Solar failure

[tuono001]

While away earlier this week I found out that my solar panel is not charging my battery. I only found out when I came back to a not chilled fridge. I checked the screen to see that nothing is coming from the panel and the battery was dead. Previously on the screen it showed power coming from the panel. Have had a quick look but can't see any loose or damaged cables, so my next thought is age.
What's the life expectation of a panel? It's been there nearly 7 years.
I will take it off and check all connections over the coming days, but is there another way to check there is power coming through? I could probably get my hands on a multimeter but what setting do I use?
Any help welcome before I look to a new panel.

 

[campandfly]

What kind of panel is it? eg. Flexible or Aluminium Frame?
Its a simple multimeter job to test if the panel is still outputting whatever voltage rating it is.

 

[tuono001]

It's on a ally frame and there's a connector on the roof to the flexy coil wire.

 

[WelshGas]

It's on a ally frame and there's a connector on the roof to the flexy coil wire.

There are 2 wires from the solar panel. Either at the connector or on the controller connect the multimeter to those 2 wires. The multimeter should be set on DC volts and select the scale to show 20 volts minimum. A functioning panel should show 20 volts or thereabout. If you get 0 v at the controller check the connection you mentioned.
If you get 20 v at the connector and 0 v at the controller then the connecting curly wire has failed.

 

[Intrinseca63]

While away earlier this week I found out that my solar panel is not charging my battery. I only found out when I came back to a not chilled fridge. I checked the screen to see that nothing is coming from the panel and the battery was dead. Previously on the screen it showed power coming from the panel. Have had a quick look but can't see any loose or damaged cables, so my next thought is age.
What's the life expectation of a panel? It's been there nearly 7 years.
I will take it off and check all connections over the coming days, but is there another way to check there is power coming through? I could probably get my hands on a multimeter but what setting do I use?
Any help welcome before I look to a new panel.

Hi - I appreciate that you had this issue 2 years ago but it’s now happening to my solar installation (5 years old) and I wondered what your outcome was? I seem to only be getting 12v or so from the solar cell which makes me wonder whether the cell has indeed degraded over time/suffered frost or sun damage?

 

[yossarian]

I seem to only be getting 12v or so from the solar cell

If you've measured a Voc (Voltage with everything disconnected) of 12V in sunlight then your panel is probably kaput.

 

[Hawthorn37]

A friend has a ‘21 plate conversion and had solar panels fitted from new. After 18 months they started to fail, and at 23 months fully failed. He’s lucky as the panels came with a 2 year warranty, which is being honoured. The van converter themselves only gave a 1 year warranty.

 

[tuono001]

Hi - I appreciate that you had this issue 2 years ago but it’s now happening to my solar installation (5 years old) and I wondered what your outcome was? I seem to only be getting 12v or so from the solar cell which makes me wonder whether the cell has indeed degraded over time/suffered frost or sun damage?

I bought a new panel and "glued" it on top of the old one and connected into the old cable etc. Works fine. At the time I think the new panel was around the £100 mark.

 

[Wild Rover]

Hi - I appreciate that you had this issue 2 years ago but it’s now happening to my solar installation (5 years old) and I wondered what your outcome was? I seem to only be getting 12v or so from the solar cell which makes me wonder whether the cell has indeed degraded over time/suffered frost or sun damage?

Mine (from a Roger installation) failed after 4 years, voltage dropped to 10.6V. I replaced it with a set of Renogy flexible panels which came with a 25 year output warranty.