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Solar Panels not producing

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gonzalez

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Jan 9, 2022
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Hi guys I am having a major issue...I installed 40- 430 watt solar panels on my roof and using a Sol15k inverter... panels are wired 6S6P (2 strings) and the last string 8S8P.
It seems that the highest I have seen the production is about 4.8kw on a sunny day and at times when the load is higher around 6kw I am having to pull from the grid or battery to make up the short fall. Any idea what could be causing the low production...panels were purchased new at the time of installation however I can't say if the supplier sold me a bad stock of defective mods. Any idea on testing to isolate the issues?
Thanks in advance
 
Hi thanks for that information can you fill me in on what settings should I use and what values I should be seeing never used a clamp meter before.
 
You do realize it is winter right ?
Given they are on the roof, chances are that the angle just isn't good enough for winter ..

How did they produce last winter on a sunny day ?
 
gonzalez said:
Hi thanks for that information can you fill me in on what settings should I use and what values I should be seeing never used a clamp meter before.
Click to expand...
Be sure and get a clamp meter that supports measuring DC current - most of the cheaper ones only measure AC current (with the clamp anyway).
 
houseofancients said:
You do realize it is winter right ?
Given they are on the roof, chances are that the angle just isn't good enough for winter ..

How did they produce last winter on a sunny day ?
Click to expand...
They were just installed about 3 weeks ago…so no comparison
 
You need to a determine the angle (pitch) from Horizontal and the direction they are facing and bring up PV WATTS and see what their estimated output for December is. If you have a shadows across any of the panels from 9 AM to 3 PM, it can really drag down a string. I do not know SOl Ark configurations but with that many panels I assume you have several strings on independent MPPT circuits?

I have not tried it but some folks claim that a thermal camera can detect the difference between live and dead panels. That is assuming that all the panels are in the sun. It would save some initial diagnostic time before getting out the clamp on.
 
I have a thermal camera so I might give that a try. I’m located in the bahamas so getting sun isn’t a problem I understand around this time of the year output would be lower but I didn’t think it would be that low with that amount of panels. i will also check PVwatts
 
I have 42 panels that are around 300 watts each and they are producing around 40kw for the day. I am in Maine, so we are very limited on the hours. Typically, it is between 9:30 am and 2 pm or around 5 and 1/ 2 hours. Other than that, there is shading, or the sun is rising or setting. That figures out to 7 kw per hour.
 
gonzalez said:
Hi thanks for that information can you fill me in on what settings should I use and what values I should be seeing never used a clamp meter before.
Click to expand...
The clamp meter is very easy to use. That is the clamp meter that I purchased, and I have used it for troubleshooting panels. Set the clamp meter to DC Amps and then open up the clamp and then make sure the cable from the solar panel is inside the clamp. It should not be on the wire itself. You should be measuring whatever amps the panel is rated at.
 
WindWizard said:
The clamp meter is very easy to use. That is the clamp meter that I purchased, and I have used it for troubleshooting panels. Set the clamp meter to DC Amps and then open up the clamp and then make sure the cable from the solar panel is inside the clamp. It should not be on the wire itself. You should be measuring whatever amps the panel is rated at.
Click to expand...
Well, you would only be reading the amps the panel is rated at when the conditions are perfect - no clouds, perfect angle to the sun, etc. You would likely see less most of the time.
 
I too am in Maine and up until a few weeks ago I had only (6) 200amp panels producing 4kW a day. You had said your large system is only producing 4kW, I would assume you mean 4kW per hour?

We are officially in the worst time of year up here in Maine for sun exposure btw:)
 
gonzalez said:
Hi guys I am having a major issue...I installed 40- 430 watt solar panels on my roof and using a Sol15k inverter... panels are wired 6S6P (2 strings) and the last string 8S8P.
Click to expand...
Do you mean 6S2P and 8S2P?
Do you get readings for each string? Are they all at the same per-panel output?
Has output been the same every day since installation, or did it suddenly drop?
A pic of the array with each string labeled would help.
Also panel specs and whatever mid-day voltage/current/power readings you have.
 
gonzalez said:
I have a thermal camera so I might give that a try. I’m located in the bahamas so getting sun isn’t a problem I understand around this time of the year output would be lower but I didn’t think it would be that low with that amount of panels. i will also check PVwatts
Click to expand...
Any shading? What is the angle?
 
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