# Faulty solar panel or Victron battery monitor?



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I think I may have a fault in either my solar panel or Victron battery monitor. This is the fifth consecutive day it has delivered no output. Unfortunately both are out of warranty. PLEASE help! Any ideas?

Dave
PS I had better practice what I preach and give probably irrelevant contextual waffle - there has been no sun and there is 3 inches of snow on the roof.


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

DABurleigh said:


> I think I may have a fault in either my solar panel or Victron battery monitor. This is the fifth consecutive day it has delivered no output. Unfortunately both are out of warranty. PLEASE help! Any ideas?
> 
> Dave
> PS I had better practice what I preach and give probably irrelevant contextual waffle - there has been no sun and there is 3 inches of snow on the roof.


Dave, I can't help, you are the one that helps me...I would go home if you have no power, no hook-up available in your field?

I want to know why these things, or any things really, start to play up when you are JUST out of warranty....

Hope you solve it, put that rocket science to good use and stop supping the wine!

Carol


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi Dave



DABurleigh said:


> PS I had better practice what I preach and give probably irrelevant contextual waffle - there has been no sun and there is 3 inches of snow on the roof.


Probably irrelevant, as you say.

I'd use your generator, especially if there's people camped all around you. Then you can use that to power a lamp, and then shine it on the roof. Hey - maybe this will create 'free' power?

Gerald


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Well Dave - full moon was just a couple of nights ago - even with three inches of snow on the roof of your van I would have expected a teensy-weensy amount of charge overnight.

Then, what do I know?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Thanks, Gerald, sounds a plan. It's so cold that any resistance in the cables will disappear as well, so perfect energy conversion.

I should have been a millionaire by now, but the horseracing at both Fakenham and Yarmouth was called off.

Brother-in-law said this area has a microclimate. He's certainly right on that one, though not in the way he intended.

Dave


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

pippin said:


> Well Dave - full moon was just a couple of nights ago - even with three inches of snow on the roof of your van I would have expected a teensy-weensy amount of charge overnight.
> 
> Then, what do I know?


Pippin, I think we know nothing!!!

Carol


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I'm thinking of setting up a motorhoming subscription-only website. For just a fiver a year (note tactically undercutting nuke) I will post where I am planning to take my van. I reckon that's the cheapest way of you all maximising your number of sunny motorhoming days.

Dave


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

*SOLAR PANEL CHECK*

Dave,

Disconnect the pair of wires that connect the solar panel to the Victron. Connect then directly across your leisure battery with an ammeter in series to see if the panel is working. If the answer is zero its probably a broken connection upstream.
Have you checked the small fuses?

C.


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

*solar panel*

Alternatively you could reverse the connections to the solar panel and the snow might melt!


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi Dave hit the panels with a lump hammer, same as you do with a TV, this usually sorts out any loose connections, and encourages the electrons to flow down the wires. 

And if the hammer goes through the panel, you will definitely know what the problem is. :lol: 

Olley


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Could this possibly be DABS humour? :lol:

Seriously though... if your panels are under 10 years old, it is highly unlikely they are to blame.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I agree it's clearly not my strong suit, Shane 

It's a lesson in something, quite what depends on one's perspective 8O 

Olley's solution seems satisfying though.

Dave


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

Definitely bored and a warped sense of humour, or mine was switched off - probably the latter as well

Carol


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

Even in dull weather my solar panel is giving some input/output.


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

zulurita said:


> Even in dull weather my solar panel is giving some input/output.


Rita so did ours, the trouble with Dave's was it had 3" of snow on top....

Carol


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Damned right I was bored, Carol :-(

Picture all the fun of camping in a skiiing aire in blizzard conditions for 5 days and nights, but as it was in flat-as-a-pancake Norfolk there was no prospect of skiing when it finisihed. We got a bit fed up of the Oates I-may-be-gone-sometime jokes after the third day.

Dave


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Snelly said:


> Could this possibly be DABS humour?


Possibly, although it's hard to tell with so much stoney ground here :wink:

Gerald


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

_If your panels are under 10 years old, it is highly unlikely they are to blame._

Yes, but I thought the government was trying to alter the age of criminal responsibility.


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

pippin said:


> _If your panels are under 10 years old, it is highly unlikely they are to blame._
> 
> Yes, but I thought the government was trying to alter the age of criminal responsibility.


I was amazed to see a 11 year old arrested on a job the other day for threatening his parents with kitchen knives and then smashing the house up... If that was my lad... etc etc...


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Was he joking!!! damm thats the last time I offer him any sensible advice. :lol: 

Always glad I choose engineering as a career, if you built something that didn't work, you always had the satisfaction of smashing it to pieces with the biggest hammer you could find while repeating "that ol learn ya" in time to the swing. :lol: 

Olley


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## eddievanbitz (May 1, 2005)

Damn global warming :wink: 

Time to buy that Yank Dave!

Run the battery charger off of the inverter! that should do the trick 8O


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