Senior Member
Joined: 25/09/2024
Location: United KingdomPosts: 105
| Posted: 04:29pm 17 Jun 2025 |
As I've found out, it seems to be a panel with a "triple" configuration — meaning I'm dealing with three cell sections in one panel. Its integrated (three) diodes should — at least in theory— bypass the sections or block current flow back to the cell sections which are partially or fully shaded, which is different from smaller panels without diodes at all.
So, I suspect that one of the diodes is not working properly and one of the sections is dissipating a significant amount of current, or one of the sections is not properly put together - would not be the first time, i've got smaller Panels from other manufacturers which were, albeit on the first view perfectly fine, internally totally messed up - for example, the positive side of one cell row was connected to the first cells positive side of next row aswell, instead of going underneath it on order to create a single cell String, because the connecting terminals were on the same side - and produced nearly no Power/Current with strong voltage drops below 12 Volts under load conditions.
If 90% of my Panel is exposed to strong sunlight, an output of 50 to 60 Watts output is far too low, especially given its internal configuration. I would understand such a drop if we were dealing with a single cell, with no diodes except those for the string configuration and bypassing an entire panel, and if some parts of the cell were shaded.
The panel -does- get full sun exposure over its entire surface as the day progresses, but I barely get 0.6 kWh out of it per day, with at least 8 hours of being partially and fully exposed in those days, with a perfect and unblocked view to the sun and no clouds being visible. That's very low for a panel rated at (corrected) 410 watts, even considering that solar irradiance drops after midday and that 410 watts is typically only achievable in lab conditions.
Edited 2025-06-18 13:18 by stef123