Solar Panel Replaced

After I commissioned the new solar panels in early November I noticed signs that things were not quite right. One day I noticed erratic levels of amperage being delivered to the house bank though the sunshine was relatively steady.  The wind charger was unsteady as usual, delivering 0-3 amps,  which would not explain the behaviour. The next time I visited the boat the amperage input was steady and normal.

But I had not seen the panels delivering more than 5 amps and I would not be satisfied until I saw about 15 amps being delivered.  The maximum of 5 amps that I had been seeing was normal given that the battery bank was always topped up with the regulator on "float".  The only way to test the system would be to lower the battery voltage enough to force the regulator to go into the "boost" phase and see what the panels delivered in bright sunshine.

Last week just before the Bunbury Cruise Information Dinner I visited the boat,  covered both panels with heavy wool blankets, turned on the refrigerator and chart plotter, then left the boat for the night. 

At 10 AM the next day Stephen and I visited the boat to find the house bank down to 12.7v and the regulator on "boost".  While Stephen watched the instruments below I uncovered the panels exposing them to full sunshine.  Stephen reported a delivery of 7 amps.  I joined him down below, confirmed his finding, and grumbled that 7 amps was disappointing, as though only one panel was working.  Stephen suggested that we investigate this by covering one panel at a time.

We covered the port panel and the voltage dropped to 0v.  We then moved the blanket to the other panel and the voltage resumed to 7v.  OK, so the starboard panel was not producing.  We then checked the voltages at the end of the connections that were part of the panels and confirmed that the port panel was at 7v and the starboard panel was at 0v.  Note that none of my wiring was involved in this examination.

I contacted Battery World and we arranged a visited on Wednesday of this week.  I met Brian at the gate and soon we were on the boat.  After peeling back the Bimini cover Brian probed both panels and confirmed that the starboard panel was dead.  We removed the 6 bolts holding the panel onto the frame and soon we had it loaded in his van.  I asked him what to expect next.  Brian would check the panel but unless he found a simple fix a replacement panel would probably have to wait until after Christmas. 

Late on Thursday morning - the next day - I got message  that the panel was faulty, which I had expected, but they had a brand new replacement panel in the shop ready for pickup, which was a very big and surprise.  Brian told me that while discussing the problem with KT, he ask if they could send a replacement today.  To their credit KT sent the replacement almost immediately. 

No doubt KT will be most interested in determining the fault because according to what they told Brian, they have never had one of their panels fail.

I picked up the panel, went to be boat, where the first thing I did was check out the voltage under sunshine.   I read 21.5v under partial shading, which was good enough for me.  I then worked methodically without rushing, and two hours  later had the new panel mounted, connected, cables tidied up, tools put away, and cockpit swept of aluminum shavings from the drilling.  Because the house bank was full and the regulator was at "float" stage another test with the house bank low enough to put the regulator into "boost" phase would have to wait until my next visit. 

But I am optimistic.

Battery World O'Connor's handling of the matter was exemplary, and I cannot speak highly enough of them and, for that matter, KT.