Solar IR Thread
David and Laura
Solar Expert Posts: 139 ✭
Thread for posting IR photos of your solar system.
Our solar array:
Sunny Island and control box. At the time these photos were taken, the system was under full winter sun and putting out 3.8 KW of power.
Inside the control box. Lots of heat being generated inside here.
When in full sunlight, the back of the panels measures a nice and toasty 20 degrees above ambient temperature (-0.5 degrees C).
A view of the rest of the array. No significant hotspots are visible.
Note that taking IR photos of the the front of solar panels is not very reliable, since you tend to measure the IR reflection of the sky. See Thermal imaging cameras: a fast and reliable tool for testing solar panels page by FLIR for more details.
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Our solar array:
Sunny Island and control box. At the time these photos were taken, the system was under full winter sun and putting out 3.8 KW of power.
Inside the control box. Lots of heat being generated inside here.
When in full sunlight, the back of the panels measures a nice and toasty 20 degrees above ambient temperature (-0.5 degrees C).
A view of the rest of the array. No significant hotspots are visible.
Note that taking IR photos of the the front of solar panels is not very reliable, since you tend to measure the IR reflection of the sky. See Thermal imaging cameras: a fast and reliable tool for testing solar panels page by FLIR for more details.
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House: 2x SMA SI 6048 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 2x SMA SB 3000TL-US w 24x Sharp ND-H235Q2
Cabin: 1x Magnum MS4024 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 1x Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 w 6x Sharp ND-H235Q2; 1x 200 Watt Harris microhydro
Intertie: 1x SMA WB 3800; 1x Lambda GEN-600 DC Supply; 2x PSL pQube
Cabin: 1x Magnum MS4024 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 1x Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 w 6x Sharp ND-H235Q2; 1x 200 Watt Harris microhydro
Intertie: 1x SMA WB 3800; 1x Lambda GEN-600 DC Supply; 2x PSL pQube
Comments
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Re: Solar IR Thread
Our battery/inverter system:
The two Sunny Island inverters, routing 3.8 KW into the batteries. The heat source at the top left is the security camera.
The system surge suppressor.
Inside the transfer box. Most of the heat is from the pQube monitor, but some heat is noticeable on the connectors to the transfer switch.
The three electrical panels. Most of the heat is coming from the control box on the left (which consumes 60 watts of power).
Some noticeable heat from the two breakers connected to the solar array. Interestingly, there isn't much heat from the breakers connected to the Sunny Island, despite the same amount of current flowing through them. We suspect this is because one is aluminium wire and the other one is copper wire.
Attachment not found. Attachment not found. Attachment not found. Attachment not found.Attachment not found.House: 2x SMA SI 6048 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 2x SMA SB 3000TL-US w 24x Sharp ND-H235Q2
Cabin: 1x Magnum MS4024 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 1x Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 w 6x Sharp ND-H235Q2; 1x 200 Watt Harris microhydro
Intertie: 1x SMA WB 3800; 1x Lambda GEN-600 DC Supply; 2x PSL pQube -
Re: Solar IR Thread
You know, I had the company IR gun in my house not too long ago (was using it on a job the next day). Never thought to go look at my system with it! :roll: At the time I was more interested in seeing how well the cats' fur insulated them...
(Pretty well, as it turns out...)
I see this done all the time in new electrical installations now, once everything is in and running someone comes along looking for hot spots - lets them more easily find the screws someone forgot to tighten. Among other things. We use it mostly for finding bad bearings or starter contactors. Definitely a handy gadget. -
Re: Solar IR Thread
handy would be an understatement. that's a great idea and maybe some installers will opt to use this to head off trouble.
pics are pretty cool too.
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