we'll have all new panels in a couple of years.....

 

[Toutvabien]

I know how this can happen, we were tidying up the boat at the end October two years ago and had a good old clearout of debris and junk from the bottom of lockers. As the spring arrived I tried to find the two 60 Watt solar panels that each needed a bit of solder to get them back into working conditon, as they are quite large I was suprised when I could not locate them anywhere on board the boat. It several weeks before my good lady wife admitted that she when we were emptying the boat she had relocated the solar panels to an area next to the bins in the marina.

So if anybody found two solar panels at Titchmarsh Marina in Walton on Naze a couple of years ago then they were courtesy of S/Y Jigsaw's deep clean. I am reminded of this because the new replacement is sitting next to my desk as I write.