[RE-wrenches] Mass failure of Siemens SP150s

[William Miller]

Friends and colleagues:



I recently performed a service call at a grid-tied installation we did in
2003.  The homeowner noticed the daily consumption had declined to about
1/3 of typical sometime in the last year.  Sure enough 2 of the three
strings (30 mods in total) of Siemens SP150s showed low voltage.



When I tilted up two of the racks to expose one dead string of 10, I found
that 6 of the 10 panels had 1/3 or 2/3 of the expected OC voltage.  Testing
of the individual strings indicated that 1 or 2 strings were dead on each
affected panel.



Close examination revealed pinpoint heat damage on inter-cell traces.  The
diodes tested good.  See photo below.





I am surprised to see such a high rate of failure.  Has anyone else
experienced this with these or other panels?



Is anyone servicing warranty claims on these ancient panels?  I doubt there
is much value left in the warranty but I am curious.



Thanks in advance.



William Miller
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Mass failure of Siemens SP150s

[Dana Orzel]

Are there burn marks on the backing?

I have had several entire array replacements in the past back in the 150-175 
watt/module days. But not in a while.

 

 

 

Dana Orzel  Great Solar Works, Inc. 

C - 208.721.7003   d...@solarwork.com

Idaho Contractor - # 028765 Idaho PV # 028374

NABCEP # 051112-136 
www.solarwork.com

"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"  

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

 

From: RE-wrenches  On Behalf Of 
William Miller
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2020 4:06 PM
To: RE-wrenches 
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Mass failure of Siemens SP150s

 

Friends and colleagues:

 

I recently performed a service call at a grid-tied installation we did in 2003. 
 The homeowner noticed the daily consumption had declined to about 1/3 of 
typical sometime in the last year.  Sure enough 2 of the three strings (30 mods 
in total) of Siemens SP150s showed low voltage.

 

When I tilted up two of the racks to expose one dead string of 10, I found that 
6 of the 10 panels had 1/3 or 2/3 of the expected OC voltage.  Testing of the 
individual strings indicated that 1 or 2 strings were dead on each affected 
panel.  

 

Close examination revealed pinpoint heat damage on inter-cell traces.  The 
diodes tested good.  See photo below.

 



 

I am surprised to see such a high rate of failure.  Has anyone else experienced 
this with these or other panels?  

 

Is anyone servicing warranty claims on these ancient panels?  I doubt there is 
much value left in the warranty but I am curious.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

William Miller

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[RE-wrenches] Schneider XW AGS plug/cable

[Jay]

Hi all,

I have a customer that has a plug with no wires on their XW AGS. 
I’ve never seen that. 

2 questions

1. What pins/tool do I need to install wires into it?
Or 
2.  Where can I buy just the plug and wire harness?

Thanks

Jay

Peltz power. 


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Re: [RE-wrenches] Mass failure of Siemens SP150s

[Jerry Shafer]

Wrenches, William
Yes, not as unusual as you might think, BP's did it, Suntec had numerous
issues, even Sharp

On Fri, Jun 26, 2020, 3:27 PM William Miller 
wrote:

> Friends and colleagues:
>
>
>
> I recently performed a service call at a grid-tied installation we did in
> 2003.  The homeowner noticed the daily consumption had declined to about
> 1/3 of typical sometime in the last year.  Sure enough 2 of the three
> strings (30 mods in total) of Siemens SP150s showed low voltage.
>
>
>
> When I tilted up two of the racks to expose one dead string of 10, I found
> that 6 of the 10 panels had 1/3 or 2/3 of the expected OC voltage.  Testing
> of the individual strings indicated that 1 or 2 strings were dead on each
> affected panel.
>
>
>
> Close examination revealed pinpoint heat damage on inter-cell traces.  The
> diodes tested good.  See photo below.
>
>
>
>
>
> I am surprised to see such a high rate of failure.  Has anyone else
> experienced this with these or other panels?
>
>
>
> Is anyone servicing warranty claims on these ancient panels?  I doubt
> there is much value left in the warranty but I am curious.
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> William Miller
> ___
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>
> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
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>
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Schneider XW AGS plug/cable

[Maverick Brown]

Jay

I think I have one you can have. I’ll confirm in the AM. 

Thank you,

Maverick


> On Jun 26, 2020, at 8:33 PM, Jay  wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have a customer that has a plug with no wires on their XW AGS. 
> I’ve never seen that. 
> 
> 2 questions
> 
> 1. What pins/tool do I need to install wires into it?
> Or 
> 2.  Where can I buy just the plug and wire harness?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jay
> 
> Peltz power. 
> 
> 
> ___
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> 
> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
> 
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> 
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> 
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> www.members.re-wrenches.org
> 

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