Post by texag on Jul 2, 2017 13:56:46 GMT -8
I've had my GroveWeatherPi up are running for about 5 weeks. Starting about 2 weeks ago we had about 8 days of cloudy and rainy weather. During that period, there was not enough sunlight during the day to recover what was lost over night. Every couple of days, I plugged a wall-powered USB power supply into the SunAirPlus to help recharge the batteries.
Five days ago the Sun came back but each day the solar charging could not keep up with what was expended. During this period I rarely saw more that 580 ma coming from the solar panels (I have 4 x 6V 330ma panels in my installation). Each panel is connected to a Multi Solar Panel Connector Board which is in turn connected to the SunAirPlus. This configuration produced as much a 800 ma on similar sunny weather conditions 4 weeks ago. Additionally, I have not seen the solar power above 3 Watts in the last two days (as recorded in the PowerSystem MySQL table).
Today (a sunny day) I tested each Solar Panel by covering all of the panels except one. I used the data in the MySQL table, PowerSystem, to record the solarCurrent and solarVoltage of each panel. Additionally, I measured the voltage on the back of each panel. Following are the results:
Current Voltage Voltage (measured on back of panel)
Panel #1 0.8 ma 4.152 v 4.9 v
Panel #2 59.6 ma 4.618 v 5.25 v
Panel #3 165.2 ma 4.663 v 5.25 v
Panel #4 272 ma 4.692 v 5.3 v
To rule out a faulty Multi Solar Panel Connector Board I swapped the connection of Panels #1 and #3. I re-tested Panel #1 and it still came up at 0 ma. I believe the Multi Solar Panel Connector Board is OK.
This data sample seems to indicate one dead panel, two partially functional panels and one fully functional panel.
I did nothing to weatherize the panels prior to mounting them. Should I have? If so, how is that done? I've attached pictures of my panel installation (top left - Panel #1, top right - Panel #2, bottom left - Panel #3, bottom right - Panel #4).
I've ordered a 9 Watt panel from VoltaicSystems as a replacement. www.voltaicsystems.com/9-watt-panel I'll re-purpose the remaining functional panel for the power for an aspirated radiation shield I'm designing.
Any thoughts on the short-lived panels?
Regards,
Kevin
Five days ago the Sun came back but each day the solar charging could not keep up with what was expended. During this period I rarely saw more that 580 ma coming from the solar panels (I have 4 x 6V 330ma panels in my installation). Each panel is connected to a Multi Solar Panel Connector Board which is in turn connected to the SunAirPlus. This configuration produced as much a 800 ma on similar sunny weather conditions 4 weeks ago. Additionally, I have not seen the solar power above 3 Watts in the last two days (as recorded in the PowerSystem MySQL table).
Today (a sunny day) I tested each Solar Panel by covering all of the panels except one. I used the data in the MySQL table, PowerSystem, to record the solarCurrent and solarVoltage of each panel. Additionally, I measured the voltage on the back of each panel. Following are the results:
Current Voltage Voltage (measured on back of panel)
Panel #1 0.8 ma 4.152 v 4.9 v
Panel #2 59.6 ma 4.618 v 5.25 v
Panel #3 165.2 ma 4.663 v 5.25 v
Panel #4 272 ma 4.692 v 5.3 v
To rule out a faulty Multi Solar Panel Connector Board I swapped the connection of Panels #1 and #3. I re-tested Panel #1 and it still came up at 0 ma. I believe the Multi Solar Panel Connector Board is OK.
This data sample seems to indicate one dead panel, two partially functional panels and one fully functional panel.
I did nothing to weatherize the panels prior to mounting them. Should I have? If so, how is that done? I've attached pictures of my panel installation (top left - Panel #1, top right - Panel #2, bottom left - Panel #3, bottom right - Panel #4).
I've ordered a 9 Watt panel from VoltaicSystems as a replacement. www.voltaicsystems.com/9-watt-panel I'll re-purpose the remaining functional panel for the power for an aspirated radiation shield I'm designing.
Any thoughts on the short-lived panels?
Regards,
Kevin