Ok, my panels failed again!!! This time, zero voltage coming to the controller, and nothing measured at the MC4 connectors at the room, before the junction box.
There was no water in the junction box, like it had before. Even then, it was a few drops. That time, we had a large snow storm and it left about 12 inches on the top. So I chalked it up to maybe as the snow melted, it somehow got a little bit of moisture in the junction box. This time, no moisture in the junction box, it was completely dry, even though we did have some pretty bad wind and rain storms over the past 2 weeks.
From the panels, i have about 3 feet of wire which end at a MC4 Y-connector. I tested at the y-connector. Nothing!
A few days later, I continued to debug the situation.
So, i noticed the panels were VERY dirty. Caked on dust/dirt from the wind storm mixed w water. I cleaned the panels with glass cleaner. By this time, I had tugged and moved around the wires alot to get the MC4 connectors on/off etc.
So, I think its now 1 of 3 things.
1. Loose connections somewhere from the panels to the MC4 connectors.
2. Bad MC4 connectors
3. Or it was simply over-dirty panels
Once I hooked back up the mc4's this time, and the fuses/disconnects by the Charge controller, the system started working fine. A day later, batteries were fully charged and back to a fully working system.
I subscribed to a FB site where one person thought I should cut off the MC4 connectors and use a copper ring to join them with a 14-8 copper crimp sleeve. I am tempted to do that next time, but someone else commented that this will void my warranty on the panels.
Thoughts on what my issue is? The loose connection, mc4 connector or was it just the dirty panels?
