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250w Bi-Fold Solar Panels Strip Damage
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<blockquote data-quote="Occasional_panner" data-source="post: 436546" data-attributes="member: 7956"><p>Voltage means nothing... well it does mean that you have a circuit.</p><p>Considering that, the panels are probably fine.</p><p>Amps is the actual power though, and that's what you need to measure.</p><p></p><p>If you covered one side of the panels and did a short circuit test on the 10Amp setting it would not have blown that meter, as long as you didn't keep it there longer than 10 seconds, and properly covered one side of the panels.</p><p></p><p>That is what the amp test part of that meter is for.</p><p></p><p>The reason your voltage dropped to 13.1 is because it's a pwm controller not mppt.</p><p></p><p>Mppt have a dc dc converter in them, where the panel voltage stays high and the output from the controller feeds the correct battery voltage.</p><p></p><p>This conversion uses up power in the process, so that's why it's a marginal on small systems, pwm is just fine on a small setup.</p><p></p><p>Bogger is correct though for prolonged trips the extra 10-15% extra efficiency you may get (from decent sun) does add up with mppt.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Occasional_panner, post: 436546, member: 7956"] Voltage means nothing... well it does mean that you have a circuit. Considering that, the panels are probably fine. Amps is the actual power though, and that's what you need to measure. If you covered one side of the panels and did a short circuit test on the 10Amp setting it would not have blown that meter, as long as you didn't keep it there longer than 10 seconds, and properly covered one side of the panels. That is what the amp test part of that meter is for. The reason your voltage dropped to 13.1 is because it's a pwm controller not mppt. Mppt have a dc dc converter in them, where the panel voltage stays high and the output from the controller feeds the correct battery voltage. This conversion uses up power in the process, so that's why it's a marginal on small systems, pwm is just fine on a small setup. Bogger is correct though for prolonged trips the extra 10-15% extra efficiency you may get (from decent sun) does add up with mppt. [/QUOTE]
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Outdoor & Recreation
Camping
250w Bi-Fold Solar Panels Strip Damage
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