I have four 190W solar panels on my boat (soon to be replaced by larger ones), they are 11 years old and now they are not charging at peak hours 1200-1500 hrs. Is it the panels or should I look at a problem elsewhere?....I using a Solar Boost 50A controller and remote display, the display shows charge during the other daylight hours......panels shot?.....controller?
I have 190W solar panels (four), they are 11 years old this week I saw that they are not charging when the sun is highest 12-3, when they should be ch
- Thread starter MIRELOS
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Does your charger show the PV voltage value? If so, what is the value when it is charging and what is the value when it is not charging? If zero when not charging, I would think the circuit is open, assuming the 4 panels are connected in series.
sailingcal21
New Member
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- May 7, 2021
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Since they’re in parallel, perhaps you can disconnect them one at a time to see which one is dragging down the group. Hard to believe that they all have failed at the same time, unless there was a catastrophic event involved.
6v PV is next to nothing. Are you sure that is the PV voltage? Sound like it might be amps.
Amps would be zero if not charging but you should see full panel voltage in that case, unless like SailingCal21 said, something it dragging the voltage down.
Understand that I asked, "Does your charger show the PV voltage value? If so, what is the value when it is charging and what is the value when it is not charging?" Telling us the amps when I asked for PV voltage does not help.
If the voltage are there and no amps, that means one thing. If the volts are not there, then of course there can be no amps...that means something else. Amps zero when not charging would be a given. We need to know what the PV voltage at the charger is both while charging and when it stops in midday. Thanks.
If the voltage are there and no amps, that means one thing. If the volts are not there, then of course there can be no amps...that means something else. Amps zero when not charging would be a given. We need to know what the PV voltage at the charger is both while charging and when it stops in midday. Thanks.
it is 1300hrs, I just checked and the unit is showing 0 V and of course 0 A on the solar panel current and output charge current, also the light of the charge status is off...it is reading the voltage of the house battery bank , I also checked directly at the controller and got the same oddity yet this morning at 10:00hrs all was well and all will be well again late afternoon...I don't understand why it stops working only at high sun time and of course at night.....thanks to all the responses
So if you have voltage at your charger that suddenly goes to zero volts, the wiring to/from the panels is "open". You have a connection that is going open circuit when it gets hot, most likely from the heat. What types of connections, fuses, breakers, etc are between the panels an the charger? If you have some type of Y combiner to bring your four parallels into one, can you remove it and just have one panel going to the charger and see if that will work? Ideally work on it now while it is in failure mode.
I just read your suggestion and I was about to isolate the panels the controller came on....the light is on bulk, the output charge current is at 6.1 the solar panel current is at 4.9 and the battery voltage is at 24.4...so that is 2 1/2 hours that it shut down....I know that the temperature is referred to the wiring but today it is a mild day (don't know if it matters) and the controller will stay on until the sun sets.....all the equipment is 11 years old except the batteries (viltron 1 year old) it has work flawlessly until now. I'm puzzled, I will try to isolate the panels tomorrow (weather permitting) when the system goes to sleep at noon...I did check with a multimeter at the controller in case it was the remote display and got 0 at the controller..thanks again
D you are spot on, I came back from shopping and the controller was off again, time was 1630hrs so I went to isolate the panels and as I tried to uncouple one set I could not, it was fused, the plastic had melted inside the connector, I believe it's an MC4, as soon as I disconnected that pair the controller turned on....even though they are mostly away from the sun and direct salt water the marine environment ( I sail offshore so am exposed to severe weather) can be very harsh...I think I should replace all the connectors; your thoughts?
Appreciate your insightful thoughts, I should have checked for a bad "wire"
Thanks again
Appreciate your insightful thoughts, I should have checked for a bad "wire"
Thanks again
wiseacre
Solar Addict
MC4
They look good but I'm not the only one that had to replace corroded fittings
I had a bad string that went dead, checked the other 3 strings and decided to replace every MC4 on my array because they all showed some signs of corruption. Time elapsed from new to replaced was 2 1/2 years.
They look good but I'm not the only one that had to replace corroded fittings
I had a bad string that went dead, checked the other 3 strings and decided to replace every MC4 on my array because they all showed some signs of corruption. Time elapsed from new to replaced was 2 1/2 years.
sailingcal21
New Member
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- May 7, 2021
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Humm, its been a few years since I've worked on my system. Thinking that I ought to do a bit of inspection this weekend. 
I bought this pair of MC4 crimpers and they work just fine. If you are going to crimp on the replacements, you might get some extras and practice, but it is not hard at all. Here is a referenced for MC4s but I can't say these are good ones, just a random Amazon offering. I found that rather than take the connector apart and slide the water seal part up the wire, I just crimp on the terminal and then slip it through the waterproof section until it clicks into place, then screw down the part to close the seal around the wire insulation.
I am curious how you are connecting the 4 panels in parallel. Are you using those Y type connectors that can bring two MC4s down to one MC4?
I have TYCO connectors 2 into 1, so I have the 2 pos into one and the 2 negs into another one...I have my panels split 2 in the back of the boat and 2 on top of the "roof"
I'm planning to replace all with with 3 x 320W on top and 3x 320W in the back, I see that Renogy makes connectors MC4Y-M to connect 3 into 1 so I'm hoping that will do it...I will also add another controller from Renogy 40A...big project but I want to minimize using the generator
Do you have your panels in parallel because of some shading issues, or is it because of the voltage limits of your charge controller?
on a boat (at anchor or cruising) you can't control shading issues and the sail can create quite the shade
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