[RE-wrenches] Canadian Solar / MC4 connectors in a marine environment

[jay]

Hi Kirk,
the connectors if done correctly are water tight.  
There are few thoughts as to issues.

wrong sized gland nut
incorrectly tightened
if double jacketed wire, the outer layer could have come lose allowing water in.
are they real MC-4?

debris during installation allowing damaged O rings

Can’t think of much else. but way to many of them out there for it to be a OEM problem.

jay
peltz power
> On Jun 6, 2016, at 2:28 PM, Kirk Herander <vtsolar at icloud.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
>  
> I am debugging a Florida ocean-side 35 kw array using 4 year old Canadian Solar panels, which I’ve never had a high opinion of, installed by others.
> I’ve discovered several not-so-good problems, such as low insulation resistance through the panels, ONLY when raining, early to mid-morning condensation, or by using the last resort of spraying the panels with a garden house and watching the SMA inverters shut down due to failing their self “Riso” (that’s the IRT) test creating a ground fault error.
> That aside, what’s just as interesting is that about 8 or 9 of the module interconnections were basically oozing the aqua-blue copper tarnish. I’ve never seen this in any installation before. Either the MC4s weren’t crimped and tightened at the factory well, or the connectors were seated poorly, although that doesn’t seem to be the case. BTW, I replaced all these dubious MC4 connectors and the ground faults still occur when the panels are wet.
> The bigger issue is the panel warranty, but is there anything on the market which could seal these connections, perhaps a type of “clamshell” to provide an extra layer of protection, which is removable if need be? There’s always glue-filled heat shrink, but ideally I don’t want anything permanent surrounding the connectors.
> Has anyone ever seen what I’m describing in a marine environment?
>  
> Kirk Herander
> Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC 
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