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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Friends and colleagues:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">I recently performed a service call at a grid-tied installation we did in 2003. The homeowner noticed the daily consumption had declined to about 1/3 of typical sometime in the last year. Sure enough 2 of the three strings (30 mods in total) of Siemens SP150s showed low voltage.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">When I tilted up two of the racks to expose one dead string of 10, I found that 6 of the 10 panels had 1/3 or 2/3 of the expected OC voltage. Testing of the individual strings indicated that 1 or 2 strings were dead on each affected panel. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Close examination revealed pinpoint heat damage on inter-cell traces. The diodes tested good. See photo below.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><img width="512" height="384" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D64BCB.5BA54390"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">I am surprised to see such a high rate of failure. Has anyone else experienced this with these or other panels? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Is anyone servicing warranty claims on these ancient panels? I doubt there is much value left in the warranty but I am curious.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Thanks in advance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">William Miller</span></p></div></body></html>