Solar panals
Can some one tell me how solar panels work? I have one in a class A that I bought used. Put a new battery in it and dont know how it works. Does a switch need turned on to make it work?
Forum Discussion
pianotuna wrote:
Hi Renae,
On a bright sunny day, cover the panel with cardboard.
Measure house battery voltage.
Remove the cardboard.
Measure the house battery voltage again.
If the second reading is higher than the solar panel is working.
...or, if this is easier than climbing the roof, on a bright sunny day disconnect panel wires from controller and measure volts and amps on these wires. It should read something like 17V, 5A, give or take a little. Make sure you disconnect the "panel" wires, not "battery" wires - there should be markings on the controller, and connect each wire to its original post. If you reverse the polarity, the controller might go up in smoke. Though I think it's cheap, $50-60 or so.
Controllers of this kind usually have red and green indicator. If green is on, it's charging. Is this
your controller ?
