Reverse polarity

[greghost]

Will reversing polarity on panels ruin them ? I had someone helping me Im disabled and couldn't see what they were doing) they put the ends on the extention cable wrong and plugged them in to the splitter on the panels. I'm using 4 100 watt panels in two strings in series then back to parallel with the two way splitter.

[Tecnodave]

It is possible that the bypass diodes in the panels were blown with the reverse polarity. Separate all the panels and test them individually, if the output voltage of the panels is normal then there is no damage, if the bypass diodes are blown then the panel voltage will be very low, on the order of a volt or so.

[greghost]

If I find the bypass diodes are blown can they be repaired and by who ?or do I have to buy new panels ?

[PNPmacnab]

They can be repaired. I did a number of panels when lightning hit. Often they are just mounted with screws. I did find something unusual, the mounting hole was just slightly smaller than the screw. I had to drill out the diodes I had.

[Mike90250]

Sometimes the bypass diodes are mounted in the Junction box on the back of the panel, and those are replaceable.

If there are no diodes there, then it's likely they are surface mount diode chips, sealed under the backsheet and soldered directly to the bus wires in the panel, and while they can be repaired by some good micro-soldering , the seal of the panel will have been ruined and the panel will not likely last more than a couple years.