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Are these Panels any good?

A few months ago I purchased some of these same panels used from a local vendor, with local pickup only. They turned out to be the best performing panels I've ever seen, with them putting out 94% of their rated wattage at 4pm (westward facing array). I paid only 59$ for mine, but 75$ is still a good deal.
What I would do is bring a volt/amp meter with me, and test each and every panel before loading it on your vehicle. That's what I did for my purchases (five now). If the Voc and Isc look good, then I think you will have no problem.
 
I have a Renogy Rover 60 Amp 12V/24V/36V/48V MPPT Solar Controller and am unclear whether they will work with this controller. From what I can tell it only works with those specific volts.
 
The voltages listed are nominal battery system voltages i.e. the unit will charge 12V/24V...etc batteries. In terms of the PV side, the Renogy Rover 60A supports up to 150V so you could connect up to three of these panels in series (Voc = 37.8V x 3 panels = 113.4V), and up to 800W for 12V battery systems, 1,600W for 24V battery systems and 3,200W for 48V battery systems according to here.
 
REC Solar is a tier one manufacturer; made in Singapore; I visited their factory; excellent quality and process control.
 
stu said:
Are these Panels any good? They are an hour drive from me

www.ebay.com

260 WATT REC REC260PE Z-LINK SOLAR PANEL 60 CELL GRID TIE OFF GRID SOLAR PANEL | eBay

Located in Dallas Texas off of Loop 12 and I45 south of Downtown. We try to provide good pictures for your consideration. WEIGHT: 40 LBS




 SPECIFICATION SHOWN ARE TO BE 
USED AS A GUIDELINE ONLY.
www.ebay.com

Thanks all
Click to expand...
I bought four of these Ebay panels from a location in Santa Paula, CA. Local pick-up. A little more than an hour one-way. No shipping. $65 each plus tax. Santa Paula is in Ventura County. MFG date 2017. The seller says they have a location in Texas. $65 each plus tax. He indicated he was getting another shipment of 700 panels from Texas. Tested the panels individually and the most I could pull was 210w in full sun but I don't think I had them at the optimal angle and the panels were dirty. Thinking about getting a few more if I can find space in my yard to mount them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324575042510?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
 
Dumb question as I'm quite new to all this. I also am looking at some REC260PE Z-LINK panels I found online for 65 each used. Are the connectors MC4? I'm guessing most panels are, but I never see where it is denoted on the sticker. Thank you in advance
 
I have these panels (5) and they only put out 400 watts total? About 1-2 amps each panel, not sure what’s happening. Same measurements for each panel in the sun.
 

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DevMitch said:
I have these panels (5) and they only put out 400 watts total? About 1-2 amps each panel, not sure what’s happening. Same measurements for each panel in the sun.
Click to expand...
From the look of the first image of your DMM I am uncertain you are using it correctly. Also the second image showing 35.6vDC at your AIO's terminals seems low. How do you have the panels wired?
 
Mattb4 said:
From the look of the first image of your DMM I am uncertain you are using it correctly. Also the second image showing 35.6vDC at your AIO's terminals seems low. How do you have the panels wired?
Click to expand...
They measure 1-2amps at the panel at 30~volts.

2 Series of 2 panels each series wired parallel into the inverter (using combiner box/fuse/breaker).
5th panel is wired in parallel.

w5iP1708b1708w.png
 
To measure current you need to use a DC clamp meter or put the probes in series.

I did look at your DMM usage for the current reading and you will need to convince me how it is correct.

Also I recognize the MC4 tool as a generic Amazon one. That is fine. For fire safety the MC4 connectors themselves ought to be properly matched UL listed ones (and the ones that come with that kind of tool+connectors kit are not compliant wi the that in my experience).
 
DevMitch said:
2 Series of 2 panels each series wired parallel into the inverter (using combiner box/fuse/breaker).
5th panel is wired in parallel.
Click to expand...
This is bad. The 5th panel will either pull down the other 2 strings to its voltage (half of the other two), or it will contribute 0. Depends on the MPPT.

Just delete that one for sanity.
 
zanydroid said:
This is bad. The 5th panel will either pull down the other 2 strings to its voltage (half of the other two), or it will contribute 0. Depends on the MPPT.

Just delete that one for sanity.
Click to expand...
Deleted it and volts went back up to 67v but now at 2.1 amps? Does my meter not read DC amps? The solar inverter reads the same readings as my multimeter.
 
DevMitch said:
Deleted it and volts went back up to 67v but now at 2.1 amps? Does my meter not read DC amps? The solar inverter reads the same readings as my multimeter.
Click to expand...
Did the power output go up?

Can you link the article you used describing how to use DMM wire probes or the headcanon that you're using?

In my understanding, which I'm confident of, you can measure voltage, no problem, with applying it non-intrusively in a circuit, since the voltage across two nodes in the circuit will be undisturbed

Buy a clamp meter -- is the easiest current solution here. The noise level is pretty high so you can't exactly do precise measurements, but it will be better than nothing.

www.quora.com

How can you measure the current in a circuit without breaking the electrical connection between two points?

Answer (1 of 2): I can think of 6 ways. There are probably more. 1. Measure the voltage across a known resistance 2. Put a current probe around a conductor 3. Measure the magnetic field at the surface of the conductor. This is similar to the current probe, without taking advantage of the entire ...
www.quora.com www.quora.com
 
zanydroid said:
Did the power output go up?

Can you link the article you used describing how to use DMM wire probes or the headcanon that you're using?

In my understanding, which I'm confident of, you can measure voltage, no problem, with applying it non-intrusively in a circuit, since the voltage across two nodes in the circuit will be undisturbed

Buy a clamp meter -- is the easiest current solution here. The noise level is pretty high so you can't exactly do precise measurements, but it will be better than nothing.

www.quora.com

How can you measure the current in a circuit without breaking the electrical connection between two points?

Answer (1 of 2): I can think of 6 ways. There are probably more. 1. Measure the voltage across a known resistance 2. Put a current probe around a conductor 3. Measure the magnetic field at the surface of the conductor. This is similar to the current probe, without taking advantage of the entire ...
www.quora.com www.quora.com
Click to expand...
www.harborfreight.com

6 Function Mini Clamp Meter

Amazing deals on this 6 Function Mini Digital Multimeter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com

This work?
 
DevMitch said:
www.harborfreight.com

6 Function Mini Clamp Meter

Amazing deals on this 6 Function Mini Digital Multimeter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com

This work?
Click to expand...
It should, but I would recommend doing more research and seeing what other features you might want. For instance, I bought one without inrush, and inrush is important in solar b/c it lets you figure out how rough an appliance will be when starting it up. Inrush is not important for what you're doing right now but might be useful esp for a small scale 12V system

And in my comment above, I noted that you can measure the Isc with how you're measuring things, if you remove the inverter from the equation. You can disconnect the inverter at the combiner disconnect.
 
With your setup, you would get 2*Isc

You are getting about 10% of that right now.

Maybe test one panel at a time.

Your orientation of the panels probably will not cause drop down to 10%. The optimal way is for all panels on a series string to have the same orientation, since a string is limited to the lowest producing one. You have 2 panels pointing one way 2 panels pointing another way, hopefully you wired it up in the correct way.
 
DevMitch said:
They measure 1-2amps at the panel at 30~volts.

2 Series of 2 panels each series wired parallel into the inverter (using combiner box/fuse/breaker).
5th panel is wired in parallel.

View attachment 223210
Click to expand...
As pictured your panels are not wired correctly. You show 2 pairs of panels wired in series and than combined in parallel (double voltage and double current) and wired in parallel with one panel. This would cause your voltage for all 5 panels to max out at Voc of 1 panel (explains your meter reading) and production to be lowered.

To read amperage with a DMM you almost always have to move the red lead to the amperage plug. Amperage can only be read by inserting the meter between pos and neg.
 
zanydroid said:
It should, but I would recommend doing more research and seeing what other features you might want. For instance, I bought one without inrush, and inrush is important in solar b/c it lets you figure out how rough an appliance will be when starting it up. Inrush is not important for what you're doing right now but might be useful esp for a small scale 12V system

And in my comment above, I noted that you can measure the Isc with how you're measuring things, if you remove the inverter from the equation. You can disconnect the inverter at the combiner disconnect.
Click to expand...


The details on that show it only does AC amps

1718890453274.png


It will take something like this

 
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