You could void your warranty doing this stuff

• Posted By : sunelectronics
• Technical Blog
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It’s a beautiful, cool sunny day here in NW Florida and you’re right, John, you can knock a hole in a solar panel and it’ll still work.  Just don’t try it with a hammer, because there is a tough plastic layer under that glass and another on the backside.  You need to be forceful to get a hole. I started with a Suntech STP280 that got hit with a tractor.  Yup, that’s a busted one!

 The frame is bent, the glass is cracked, the J-Box and all the wires were ripped off, the cells are cracked and it has been left out in the weather for a few years.  I soldered on some wires and new diodes, then I took it down to a safe place and wired it up to some batteries on the solar jalopy.  It was making a decent charge 

 I had a little test in mind.

 So I shot it with a .45 pistol and it was still making a charge.

 So I thought I’d try to make a bigger hole with a 12 gauge “ring load”.  Nice, but no change.  So I went with straight bird shot and that was better.  Then I backed up and gave it some more bird shot.  Then I shot it some more with the .45.  Hey, I could go broke on ammo before this thing quits!

 Since I was out of ammo, I unhooked the batteries and connected an offroad driving light to it… it still works!

 Now it is really busted up, but still runs.  Hey John, is this still under warranty for output? 

 Now we know.  Look for test results under the “Inquiring Minds” post. 

By Neal Collier