B
bxdobs
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I was recently give a Solar Regulator that had been thrown out; its made by
Go Power! Electric Inc.
Doing a quick check I determined that the possible reason it had been tossed
is it had a short across the Solar inputs ... not knowing how these
regulators work I decided to do a bit of reverse engineering. To my dismay
it appears that this device shorts the solar panel out when the battery is
deemed fully charged. Because they also have a pair of blocking diodes this
would certainly stop the charging however I wonder if this is potentially
damaging to the solar panel.
Attempting to find an answer to that by reading specifications on PV panels;
most specs give a short cct current, and an open cct voltage and specify
that the operational voltage/current is somewhere in the middle of that.
Being that they provide a Short cct spec sort of implies they can be
shorted.
To make a long question short;
I am trying to understand;
A) Why shorting a panel is an acceptible way to shut off the charging
B) Is there a Solar Cell Equivalent CCT (similar to a battery) that can be
used to mathematically predict the characteristics of the cell.
C) Why shorting out a cell doesn't fry the cell
Go Power! Electric Inc.
Doing a quick check I determined that the possible reason it had been tossed
is it had a short across the Solar inputs ... not knowing how these
regulators work I decided to do a bit of reverse engineering. To my dismay
it appears that this device shorts the solar panel out when the battery is
deemed fully charged. Because they also have a pair of blocking diodes this
would certainly stop the charging however I wonder if this is potentially
damaging to the solar panel.
Attempting to find an answer to that by reading specifications on PV panels;
most specs give a short cct current, and an open cct voltage and specify
that the operational voltage/current is somewhere in the middle of that.
Being that they provide a Short cct spec sort of implies they can be
shorted.
To make a long question short;
I am trying to understand;
A) Why shorting a panel is an acceptible way to shut off the charging
B) Is there a Solar Cell Equivalent CCT (similar to a battery) that can be
used to mathematically predict the characteristics of the cell.
C) Why shorting out a cell doesn't fry the cell