Approximate age please..... [RE-wrenches]

[Dan Rice]

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John,
    Sounds like you have Arco M-51's, although, from my old notes, the Arco
16-2300 was very similar if not identical. If it's either of these, they're
35 mono-crystalline cell modules -two outside rows of 12 cells and one row
of 11 cells in between. In the Home Power archive, Issue 36 (Aug/Sept 1993),
P.1 shows an  AEE ad listing "10 year old M-51 modules from a Washington
State Utility Company." That would place production sometime around 1983.
The ad pictures something that looks potentially correct, though it lists
them as 36-cell (the photo image looks like a 33 cell 16-2000, but it also
looks like it's been cut off at the bottom). The ad also claims peak output
of 2.4 A @ 16.5V, which is close to 40 W. The M-51's I saw were not labelled
with performance specs.
    Home Power Issue 33, page 24, shows a photo of the inside of the M-51
J-box I believe you're referring to. The caption on the photo begins "This
ancient module has one of the finest junction boxes we surveyed." I guess 10
years old meant "ancient" back then. Now that's just broken in.
    The 16-2300's I saw were labeled by Arco with the model number
(16-2300), but they're identical to the M-51 in size, number of cells, and
J-box. The only two I've seen were re-labeled  "Tested and warranted by
Dankoff Solar Products, Santa Fe, NM. Nominal Volts 12, Amps: 2.2, Peak
Power 33 watts at 16 volts." Windy may remember back that far; it's before
my time in this line of work.
    BTW, I recently had need to find data on Shell SQ-80 modules (last
year's model, not the new "P" version). Shell has seen fit to delete web
access to data sheets for all of their products except current production.
They claim that providing spec sheets on modules that are no longer
available caused too much confusion among web site visitors. Never mind that
wrenches might actually want to match their new products to last years'
offerings. Those who use Shell products might want to let Shell know that
dropping access to information is counter productive. (I'd love to see data
sheets on all of the old Arco/Siemens/Shell products -there are plenty of
them out there -what would be the harm?) BP has recently dropped their
technical notes section from their web site also -a pretty sad industry
trend. (I've griped to both companies -the tech support folks sound
receptive to the concern -let your voice be heard, fellow "consumers").

Dan Rice
Abundant Sun, LLC.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Veix" <john at gosolar.co.nz>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 2:10 PM
Subject: Approximate age please..... [RE-wrenches]




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Hi all,

I've just inherited a system that has 14 of ARCO 55w panels - they have the
big round junction box with 4  connectors inside.

What would their approximate age be please.

They are working fine, just a reduced output. A couple of the mounting
junction boxes came loose and had to be re-glued back on.

                                thanks a lot,
John V
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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