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<p>These days modules are so cheap, and so much more efficient, that
I just reuse the racks, even if the existing modules are good.
Racking, wiring, excavation all exceed the cost of the mods, so
its what ever gets the customer the power they need for the lowest
cost. <br>
</p>
<p>OTOH, if the system is still working, I'd just leave them alone,
until there's an actual failure. Funny thing is, those modules
could be losing all kinds of power, but you might not really
notice it, if its a non MPPT controller. I do respect the grey
haired folks that can still live on a 12 v system, the next
generations do not have the patience.</p>
<p> I really don't work on 12 v systems much anymore, except to
replace them in total. I've found I can burn up a lot of $$
messing around, and the customer is still running on a 20+ year
old system, that's never going to get younger again. Grape Solar
was not a top brand BTW. <br>
</p>
<p>Ray Walters<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/16/2023 4:18 PM, Kent via
RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:213fa2e5-90ff-4f86-baea-6e0506da13c9@coveoregon.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
I think these modules are about 12 years old. I didn't have a
voltmeter or ammeter with me this morning when this was discovered
so I wasn't able to check the output.<br>
<br>
Kent Osterberg<br>
Blue Mountain Solar
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/16/2023 3:06 PM, Dave Angelini
Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:cc8629e310d4e9844db9122dda6fe05d@sti.net">
<div id="signature">Hi Kent, How is output and how old are the
panels?<br>
<pre> </pre>
<pre><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
<a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/</a>
e-mail <a href="mailto:offgridsolar@sti.net" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">offgridsolar@sti.net</a>
text 209 813 0060</span></strong></pre>
</div>
<p><br>
</p>
<p id="reply-intro">On 2023-07-16 2:58 pm, Kent via RE-wrenches
wrote:</p>
<blockquote type="cite" style="padding: 0 0.4em; border-left:
#1010ff 2px solid; margin: 0">
<div id="replybody1">
<div>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 <a
href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nQhTqahEx4whmmWyy89tqaEEGvzkvEps?usp=sharing"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"
moz-do-not-send="true">photos of the cells online</a> 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.<br>
<br>
Kent Osterberg<br>
Blue Mountain Solar</div>
</div>
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