Hi, has anyone else had a bad experience with renogy solar panels? I bought 3 of the 100w compact panels and all 3 are underproducing. I have them wired in parallel. The most I have ever seen all 3 produce in direct sunlight is 68w together so nowhere close to 300w. I contacted renogy who said that they are not working correctly. They have just sent out 3 new panels to me to replace and they are producing the exact same. 0.11A an 28.2V each. Has anyone else had a bad experience with them? Are there any other brands that you would recommend instead? Thanks
Notnowvicar
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If its your second set and they are producing exactly the same.... then could whatever you are using to measure the output be faulty or just be plain old user error...
I don't have it connected to anything, I am measuring the panels directly. I have measured it exactly as that video shows and I am getting 0.3a in sunlight and 0.11a in indirect sunlight. Both seem to be too low
I thought it may be an issue with the multimeter so bought a different multimeter and got the same results. I contacted renogy and they said that usually they would need the serial numbers to send new panels out but in this case they would just send them to me and told me to just bin the old ones which makes me think that maybe they have had this issue before. I have checked their websites instructions, youtubes instructions and chatgpt instructions and all are telling me I am measuring correctly. When I plug the panels into my power station, they are also showing there that they are producing low watts. The most I am seeing currently in winter is 7w from all 3 100w panels
MGW
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The controller has to work out what volt and amps ratio will produce highest watts. So if I look now, my solar panels are at 230 volt, this evening they will drop to around 10 volt, and the controller will be changing the ratio throughout the day to gain max power.
One could simple charge a battery and put excess into heat, as the size of the array increases, so the return for using a better controller also increases, so a single solar panel running an electric fence may be very basic, but the 14 panels on the roof of my house, the control is a lot more complex.
One could simple charge a battery and put excess into heat, as the size of the array increases, so the return for using a better controller also increases, so a single solar panel running an electric fence may be very basic, but the 14 panels on the roof of my house, the control is a lot more complex.
How bright is the sun? You will need a decent "Solar Irradiance Meter" to measure this. In order to get the rated output from a panel, it needs to be illuminated with sufficient power to produce this. If you look at the video clip posted by Comlec, there is a sticker shown on the back of the panel, which gives the maximum output / Standard Test conditions - 1,000 w/m2, 25 degrees and an Air Mass coefficient of 1.5. If the location you are testing the panels in, does not meet this specification (or whatever specification your solar panels are manufactured to), then you will not achieve the rated output.
It was a bright day but also winter so not as bright as summer sun. It wasn't in direct sunlight but even in summertime my panels were only producing 60w which for 3 panes can't be right. I originally thought it was an issue with my battery so sent it back to get fixed but its working the same way it did before and after measuring the solar panel output I realised it was too low
MGW
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If one takes a random battery pack 
it will have a spec, one shown input is 11 - 28 volt, this will vary pack to pack, the whole idea is to select the voltage which suits the panel there are mppt (Maximum Power Point Tracking) and pwm (Pulse Width Modulation) types, without stating which type, the PWM are cheaper, and there are types which don't even do that, excess is got rid of as heat.
I am showing a LiFeP04 battery, which can normally be charged as around 2/3 of it's capacity, a lead acid is very slow to take a charge, and to charge a lead acid looking at even with a stage charger 8 hours, where the LiFeP04 battery is more like 2 hours, they are very different, lead acid are good for stand-by, but for daily charge and discharge looking at LiFeP04 batteries.
My LiFeP04 batteries are around the 54 volt mark, at moment 7:30 am my solar shows
it is on a good day this time of year when the solar will start to produce, I have never really watched the display to see at what point it starts, I am watching the voltage raise minute by minute at the moment, the panels face SW so afternoon is best time to produce power, as said yesterday at 2 pm showing 230 volt. So now 7:42 am and just started to produce 
the bottom reading is actually the top set of panels. The panels will likely stop and start a few times in the early morning, but clearly my inverter is the MPPT type, at 5 kW it would be daft to be any other type. My batteries are also charged with off-peak power over night, so starting the day at 75% charged, they will dip further, yesterday dropped to 66% at 10 am, after which they started to charge again, and by midday fully charged again. They stayed fully charged until 3:30 pm, and by 10:30 pm they were down to the 10% limit, it all depends what cooking we do, and what the day is like.
But as it stands we have no idea what you have, I know my battery is 6.4 kWh, but no idea what you have. We are looking at a system, not just the solar panels in isolation.
it will have a spec, one shown input is 11 - 28 volt, this will vary pack to pack, the whole idea is to select the voltage which suits the panel there are mppt (Maximum Power Point Tracking) and pwm (Pulse Width Modulation) types, without stating which type, the PWM are cheaper, and there are types which don't even do that, excess is got rid of as heat.I am showing a LiFeP04 battery, which can normally be charged as around 2/3 of it's capacity, a lead acid is very slow to take a charge, and to charge a lead acid looking at even with a stage charger 8 hours, where the LiFeP04 battery is more like 2 hours, they are very different, lead acid are good for stand-by, but for daily charge and discharge looking at LiFeP04 batteries.
My LiFeP04 batteries are around the 54 volt mark, at moment 7:30 am my solar shows
it is on a good day this time of year when the solar will start to produce, I have never really watched the display to see at what point it starts, I am watching the voltage raise minute by minute at the moment, the panels face SW so afternoon is best time to produce power, as said yesterday at 2 pm showing 230 volt. So now 7:42 am and just started to produce the bottom reading is actually the top set of panels. The panels will likely stop and start a few times in the early morning, but clearly my inverter is the MPPT type, at 5 kW it would be daft to be any other type. My batteries are also charged with off-peak power over night, so starting the day at 75% charged, they will dip further, yesterday dropped to 66% at 10 am, after which they started to charge again, and by midday fully charged again. They stayed fully charged until 3:30 pm, and by 10:30 pm they were down to the 10% limit, it all depends what cooking we do, and what the day is like.But as it stands we have no idea what you have, I know my battery is 6.4 kWh, but no idea what you have. We are looking at a system, not just the solar panels in isolation.
I have an aferiy 2001a battery. Its 2000w and LiFePO4 with a built in mttp. The solar wasn't connected to the battery when I tested it. Although in the past when I have tested the solar then plugged it into the battery, the battery has shown less power than the panels say they are producing
It doesn't need to be, unless that is the only way you have of measuring its output. A solar panel is converting the energy it is absorbing from the sun into electrical energy. The output power is dependant on the solar panel, and also the energy it is absorbing from the sun. The manufacturer will tell you what the conversion should be - in Comlec's example from earlier, it would produce 100W from a solar radiation of 1000 W/m2. If you have a Solar Irradiance Meter that will tell you the available power from the sun (which would be a reading in watts per square metre), you will be able to work out whether the panels are working correctly.
We have problems commissioning large solar systems over winter, as the power from the sun is not strong enough to provide the full output from the panels. Details of what you are connecting the panels to are very interesting, but largely irrelevant if you are trying to decide if the solar panels are faulty.
MGW
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It seems likely there will be a fixed load to test panels, be it 10Ω or 100Ω or 1000Ω, but it will not be a short circuit, yes know he says 5.6 amp short circuit, but in real terms' no such thing, further through the video it says 18.6 volt at 5.38 amp so 100 watt.
It will give short circuit amps, as that is the amps the switches and cables must carry, but I would use something like 3.5 ohm load, at which should see around the 18.6V and 5.4A.
I would use a 24 volt headlight bulb, as a reasonable load and easy to lay one's hands on.
It will give short circuit amps, as that is the amps the switches and cables must carry, but I would use something like 3.5 ohm load, at which should see around the 18.6V and 5.4A.
I would use a 24 volt headlight bulb, as a reasonable load and easy to lay one's hands on.
I only have the battery and the multimeter to measure the output. The battery has a built in mppt. The multimeter in direct sunlight is showing 0.3A from each panel in winter sun. I have had these problems for months. Back in October when I measured on a cloudy day, all 3 panels together were producing 2.84A and 22.8v which would be 64w. When I plugged into my battery, it was saying only 26w input. In March on a cloudy day it was producing 24w. When I went on a trip in October, it was really hot and full sunshine beaming down on the solar panel, zero clouds and the battery was showing 68w. The battery was then sent back to be fixed because the most I had ever seen it show was under 70w and I thought maybe there was something stopping it from accepting more but now that I am testing the panels and they are only producing 0.3A in direct sunlight, I think it may be an issue with the panels, not the battery. It seems unusual to now have 6 panels all producing 0.11A but when I have spoken to renogy, they have said that that is unusally low even for it being tested in the shade. I am really not sure what to do at this point