Sucess in solving a Solar Panel Issue
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sat 9 Oct 2010 14:01
Yesterday we went to beach again to surf. Sean was so much into it and success, he wanted to do it again, Tracy and Alex came with us, and we enjoyed the beach, pool and surf. I must say it is nice to be body surfing again, and enjoying it, we have not had many chances to do this and we want to leverage it here.
While in the pool Mike from "Joss" and I discussed power consumption, he has the same solar set up as I do, and I talked to him about the issue I have with one panel, which I believed we were running on one panel vs 2, and nothing seamed to be wrong. But what he did was motivate me to re look again, I did try at Bahia de Sol, and in Mexico but to no effect, but I was hopeful he would see something I have not. Sure enough he viewed it and came to the same conclusion I did that everything including the panel seamed to be working putting out voltage but when loaded not current, so he was baffled as well. But I got on skype and to Kyocera to check and actually got some body effective in technical support, who was very constructive. He said the panel was working but it was probably a connection in the junction box between the diodes. So I loosened them and tighten them, and then decided to do a detailed cleaning which Mike and I did. Sure enough we now have current out of the panel, this is not written up anywhere we had seen but it is key the diodes have a clean and tight connection otherwise current is lost.
This is nice as we should be positive and adding current to the bank during the day exceeding consumption, where as one panel would only break even. We also looked at an arrangement to add at least another 3 panels easily, this I will do when we get to Brisbane. This is a positive step forward, Mike gave me the motivation to dig deeper into it.
We expect the Australian family with boys same age as ours in today, and this will be good for 2 to 3 days before we look to leave on Tuesday.
It is so quiet and peaceful here, we have great weather, which is nice as we really are waiting out the finish of the rainy season, it is still raining down south but has reduced and they get dry days now, we will still go slowly until end of the month enjoying the coast line hoping to avoid the rains or the worst of it.
Stay tuned