what causes solar cell corrosion? How to prevent? chiniese brand 8 years old.

[khanh dam]

what causes solar cell corrosion? any way to prevent it? chiniese solar panels about 8 years old.
stupid forum software would not allow me to upload files even after resized smaller. so links below to photos of damage.

https://ibb.co/vQDB38n

https://ibb.co/cxfPQNF

https://ibb.co/3Mft8zC

https://ibb.co/p3YKc85

https://ibb.co/VYmMkwy

[J.P.M.]

what causes solar cell corrosion? any way to prevent it?

2 words: Entropy and no.

[khanh dam]

looks like bad cell arcing according to this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8XuB0BSVI

Not sure what causes the black solar cells to turn dark brown though?
is that what a burned solar cell looks like? I'm putting in a warranty claim, but given they are from china, I don't have much hope of it being resolved. What kind of test data can I take with a multimeter to show them the panels are flawed?

[khanh dam]

well 6 days after I emailed them no response. It's a chinese company, so no Christmas/new year holidays. I think I will email them asking to buy a container load of panels and see if I hear back, lol.

[SunEagle]

well 6 days after I emailed them no response. It's a chinese company, so no Christmas/new year holidays. I think I will email them asking to buy a container load of panels and see if I hear back, lol.

Just curious but what would be the import tariff on a container of panels?

[bob-n]

Can you tell us the brand name of the panels?

From my experience with semiconductors, they are built with a very carefully tuned balance of materials, but any time that you have two different materials with different thermal expansion, touching in a product, there will be some stress. When the product does fail, it is often due to repeated stress, such as thermal cycling. To be deemed reliable, it must withstand 500 or 1000 temperature cycles from very cold (ie: -55C) to very hot (ie: 125C) and back, at specific ramp rates. Every semiconductor device will eventually fail after enough temperature cycles, but this is typically 2500 to 5000 cycles and considered to be much longer than normal usage life.

If this is the failure mechanism in your solar panels, then there isn't anything you can do. You're stuck with the outside temperature fluctuations on your array.

Abuse during shipping or installation could have made this worse. Mechanical stress from roof or pole movement with time could also have made this worse. But these are out of your control. Note: I'm purely speculating. I've never seen evidence of shipping abuse or poor installation causing a long-term reliability problem. Modern panels seem to be really robust to abuse.

It could be that name-brand panels are better engineered, but I've never seen evidence of that. It could be that name-brand panels are tested to a higher standard, but again, I've never seen evidence of that. It could also be that you were sold marginal or defective panels.

With batteries, it is known that there is a market for "b-grade" and "c-grade" cells. Although the terms are not standardized, b-grade cells can have higher leakage than a-grade cells, so although they will store the specified amount of energy, self-discharge is faster. I've never heard of this kind of grading in solar cells or panels. But I have heard of panels that are graded based on output, with the higher-output panels selling for a premium over idential panels that didn't perform as well during test.

You mentioned that these panels are 8 years old. It could be that the industry was less mature then and the panels made were less robust than panels made today. But I don't have any data to back that up, either.

In summary, as JPM said, there's not much you can do to help panels last longer, once you've defined where they will be installed and once you've installed them correctly.

[khanh dam]

Just curious but what would be the import tariff on a container of panels?

it changes every year. Get the specific HHS code for your panel and email the govt for a concrete answer. I think it is 18% right now
Trump revokes bifacial solar panel exemption, slaps 18% import tariff | S&P Global Platts
It was 25% a COUPLE of years ago. Biden can easily lower it. when trump leaves in 20 days. always a moving target.

[khanh dam]

Can you tell us the brand name of the panels?

Jetion is the brand, but no longer actively compete in USA market.
About Jetion Solar - Jetion Solar (China) Co., Ltd.