When Dan was here, I took him to my happy place… The electronics recycle store… He loved it and saw why I love it…..
As we were walking in there was this solar panel at the front door. A one off.
Ok, lousy photo….
Anyway, we went there in the Smart Car, aint no way we were going to fit it in for the trip home, so it took me a few days to get a guy from work in his truck to come get it and then take it to my place.
The fun part of the panel is that it is marked ‘CandianSolar.com’ And cause I was with Dan, the joke was, I had to buy it. (Dan is Canadian)
If you remember a zillion blogs ago, I had some issues with some made in China solar panels; https://thebaldgeek.net/index.php/2015/09/03/solar-panel-efficiency/
Bottom line, they only can give their rated output if they are in a fridge with the sun shining.
The big 75 buck question is, would the Canadiansolar be the same?
Dragged it up on the roof, hooked it into the system…..AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDDD…..
Nothing.
Got volts, but no output.
It sat there for a few days, busy doing other things and I did not want to find out that I had been a) ripped off or b) I had done something wrong in hooking it up.
It finally got the better of me, I had to know.. So.. Drag out the big extension ladder, up I go with multi-meter. Turns out, I’m an idiot.
I went to a lot of trouble to make sure I had a 24 volt battery and solar system.
So that means all the solar panels I have are 30 to 32 volt panels, that way they can charge a 24 volt battery bank to full voltage.
The voltage of the ‘new’ panel?
Yeah, 24v DC.
That’s why it showed volts, but no power, the other panels were doing all the work and my battery bank was not dead flat.
I think its a case of ‘cheap-solar-panel-excities’.
So, what else is in my hand in the photo?
A topic for another blog another day…..
