Troubleshooting Atlantis Sunslates- full Isc with little/no Imp [RE-wrenches]
Nick Nicholas
APS at SBCGLOBAL.NET
Mon Aug 9 18:59:20 PDT 2004
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Hello wrenches:
Thanks, in advance!
I am troubleshooting a grid-tied, battery based system my company
installed six years ago, and I could use some good advice.
The system consists of two grid-tied SW-5548 inverters with 24- 1770
A/HR C&D Technology batteries, and 10 KW of Atlantis Sunslate Solar Shingles
located on three roofs.
Each roof of modules consists of 13 strings of Sunslates. Each series
string consists of twenty four Sunslates. Each roof's strings are wired in
parallel at a fused, Pulse combiner box. Each string has a Voc of 70 VDC,
and the Isc for each string is around 4.2 A. We have one combiner box for
each roof, and each combiner box has a 60A breaker in the Pulse DC load
center
Two of the roofs strings produce little, or no power. When first
installed, each roof would put out 40 Amps on a sunny day. This fall we
recorded 26 Amps per roof on the two, upper, low sloped roofs. At the time
but the lower roof had a bad string. Surprisingly, since Atlantis no-longer
manufactured the same slate with a cell that looked similar, they replaced
the entire roof with new Sunslates! Now, the new, lower roof is working,
but the upper roofs seem to be failing.
When measured with my ampclamp, some of the individual strings produced
only .2A and some produced as high as 1.5 A in ~900 watts/meter sq
insolation. (1 pm on August 9, in Grass Valley, CA)
I checked all the wiring connections, and tested for voltage drops in
the wiring, with no problems found.
I bypassed the combiner boxes output around the Pulse charge controller
in the PSC-500 enclosure. The roofs' output was not related to the charge
controller or it's settings.
I can assure you that the inverter programming is not a factor. The
inverters are in Line-tie mode, and consistently send 70A (was 125A) at 54
VDC to the utility grid, but when the lower roof's breakers are opened, but
the upper roofs breakers are closed, then the system output drops to 17A at
54 VDC. This 17 Amps is consistent with the Imp readings from the two upper
roofs
It is my theory that many of the Sunslates are failing, and the two
upper roofs must be replaced. Does anyone else agree with me???
One of these roofs was replaced in 98' because the array had volts, but
no amps. It turned out that the Sunslates were shorting on a CONDUCTIVE
GREASE in the Sunslates j-box.
I want to commend Atlantis on providing quality service and support for
our customers' problems in the past, and we have enjoyed working with them
on many projects, including PV USA and the Kit Carson School. I expect that
they will work with us to find a solution. Right now, I am in the "we'll
have to call you back," stage, so I am looking for some outside input.
Nick Soleil
Alternative Power Systems
www.alternativepowersystems.com
nicks at alternativepowersystems.com
135 Colfax Ave.
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Grass Valley, CA 95945
(530) 274-0588 phone
(530) 274-0589 fax
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Tritt" <solarone at charter.net>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: Solar fountain pump. [RE-wrenches]
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Jonathan,
Since Dean isn't responding, the only rule models carried by Grainger are
the 3p996 and the 3p998. Having worked for many years in the marine industry
I can tell you for sure that these pumps are made for small boats, have
shaft seals (see Windy's comments) and are not designed for continuous duty.
The smaller version costs $17.37. That should give some idea of the quality.
The larger of the two will pump up to 2,000 GPH - all this for only $80.70!
You STILL get what you pay for.
Matt T
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Hill, Sierra Solar Systems" <solarjon at netshel.net>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: Solar fountain pump. [RE-wrenches]
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>Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
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>
>Hi Joel,
>Graingers has a nice little submersible 12VDC pump thread or screen
inlet.
>
>cul deant
>
Dean-
do you have a part number for the graingers pump? Do you have any
experience using it on a daily basis? Longevity?
--
Jonathan Hill, solar applications engineer
Sierra Solar Systems
563C Idaho Maryland Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945
tech info and foreign orders: (530) 273-6754
order line: (800) 51-SOLAR (US only) FAX: (530) 273-1760
e-mail: <mailto:solarjon at sierrasolar.com>
world wide web: <http://www.sierrasolar.com>
Because of the high volume of e-mail to which I respond, please
leave _all_ of the previous message (unless it's unbearable) in
your reply so I can better remember your original message.
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