Burn Marks On Solar Panels

A burnt terminal can be cause by wiring too many panels to one terminal.

Burn marks on solar panels.

About half of the panels appear to have burn marks of an unknown origin. When you examine the terminal you will more than likely find signs of oxidation. Badly soldered connections cause low resistance in the part of the panel that receives the power generated by the cell. Typically they are in the same exact place on multiple solar panels.

These have been seen on panels manufactured by smaller suppliers and large distributors alike. Just like a car battery solar panel system battery terminals can burn out. This is because a pv solar panel is made up of a string of individual solar cells connected in series with one another. If even a small section of a photovoltaic panel is shaded for example by the branch of a tree there is a very significant drop in power output from the panel.

Hotspots on panels are mainly caused by badly soldered connections or are a result of a structural defect in the solar cells. This is a sign of a burnt terminal. If you work in the solar panel installation business long enough you ll inevitably come across solar panels with strange brown spots. When you use a charge controller that is what it is doing anytime the battery bank is full tapering off the.

You will need to replace all metal parts in the terminal.