standardhuman
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2021
- Messages
- 2
Hi all,
Purchased an 80-watt CIGS from Rich Solar in March '21 after seeing Will's video. It worked perfectly for my application atop my cartop box and charging a Bluetti AC50. After a few months, I noticed some delamination along the edges along and what appeared to be burn marks near the connector end of the panel. Contacted Rich Solar in August. They promptly sent out a new panel but also said the issues are cosmetic and shouldn't affect the performance.
The performance has definitely degraded (more than 50% drop in voltage) and the delamination, as well as the burn marks, have worsened significantly.
See video for details.
I sent the video to Rich Solar and they have maintained that the defects are cosmetic, sometimes caused by shipping, and should not affect performance.
Most recent correspondence with Rich Solar is below. They had recommended taping the edges of the panel to prevent delamination but did not address the burn holes. The voltage output on this panel has been reduced by more than 50% compared to the new panel.
Anyone else having these issues with these panels or advice on how to avoid them? A friend who bought this same panel a couple of months after I did is seeing the same pattern.
Begin screenshots of correspondence with Rich Solar:
Image of the BACK of the panel (I removed all the eternabond tape)
End of forum post!
Purchased an 80-watt CIGS from Rich Solar in March '21 after seeing Will's video. It worked perfectly for my application atop my cartop box and charging a Bluetti AC50. After a few months, I noticed some delamination along the edges along and what appeared to be burn marks near the connector end of the panel. Contacted Rich Solar in August. They promptly sent out a new panel but also said the issues are cosmetic and shouldn't affect the performance.
The performance has definitely degraded (more than 50% drop in voltage) and the delamination, as well as the burn marks, have worsened significantly.
See video for details.
I sent the video to Rich Solar and they have maintained that the defects are cosmetic, sometimes caused by shipping, and should not affect performance.
Most recent correspondence with Rich Solar is below. They had recommended taping the edges of the panel to prevent delamination but did not address the burn holes. The voltage output on this panel has been reduced by more than 50% compared to the new panel.
Anyone else having these issues with these panels or advice on how to avoid them? A friend who bought this same panel a couple of months after I did is seeing the same pattern.
Begin screenshots of correspondence with Rich Solar:
Image of the BACK of the panel (I removed all the eternabond tape)
End of forum post!