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New Solar Panel - Is it working OK

namder

Age: 42

Joined: Sep 20, 2006

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I purchased an 80W solar panel at the Lincoln Show from AllSolar. The regulator lights show two green on the PWM controller indicating all is well! I have checked the voltage accross the terminals this morning 10am clear sky, good sun and 20C. My battery, Elecsol 110 Carbon Fibre 14 months old is showing 12.36v before connection of the panel and 12.82 after connection.

Any of you knowledgeable people out there like to comment on the efficiency of my panel and if there is a better controller that will give me more info like amp output.

My panel is free standing and pointing directly at the sun.

One hour later the green light is flashing indicating battery full. Panel disconnected and battery showing a charge of 12.63v

Thanks

Reason for change by namder: Type of panel

Last edited by namder on Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:02 am; edited 2 times in total

spatz1

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for information, my 60w flat on the roof is showing 12.76v and 10.6w in full sun this morning so yours should be doing 13 ish watts... yesterday (sunny like today) mine only put 5AH in the batteries compared with up to 25AH when the sun is overhead in summer....
I d expect yours to be putting 7 AH into your batteries so in effect you can use 1 x 20w light for 4 1/2 hours....from your days solar input..

not a lot is it !!!!

fit a turnigy power meter if you want to watch it !!!

747

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As your panel is freestanding (like mine) there is an easy way to check panel output.

Go to Maplins and buy a Car Current Tester (part number N48CY, £9.99). There are 2 versions, maxi and mini.

Fit an inline blade fuse holder (also from Maplin, about £2) between the regulator and battery/ies. Then you fit the inline blade fuse into the Current tester and plug it into the inline fuse holder. When you are happy with the result, remove the tester and refit your blade fuse.

The tester is battery powered and when switched on, will give you the readout in Amps of the solar panel output.

I have used mine to find the optimum angle to get the most out of my panel, as it varies between Winter and Summer.

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Techno100

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assuming you have no load on the battery? fully charged without the panels connected ought to read 12.6. Sounds like yours is not fully charged and connecting the panel has immediately increased the voltage reading. It should rise to 13.6 through the day(current weather) if you don't use it and fall back to 12.6 gradually after charge stops/sundown

Techno100

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As referred to by 747
http://www.maplin.co.uk/automotive-current-tester-217879

As for a better regulator how much do you want to spend? there are so many Rolling Eyes

However a digital display can be misleading if you don't understand what is going on. For example if your battery is fully charged and there is full Sun you may only see a fraction of an amp on the display which of course would be correct or your battery would get overcharged.

rosalan

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You could always give AllSolar a call, I found them very helpful when shortly after buying the equipment an error message came up. They said they would check and call me back which they did although I was in France. He talked me through the problem which was soon fixed thanks to him contacting the importer.
Alan

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