John Navas wrote in
:

Turning brown is caused by UV, weathering and environmental heat, not
heating from load, and has a relatively small effect on power output (on
the order of 5-10%). See:


If that were true, each whole cell would turn brown, not just the center of
the cells where the conductors are directing the current through it. The
current through the cell resistance adds a lot of heat to a cell generating
power.

Case in point, there are solar panels all along our local interstate now
over 10 years old. They are lightly loaded for their size only generating
enough power to charge some gelcells and power the roadside webcam and its
upload server. The cells have not discolored from 10 years in the HOT
South Carolina sun that I can detect.....as they have low current in them
except for in the first morning light until the gelcells recharge from
running the cam all night in the dark.

The panel on Lionheart is 1988 and is nowhere near a charger for the
massive monster house batteries banks' 1400 AH and loads. It spends all
its time completely saturated. The part of the cells where the heavy
current goes through them has turned them all a very light brown so you can
hardly recognize them as solar cells any more. They still generate a few
amps like that but nowhere near what they should.

Cap'n bought a new panel to replace it. But, alas, he didn't have time to
install it and forgot the panel was laying on top of the old panel when his
guests showed up for a harbor cruise. He forgot the new panel, a really
nice one, was loose. When the boat heeled, the new panel slid over the
side into the harbor mud in 50' of channel. It's best not to mention
replacing the old solar panel, even today. If you mention it, make sure
you do so as you're stepping onto the dock for the last time headed home
for a couple of weeks.....(c;]

Glad it wasn't me involved in that one.....