Sunday, Jan 24, 2010 at 12:39
OK - Clouds went away and I got the Kit out and set up for tests ..
2 X 50 watt
Solar Kit at 20 degrees to the vertical facing the sun .
Manufacturers data as supplied
Short circuit Amps 2.96 X 2 = 5.92 Amps
Short Circuit Voltage - 21.6 V
Rated at 2.77Amps at 18 Volts X 2 = 5.54 Amps
Ambient Temp was 22 C approx. ..
Time of test 10.30 am to 10.50 am .
2 different Multimeters which were changed to verify results ..
Amp measurements were taken between the +ve ali clip and +ve
battery terminal.
This was not as easy as I assumed - My Multimeters were dancing all over the place
and was very ( impossible really ) to get any accuracy however the results are
interesting if not totally accurate ..
The constant load used was an old 12v auto fan-heater - running fan only.
BOTH PANELS .
Volts measured at controller input - between 19.7 and 20.3 .
Volts measures at controller output - 14.7 ( under constant load )
volts measured at Ali clip - 14.0 ( Under constant load )
Short-circuit Amps was 6.09
I tried to measure Amps but the range on the
display was flicking from 0.8 to 6.18 !!!
SINGLE PANEL ( 1 Panel totally covered )
Volts measured at controller input - between 19.7 and 20.3 .
Volts measures at controller output - 14.7 ( under constant load )
volts measured at Ali clip - 14.0 ( Under constant load )
Short-circuit Amps was 3.05
BOTH PANELS ( lower half of both panels covered )
Volts measured at controller input - between 19.7 and 20.3 .
Volts measures at controller output - 14.7 ( under constant load )
volts measured at Ali clip - 14.0 ( Under constant load )
Short-circuit Amps was 0.13 !!
So as long as one complete panel is in full sun the kit works well
Any amount of shade over both panels reduces output dramatically .
The cable supplied with the kit is 5 metres long and "obviously " not
large enough as the voltage drop was 0.7 volts !! Moving the controller
closer to the
battery would solve that issue as would changing to a
larger diameter cable .
Cheers
Steve
FollowupID:
670084