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Meter MT-5 solar panel readings


Karl

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Hi all. So due to the high winds a plank flew of the boat next to us and flipped one of the solar panels held in its tray over the side of our boat. No damage to panel from what I can see and still connected to its wires. However the control panel now reads as pictured. I’ll be honest I don’t look at this panel very often so don’t know wether it reads right and have no instructions for it. I am on mains hook up and concerned about the 0.0 w that is displayed on the bottom. Is this normal and only showing 0.0 because I am on mains hook up and battery’s are fully charged or is there a fault ? many thanks.

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I suspect the mains charger is in float at 13.5 volts and the panel controller is also probably now in float at a similar voltage so it hardly surprising if you have zero AMPS going into the battery, its probably all but fully charged.

 

Check tomorrow morning after turning the charger off over night and ideally when the day is brighter. Once the reading is taken turn the charger back on. I bet you will see some amps flowing depending upon how high and bright the sun is.

 

Tip - pay more attention to those readings so you know what is normal for your boat. Then when they give an abnormal reading you need to consider why and possibly investigate.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Yes, did not notice that.

 

Are the panels wired in series or paralleled, if series I would suspect a broken conductor connected to the one that blew off.

Hi. I have two panel wired in series. I did notice one wire connector not connected to anything with a push in chrome end about two inches long but though it was there if I ever wanted to wire up another panel. Having not fitted them I am just guessing. Is it possible this wire has come adrift from the other panel ?

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57 minutes ago, Karl said:

Hi. I have two panel wired in series. I did notice one wire connector not connected to anything with a push in chrome end about two inches long but though it was there if I ever wanted to wire up another panel. Having not fitted them I am just guessing. Is it possible this wire has come adrift from the other panel ?

Without seeing the area I have no idea but if the system was working then a panel blew off the roof and it stopped working the most likely suspect is an open circuit (broken conductor). This is more likely as they are wired in series, one break anywhere in the wiring or panels will stop electricity flowing.

 

Lets have a photo.

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8 hours ago, Karl said:

Hi. I have two panel wired in series. I did notice one wire connector not connected to anything with a push in chrome end about two inches long but though it was there if I ever wanted to wire up another panel. Having not fitted them I am just guessing. Is it possible this wire has come adrift from the other panel ?

It sounds like that's the insert from the MC4 connector. It's probably been ripped out when the panel got blown off.

You will need to separate the Male and female black connectors on the other cable and rebuild the connection.

 

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Hi. I did find a connection described as such and unscrewed the piece that had been left attached to the other end. Re inserted the male silver connector and tightened it up. However the half moon symbol is still showing rather than the sun on the left hand side. It may be as this was just before dark at around 5.50pm ! I will have a check tomorrow but if it’s still showing a half moon I’m lost !

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Many thanks for every ones help and suggestions.  After checking all the connections in the dark by torchlight and repairing the one that had come adrift come sunrise this morning and all was back to normal and in full working order it appears. Many thanks once again !

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