I have an array consisting of 8 340 watt panels connected in series to a Sol-Ark 15k. No problems noted in past 6 weeks. After shutting down the Sol-Ark to do panel maintenance, then restarting the Sol-Ark, one of three arrays is no longer putting out power, just voltage.
To start trouble shooting, I checked at the combiner box the voltage into the fuses and breaker and well as the resistance across the fuses and breaker. Breaker works fine to cut off voltage. No visible damage to any panels.
I swapped PV inputs of this array on the Sol-Ark with the same results, normal volts but almost zero to zero amps.
There is a Midnite Solar 600 volt surge protector on the combiner box with LED's lit normally when breaker is on.
There are several areas of wire connections like at DC disconnect switch and some splice cans in the ground.
Measuring voltage will not help because this is normal..
So the thought came to me that I can bypass the combiner box and see if that helps, I can test each module with my solar multimeter for power output.
Then, I was thinking I could purchase a 120V up to 5A DC power supply and attach this at the wires leaving the array. This should show up on the Sol-Ark PV input with the voltage and amperage. If not, then I can use this to isolate the bad connection along the wire route. To help in the diagnosis, an amp meter for DC as well as a small DC motor and see if it runs when connected at various points.
Any other ideas for looking for bad wire splices between conduit runs when there are no amps to measure?
To start trouble shooting, I checked at the combiner box the voltage into the fuses and breaker and well as the resistance across the fuses and breaker. Breaker works fine to cut off voltage. No visible damage to any panels.
I swapped PV inputs of this array on the Sol-Ark with the same results, normal volts but almost zero to zero amps.
There is a Midnite Solar 600 volt surge protector on the combiner box with LED's lit normally when breaker is on.
There are several areas of wire connections like at DC disconnect switch and some splice cans in the ground.
Measuring voltage will not help because this is normal..
So the thought came to me that I can bypass the combiner box and see if that helps, I can test each module with my solar multimeter for power output.
Then, I was thinking I could purchase a 120V up to 5A DC power supply and attach this at the wires leaving the array. This should show up on the Sol-Ark PV input with the voltage and amperage. If not, then I can use this to isolate the bad connection along the wire route. To help in the diagnosis, an amp meter for DC as well as a small DC motor and see if it runs when connected at various points.
Any other ideas for looking for bad wire splices between conduit runs when there are no amps to measure?
