Benn I personally would not accept these modules, the defect is what you can see and makes me wonder of how good the remainder of the soldered connection is. It is a red flag and very likely will become a problem in the future under load thermal cycling. Shading of the cell is the least of the worries. I have seen cells in the Star Center ( granted 15 years + age and early technology) that did have hot spots developing where there was obvious misalignment of bus bars. Movement of the module can lift the bus bar enough to cause frictional heating. At a very minimum these modules then to be on a watch list to detect issues before they become a real problem. At the module plant I work for this would be an immediate down grade to a B module if it flashed properly and a C grade module if it flashed low. We size our bus bars slightly larger then then the silk screen and if we see any silk screening on the sides it becomes a B grade module and is priced accordingly.
Bill On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 2:42 PM, Benn Kilburn <b...@skyfireenergy.com> wrote: > > Thanks for your comments Brian. I would also consider these to be "low > grade", even though we did not order or pay for "low grade". I did get in > touch with the module manufacturer and found out that these did sneak past > their QC checkpoint. I was told that their general tolerance for the > bus/ribbon alignment is within 1/2 the ribbon width. > > I was told that internal arcing is not a concern here because the > individual cell is at the same potential, so arcing should not happen with > the ribbon/bus being misaligned. > Yes, the small amount of cell shading will reduce output, but it is a > minute amount of shading, so the loss is negligible.(?) > > I would appreciate any feedback from any other module manufacturers on > this, if we have any on this list? > > Benn > > *Benn Kilburn * > CSA Certified Solar Photovoltaic Systems Electrician, SkyFire Energy Inc > 6706 – 82 Ave NW | Edmonton, AB | T6B 0E7 > P: 780-474-8992 | F: 888-405-5843 | www.skyfireenergy.com > [image: email] <b...@skyfireenergy.com> [image: facebook] > <https://www.facebook.com/SkyFireEnergy> [image: twitter] > <https://twitter.com/SkyFireEnergy> [image: linkedin] > <https://www.linkedin.com/company/283735?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tarId%3A1408655033432%2Ctas%3Askyfire%2Cidx%3A2-2-5> > [image: google] <https://plus.google.com/+SkyFireEnergy/> > > [image: SkyFire Energy Logo_horizontal] > > On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 12:31 PM, Benn Kilburn <b...@skyfireenergy.com> > wrote: > >> Wrenches, >> Have any of you noticed misaligned cell interconnections like the ones in >> the attached photo? >> I'm hesitant to use these and I already returned another module back to >> the distributer that had several cells with misaligned conductors as well, >> but just came across these in the order we just picked up. >> I'm waiting for a reply from he mfgr but in the meantime I'm wondering if >> any of you have seen this and should we be concerned with quality or safety >> (arcing?) in the short or long term? >> >> Thanks, >> Benn >> >> >> >> >> Benn Kilburn >> SkyFire Energy Inc. >> 780-906-7807 >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > -- William Hoffer 161 SE Fourth Ave P.O. Box 1823 White Salmon, WA 98672-1823 suneng...@gmail.com <bhof...@sunergyengineeringservices.com>
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