Solar Panel Troubles

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Illine

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Posts
9
We've been fulltiming for 7 years now. When we first began we had 3 75 watt solar panels installed and a 1500 inverter (I'm not very "techy" so I don't know if this is watts, amps or what!) It worked great until we purchased a new rig and had the solar stuff all moved over to the new fifthwheel two years ago. Now it will work for a little while and then just quit... if it works at all! Does anyone out there know where I can take it to have this checked out? I don't really trust a dealer to look at it because it seems most of them are clueless about solar unless you're in southern Arizona or a similar place. That's where we purchased ours but now we are in Birmingham, AL, for possibly several months. Any ideas?
 
Hi Illine,

My recommendation would be to contact the manufacturer. They may be able to help online, or they can refer you to a knoweldgeable dealer. The local rep for my solar panels has been fantastic, even spending two hours troubleshooting a bad install by a dealer and then installing a new panel when he found the miswiring had blown the panel.

John B.
 
Illine said:
! Does anyone out there know where I can take it to have this checked out? I don't really trust a dealer to look at it because it seems most of them are clueless about solar unless you're in southern Arizona or a similar place. That's where we purchased ours but now we are in Birmingham, AL, for possibly several months. Any ideas?

You could always join a number of the Forum Members in Quartzsite Az in the last half of January......

That's in Southern AZ and if one of us can't figure it out... Visit the dealer you got them from

(note, this is typed with a smile)
 
Illine,

Is it your solar or your inverter that isn't working?

I assume that the solar panel and the inverter are independent, i. e. the solar panel is connected to the batteries and either puts out a charging voltage or doesn't.  If you turn off all other chargers, remove all loads from the batteries and cover/uncover the solar panels on a sunny day, you should be able to detect a change in voltage on the batteries if the panels are working.

Check if the inverter is working by making sure the batteries are charged and there is 12 volts DC at the DC input side of the inverter. If the inverter is working there will be 115 volts AC on the AC output side.

You mention that you are not very "techy" so if you haven't had experience in checking out electrical circuits, it would be better to have a technician do this for you.

 
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