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100 Watt panel only showing 28-32 watts on charger

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  • 100 Watt panel only showing 28-32 watts on charger

    Hello everyone.

    I'm somewhat new to solar but I simply cannot figure out why my small system is not performing. I have a Yeti400 and a 100 watt panel I planned to use on my boat for small electronics.

    -100 Watt panel in direct sunlight for 4 hours
    -Showing 18.9 volts (did not test amps)
    -Yeti shows only 28-32 watts incoming
    -Battery is not full, showing 12.2 volts (60% charged)
    -When I plug in my AC adapter to charge the Yeti, it jumps to 68-70 watts for input


    Could it be the charge controller/yeti itself? Thoughts? I'll test the amperage this weekend but I'm at a loss of where to start. I appreciate any help. Thanks!

  • #2
    Even though your panel shows volts, you did not measure the amps. 100W panel @ 18V should yield 5.5A under best case, 4A would be normal. if the panel is damaged or CC not working right, you could see the results you report. Sadly, we need more info. Amps into battery Amps into controller from PV Be sure to let the controller reboot from the battery before connecting the PV to it.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

    Comment


    • #3
      Mike,

      Thanks for your help. So I did some further testing. 2pm ,full sun and my panel was at 18.6 volts. While laying flat it was bringing in only 2.4 amps. My Yeti showed a 9-12 watt input. Then, I angled my panel up just about 4 inches and obtained 4.6 amps. My yeti would show 28-32 watts of input.

      None of these numbers makes a lot of sense to me, however, I'm sort of new to this. At 18.6 volts and 2.4 amps I should at least show 40 watts. At 4.6 amps, I would guess I'd be at least 80 watts, correct? So it seems like my panel is not reaching max efficiency of 5.6 amps, and it seems like my charge controller in my yeti is not working properly either. Does that sound right?

      Additionally, I noticed that even a dime sized shadow drastically reduces the panels performance along with that very small angle towards the sun. That 4 inches nearly double the performance. Do all panels function like that generally in regards to the angle and any small shadow? Thank you for the help!

      Comment


      • #4
        Angle & shadows are a HUGE part of every solar output. Panels, in real life, seldom output more than 80% of nameplate
        If the battery is full, the controller won't send it anymore power. If the battery is low, and the controller is not charging it, maybe the controller is bad.
        Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
        || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
        || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

        solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
        gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

        Comment


        • #5
          Hey Mike,

          I should have mentioned the battery was 60% full. Once I plug in the AC adapter to charge it, the input jumps to 70 watts. So 4.6 amps is sort of normal on a panel, and it sounds like angles (which I sort of knew) are important but I did not think 4 inches would make that much difference.

          So it sounds like it's the controller although it charges 70 watts from the AC adapter. I'll try giving GoalZero a call to what they say.

          Comment


          • #6
            Just because it's expensive and is branded by Yeti/GoalZero, does not mean the device works properly or was even designed properly.
            Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
            || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
            || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

            solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
            gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

            Comment

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