[RE-wrenches] panel failure

[Roy Rakobitsch]

Although i cant vouch for 20 year old siemens, my siemens modules (14 yr
old sp-150s) had an intermittent connection develop between the stainless
ribbon that exits the back sheet and the terminal where the blocking diodes
connect (3 diodes). They used a spot welder to join the materials. This had
opened up - the small spot welds broke.  Like I said, yours may be
different, but might be worth a shot scoping out the integrity of these
connections. This would be on the posts that feed the blocking diodes, so
before the diodes.

Roy Rakobitsch
NABCEP Certified Small Wind Installer®
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer®
Certified Advanced Tower Climbing, Safety & Rescue
Wind/PV Design Engineer
Windsine LLC
631-514-4166
www.windsine.org
On Sep 16, 2015 7:47 AM, "Roy Rakobitsch" <windsine at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ron, I replied a few days ago, ill fwd if you want.
>
> Roy Rakobitsch
> NABCEP Certified Small Wind Installer®
> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer®
> Certified Advanced Tower Climbing, Safety & Rescue
> Wind/PV Design Engineer
> Windsine LLC
> 631-514-4166
> www.windsine.org
> On Sep 16, 2015 1:57 AM, "Brian Teitelbaum" <bteitelbaum at aeesolar.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Ron,
>>
>> I'll pipe in here. If the module "works" when he bypasses the diodes, then
>> the diodes, or the solder connections on the ribbons or the diodes, must
>> be
>> at fault.
>>
>> I put "works" in quotes because we don't have the details on the meter
>> readings.
>>
>> Brian
>> AEE Solar
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On
>> Behalf Of Ron Young
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 11:45 PM
>> To: RE-wrenches
>> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] panel failure
>>
>> Thanks Allan, I was wondering about the lack of response as this group is
>> always very helpful. One begins to suspect the phantom cause, i.e. the
>> rest
>> of the story that wasn’t told to us by the customer. It happens from time
>> to
>> time ;-)
>>
>> Ron
>>
>> > On Sep 15, 2015, at 9:07 PM, Allan Sindelar <allan at sindelarsolar.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > Ron,
>> > The lack of response may indeed be your answer. I didn't reply because
>> it
>> > hasn't happened on my watch and I have no idea what would cause what you
>> > describe.
>> > Allan
>> >
>> >> On Sep 15, 2015, at 8:30 PM, RM You <solareagle at solareagle.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Just wondering if any esteemed wrenches have an idea what could cause
>> >> this problem? Customer says nothing unusual happened that he is aware
>> of
>> >> and the panels had been working fine for many years but now 4 of 6
>> panels
>> >> just quit. Doesn’t appear to be a diode failure.
>> >>
>> >> Ron
>> >>
>> >>> On Sep 11, 2015, at 4:58 PM, RM You <solareagle at solareagle.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> I have a customer who has 6 siemens 48w panels that are 20 years old
>> >>> (hooked in parallel to a 12v battery). He says that 4 of them have
>> >>> failed in that there is no output unless he bypasses the diodes.
>> However
>> >>> he pulled the diodes and checked them on a diode check and separately
>> on
>> >>> a battery with a light bulb and they appear to be functioning
>> correctly.
>> >>> Any ideas what could be causing this anomaly?
>> >>>
>> >>> Ron Young
>> >>>
>> >>
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