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Ping Larry
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..... |
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