[RE-wrenches] Damaged PV module cells

[Dave Tedeyan]

It was a bunch of years ago, but I had seen many of these "snail trails" on
some modules. I actually took a curve tracer to them, and they functioned
essentially the same as the other modules there that did not have the snail
trails. Maybe these will be sources of premature failure in the future, but
surprisingly, they were not affecting the module at the time.
Cheers,
Dave

On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:16 PM frenergy via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Not sure where this install is located but here in the Sierra, we had a
> near record snowfall and we saw a few failures, very few, but...
>
> Bill
>
> Feather River Solar Electric
> Bill Battagin, Owner
> 4291 Nelson St.(shipping)
> 5575 Genesee Rd. (USPS, UPS)
> Taylorsville, CA 95983
> 530.284.1925 Office/ 530.258.1641 Cell
> CA Lic 874049
> Solar powered since 1982
>
>
> On 7/16/2023 7:10 PM, Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> Kent
> I can assume there is no backsheet external damage, These look cell
> fractures, more common on poly, they may be cause of manufacturing or a
> result of overheating traces or both. Run an IR Curve test and see if this
> is resulting in decreased output. Sharp had a similar issue when they
> stepped up to the 200 larger modules some 20 years ago.
> Fun times
>
> On Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 2:59 PM Kent via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Found some damage to a customer's Grape CS-S-180-DJ PV modules this
>> morning. Unlike anything I've ever seen; so I'm hoping that someone on this
>> list can tell me the cause. I've put several photos of the cells online
>> <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nQhTqahEx4whmmWyy89tqaEEGvzkvEps?usp=sharing>
>> so you can inspect them. While it looks like there has been some localized
>> heating on the traces, there isn't any evidence of damage on the rear of
>> the PV modules. These are on an off grid system charging some 12-volt
>> batteries. Thanks.
>>
>> Kent Osterberg
>> Blue Mountain Solar
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