Green along edges of Solar Panel only 2/3 voltage

[steviep19]

I have a Solar Panel in one of my array's. It's only putting out 2/3's of the rated voltage. The Panel's are in a 4s2p array, so with the decreased voltage, during the bulk of the day the entire string of the array does not contribute any power.

I opened the Junction box, but do not see any voltage between the 1st and 2nd series. None of the diodes appear to be broken. I'm assuming this means the first 1/3 set of solar cells has a problem, and I plan to replace this panel.

My biggest concern is, all the panel's in this array have some of this blue/green along the edges. Are they next do go?

 

[time2roll]

Any chance of getting a warranty adjustment? Seems defective with possible moisture intrusion. Yes the others could soon do the same.
Only time will tell.

 

[steviep19]

Any chance of getting a warranty adjustment? Seems defective with possible moisture intrusion. Yes the others could soon do the same.
Only time will tell.

These are old. No warranty here. But I’ve gotten much life of them. I’ll run them to the ground replacing them as they fail.

Thanks

 

[Sarah F]

I'm a newbie, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However, it's my understanding that a common failure mode is the polymer back-sheet breaking down and allowing water intrusion. This happens around points that get particularly hot. You might be able to seal over the backsides of your panels to get some extra life. Also, if you can find a suspect cell in nonfunctional panel, you might be able to scrape off some backing material and bypass the defective cell with a wire, sealed underneath some new backsheet material that you apply (maybe an adhesive-backed plastic film???

That said, the panels of yours that are turning green already have water intrusion, so I would think they would continue to go downhill no matter what you did to seal the panels up. You might be able to save some panels that don't yet have any green. (I defer to the experience of others, of course. As I said, I'm just a newbie.)

 

[steviep19]

I'm a newbie, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However, it's my understanding that a common failure mode is the polymer back-sheet breaking down and allowing water intrusion. This happens around points that get particularly hot. You might be able to seal over the backsides of your panels to get some extra life. Also, if you can find a suspect cell in nonfunctional panel, you might be able to scrape off some backing material and bypass the defective cell with a wire, sealed underneath some new backsheet material that you apply (maybe an adhesive-backed plastic film???

That said, the panels of yours that are turning green already have water intrusion, so I would think they would continue to go downhill no matter what you did to seal the panels up. You might be able to save some panels that don't yet have any green. (I defer to the experience of others, of course. As I said, I'm just a newbie.)

Sarah,

I think your spot on. I'll look into sealing the backside, maybe slow down the damage. I've already replaced the damaged panel with an extra. As far as the panel that's 2/3rd voltage, I'm not sure I'm proficient enough in my electrical ability to do that.

 

[Hornsofalligin]

My single panel also has green edge, so given the above I assume that mean it’s dying.

I’ve been told it’s dangerous and possibly a fire risk

Can anybody advise if water ingress causing greening poses a fire risk?

Ps. Sorry to hijack the thread

 

[Hornsofalligin]

My single panel also has green edge, so given the above I assume that mean it’s dying.

I’ve been told it’s dangerous and possibly a fire risk

Can anybody advise if water ingress causing greening poses a fire risk?

Ps. Sorry to hijack the thread

Bump

 

[steviep19]

Bump

I don't think they're dangerous, as long as you have them properly fused. Just an update, I had a second one fail in the same way. I've since moved all 8 from an array over my patio, to a temporary PVC array. This way their easier to test/monitor.

The good news is now my array's are back in balance both now producing only 90v instead of ~103