A question for someone who understands such things. Due to an unfortunate accident one of our solar panels is twisted and scratched. I have a multi meter but am unsure how to test if the panel still works so any advice would be appreciated.
snapper49 said
09:34 PM Sep 13, 2011
should be able to tell by your controller otherwise just check voltage across the terminals
blaze said
09:40 PM Sep 13, 2011
In full sun Remove the positive wire, set your multimeter to amps (normally max of ten ), put the multi meter on dc amps (it should have 10 amps on dial, plug the leads in the correct position and now put one lead on the positive wire and the other one on where the positive wire come from and it will give a reading in amps depenand on the size of the panel, 80 watts around 4.5 amps. If you dont have a multimeter you buy a cheap one that ill do the job for under $50 and it will help solve problems in the future. cheers blaze
otherwise just check voltage across the terminals
Remove the positive wire, set your multimeter to amps (normally max of ten ), put the multi meter on dc amps (it should have 10 amps on dial, plug the leads in the correct position and now put one lead on the positive wire and the other one on where the positive wire come from and it will give a reading in amps depenand on the size of the panel, 80 watts around 4.5 amps.
If you dont have a multimeter you buy a cheap one that ill do the job for under $50 and it will help solve problems in the future.
cheers
blaze