[RE-wrenches] Max Insolation

R Ray Walters ray at solarray.com
Wed Aug 29 10:26:50 PDT 2012


Hi All;

I was recently at a mountain top solar site (11,000 ft), doing some testing, and I measured insolation values that were averaging 1400w/m2, with a temporary peak (edge of cloud effect) that hit 1800w/m2.
Do I need to my meter recalibrated?  Its the Daystar, and seems to be accurate,  when we got some cloud cover, insolation dropped to 200-300 w/m2 as expected.

Interstingly the aging Photowatt 1000 modules were running at only about 60% of rated output current into a Blue Sky 3048 MPPT controller.  So I'm also wondering if I have faulty modules.  Back of module temps were about 95 deg F.
 Any help on both the high insolation reading or Photowatt troubles would be great.

Thanks in Advance,

Ray Walters




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