This video was not only informative but also funny! This is exactly what I need. I don't know how to use a multimeter and this seems so fast and easy. Just bought it on Amazon. Thank you for making this video!
Feb04’24/0001h 🇺🇸 Feb04’24/1801h 🇦🇺. Good evening Herr Andy. Soon after your exhibition of ELEJOY WS400A years ago, I acquired the SPMM immediately. I had several used PV cells and after testing them, I found a few of them were dud and a few, very close to the factory spec. The sellers were flabbergasted to see me with a strange meter getting the reading from their old used PV cells. Frowned even at me, because I got the best sets of used PV cells @ a unbelievable rock bottom price ($25 each A$41) The cells, therefore were like new. I wanted to thank you again for introducing WS400A. Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Andy. 73s…
I brought one after seeing the video, I work on electrical systems on boats and we are always getting asked to test panels for boatowners, showed it to my boss and he immediately brought off me for the buisiness LOL good tool that gives solid evidence to our customers.
Schön das du meine Ergebnisse bestätigt hast und ich dir keinen "Elektroschrott" empfohlen habe :) So weit ich das gesehen habe, sind die FET's nicht parallel, sondern schalten kurzzeitig verschiedene Widerstandswerte und misst dabei. Kann man in meinem Video auch sehen. Freut mich aber dir geholfen zu haben, mach weiter so mit deinem Kanal :)
@@williamvaughan1218 Actually I did order it today. I live about 5 miles from San Tan solar and will take it over to check out their used 250 watt panels (for $50 each)
@@john_in_phoenix not bad price. I got 30 180watt panels for 30 each and they came with rails also but limited clamps and bolts. Dam hard to get any sun lately though here in Texas
Thanks for the great tip, recieved mine down south at the same time:) Will be very helpful in testing the 22kw+ used panels I've gathered before installing them. Thanks again for sharing your discoveries
Nice gadget! this now leaves us with the dilemma of why the other solar panels without the cracks are failing. I'm guessing the only anyway to find out is to test each of the cells (resistance / output) keeping an eye out fir dry solder joins and the like.
You sure are a good sale rep. andy.. I purchased one of these elejoy's and have used it already to find panels that aren't much chop, only thing is I used it after making the purchase and getting them home. It was a case of elation and disappointment all at the same time. lol.
Hi Andy Just found your videos. Love how you get straight to the point and very informative. You must be in qld with that beautiful weather. I live north of brisbane
Order confirmed thank you Andy! So far with your battery and lamp method with spring Scotish sun my £500 4kw looks very good indeed. You make this look easy and idiot proof, I can't wait to play with another toy. Cheers Andy
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yeah Andy great peace of mind on a gamble. The system was installed in 2016, they had an expanding young family and did a loft convertion and it couldn't go back on their roof. It was a poor location with roof direction and tall trees so I was hopeful the degredation hadn't set in to badly yet. I feel guilty I did steal it. Well worth the money and a 500 mile round trip. 1 down 15 to go Just need some more sun, I have jinxed my summer. 🤣🤔😭 Thanks Andy you are a big help!
Seems like a good test tool. You could have tested each of the 3 individual 24 cell string on those 190W panels with the open junction box that way you may have identified witch part of the panel causes the problem (not that is anything you could do about the cracked cells).
Hello how are you, greetings from Argentina, I thank you for your effort in the videos and thank you very much for sharing your experience. When you have time it would be nice if you could test the WS400A with the panels that gave you problems with the diodes and compare them with the healthy ones. Another issue is that bigger panels like the Jinko of 465wp or more are coming every time and I don't know if the equipment will support them at least to do a test since the mosfets are 75A. Thank you so much for everything!!
Nice! However, you do now have me worried about my panels I bought used, they were a pv farm, and still in use when I bought them, they were supposed to be tested before shipping to me! I kinda want to test them before installing now!!
Received my WS400 recently. Checked 2 x 80W panels, one was 72W in the winter sun, and the other only 56W (10am this morning). Both from the same emporium..but different suppliers.. I will be running a small 24V system, and will get another good panel...to match the other one
Andy, Great job, thanks for highlighting the tester. For the crowd that thinks the cables are bad, how about clipping on to the solder joints at the junction box to eliminate the cables and connectors. I see that problem, as possible only if the lead wires are CCS or CCA rather than copper. Have you applied for a patent/copyright on spat before someone steals it? LOL
I had many junction boxes open now and also checked the cabling . Sure the cables seem to be older sometimes but all were without any corrosion and also made of tinned copper mostly. I really don't think it's the cables. I should licence the word 'SPAT', that is true 🤔😂
It's amazing how that little tool can detect the maximum power point in the split second it lets power trough the mosfets, I wonder how it'd look with a oscilloscope, if it's just a quick 0 amps to short circuit ramp or there's something else going on there
I didn't watch this video till I posted my results with mine! Haha I had one in the box for months and forgot all about it. Yeah that screen is really hard to read. I thought mine was broke at first. I bought two and one was off by 2% :( maybe I got unlucky
The display is not great and I don't understand why they went with LED instead of a nice LCD for that tester. Overall, I'm very happy with it and especially when buying used panels, this will be super handy to use for quick health check. Some panels I bought lately weren't that great but I only found out after installation. Wish I had this tester before I bought them...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, I have this tester and its great apart from the display that lets it down. Really hard to see, especially when the sun comes out, oh the irony. As we discussed on email, I made the same mistake, bought a load of panels (12) sometime ago (before I had the tester) and 2 out of the 12 report low voltage even though the panels look perfect. The only difference is I haven't had chance to check the connection box where the diodes are as they are potted on my panels.
Is there any connection of PV panels. Are they connected to the house or inverter? Can direct DC current measurement be made without PV panels connected to any inventer or any other devices?
With a normal multimeter, you can only measure the open circuit / no load voltage and the short current. So that is either extreme but it does not tell you how the panel actually performs under normal conditions (around the MPPT point). That's what a MPPT solar charge controller does or this tester. In previous videos, I used to setup the charge controller connected to a battery and then tested each panel individually. The tester is a lot quicker though and just needs to be connected. No other setup required.
It's just much, much easier to use this tester. Imagine you pick up used panels and start pulling out your notebook, taking different measurements (how would you measure it, just Voc and Isc?) and calculating...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yeh as far as i a aware just measure voltage and current across the leads with a multi meter the right amperage. or inline watt meter and short the outlet. the meter would be easier. i guess more of a luxury.
considering that it is not the cheapest tool the display does not look that great at least in your light conditions from our viewing point. Might be better in real life, but I would prefer an LCD Display cause testing these happens usually during more or less bright sun light where LCD are quite good readable like that uniti multimeter. But the main question or mystery is still unsolved cause I watched the last 2 or 3 videos in the playlist a second and third time. The only result for me is that some modules were faulty and you kept the good ones. Might be worth to add another short video as a big summary about the lessons learned. I'd appreciated it cause I watched the whole playlist and somehow I feel a bit lost what has caused what except the tool is the only solution to identify the bad panels.
Well, my panels are 430W so I'm SOL... Is there any self contained meter like this that does 450 or 500W? I know I can use a volt meter, this tests under a load, big difference
Hi Andy, just wondering if you have the date of manufacture on all those panels. Using this tester might also highlight the real loss over time that may differ from the Solar Panel Makers claims. The only other contention would be if any of the panels were water or storm damaged as one reason for the sale of the panels. There has been a long list of previously approved panels here in Australia that are now not considered Tier 1 or non compliant with the REC, some of these were from early 2008 - 2016/17 the issues were varying in nature but most would end in water or storm damage by cracks or corrosion and water ingress from the edges and a large proportion of the lower cost panels did not last much more than 7 - 10 years, so effectively did not complete the expected life of 25 Years and so did not fulfill the Carbon credits which many had reduced costs for but have now had to go through a repurchase of newer panels.
QC at the Elejoy factory seems a little bit lacking. I recently purchased the EY1600W model, and it was DoA. The wire from the PCB to the +ve terminal wasn't even soldered to the terminal. Got a 50%refund from Ali after the seller (not the manufacturer) completely failed to give a response better than "We're checking" when I asked for support, for over a month. Soldered it on after the dispute closed and it powers on ok. Now to do some actual panel tests.
hmm whats interesting is the multimeter showed half of the testers value, which ive had the same experience when testing my 80w panel, seemed to be exactly half of the rated amperaage abouts, not a very scientific test or under optimal conditions, so i concluded it wasnt faulty, but still not sure, but this testers readings compared to a multimeter give me confidence that maybe my panel is fine and within sub optimal conditions.
Yeah kann das Gerät für den Kurs auch echt empfehlen, habs im vorletzten Vid och kurz angeschmissen um 16 Jahre alte Polys zu testen. Simpel, günstig, gut👍
thank you for a great video /i want one of those meters/no more guessing /thanks-thanks-thanks/do you live off grid/what are you going to do with those used not so good panels / someone might be able to salvage some cells out of them/thanks much
Does it work downstream? That is, could I use this to determine V, A and watts coming from several panels, rather than using a multimeter that can test for DC amps?
Weird that that many panels have lower than rated specs. I have the opposite, my 50 Watt panels deliver more than 3.5 A together (in series) at 72 volts. ( I removed diodes). The MPPT controller boosts the current even higher buck converting the voltage down to 14 volts. I do not have them strait pointed to the sun either. The panels are only rated for 1.39 A. They cost me 50 euros each from Amazon Germany, almost free shipping. Can not find any more now, sold out. I remember them being sold as square 100 Watt panels, but I did not believe that for itś size. It might actually be ! PANEL: Eco Line ES50P72 (Specific cell quantity and array 72 - 4 x 18).
Any guesses why when you compared the MPPT and pwm charge controller in past videos on the bad panels why the pwm was able to get more from the bad panels?
The PWM connects the battery directly to the panel. I was looking at the pure amperes coming in and the PWN does a better job in these cases when you have only one panel. The MPPT always tries to maximise power and use its DC-DC conversion to 'produce' more amps when connecting more panels in series.
Hey Andy, can this meter test panels with open circuit voltage of 68.v and maximum power voltage of 56.7v? I see that the tester shows it can test up to 60v. Wasnt sure if that 60v was under load or open circuit. Thanks Man!
The power transistors are probably being run in the linear region as variable resistors. They would dissipate what ever watts the panel produces times the on time percentage (duty cycle).
They are. Easier to use MOSFETs than BJTs for this as it doesn't need a base drive current source and all it needs is for a sweep of the MOSFET linear region to do the test.
Hi i have 1x 100ah leshure battery but i am thinking of getting another and join them paralel what regulator would you recomend i am currantly using just one of those blue ones with 2 x solar panels in serius 10 w each connected to the regulator but as i said i want to add another 100ah battery can you advise me thank you .
What I've noticed that all depends on the cracks if it's just cracking you'll only lose up to 20%(panels can get hairline fractures) if your cracks look like a spiderweb the panel beyond repair
Have same problem with my panels and fixed them. the problem is the joints of busbars and cells itself. Doesnt look burnedout or corroded. When the panel was in shade i checked the connection of cels and it was all fine but when i took the panel outside to the sun he gives me only 11v and 1A. I cuted out back of the panel and changed the busbars and put new solder connections and now panel gives me 29v and 7.8A!. You can fix your panels by checking the connnection between the cels inside. If you have cracked sell it puls down the whole panel V & A like parrarel connection of panels with different V and A. Also had cracked cells and i cut back off panel and cutted out bad cell and jumped connection with good cells ;) you can try it panels are already bad ;) have nothing to loose. Sry for bad eng ;)
@@OffGridGarageAustralia You are tenacious. I know you will figure it out and post a video! Now I have to buy that internal resistance meter... Just when I thought I had it all.
I wondering do you have a thermal camera? Let me explain, I saw a picture that shows up a faulty cells on the solar panels, I wonder if it true, can you test one if you have the thermal camera. Either no load or load.
Definitely much faster results than the other method. The only downside in my situation is that I have quite a bit of 96 and 128 cell panels and they would exceed the maximum open circuit voltage of the tester. I guess the MPPT under load method will have to do for now, sure beats dragging them up the roof to find out that you have an under-performer panel putting a damper on your array string. Quick onsite testing will also keep you from getting burned on the next sunny day panel acquisition adventure. I'll just have to keep an eye out when they might have one that will safely measure higher open circuit voltages (fingers crossed).
@@fromtheflightdeck252 just looked into it, the VoC max is 60 volts DC. I'm dealing with commercial panels where the nominal voltage is around 85 volts or higher. Darn it...
I also purchased one to test the 32 panels i had laying around. It worked for first four panels then died. anyone got any circuit info for me to try and repair?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia All the ones i had were 250W . all around 31V 8.8A there abouts. first four no problems . then i found a faulty one :( it didnt work there after. when i opened the small compartment to investigate it had that lovely burnt out smell. brilliant tool. but sadly waiting on a replacement would take to long.
SUGGESTION: when featuring the TESTER - stop - Stop - STOP waving your HAND holding the TESTER so we & the CAMERA can focus on the item ! Thanks COOP ...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks for sharing all your work! I was drinking when I wrote that and being smug. I actually learn a lot from all your experiments and glad I found your channel. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Really Cool tool! A lot easier to make measurements on the roof. Can it measure I short circuit? I really expect about a 10% loss in power from the back label value, due to the difference between stand test conditions and nominal operating temperature. Even the I max power shows a less than 1000 watt/m^2 from the sun at your location and time of year. The current from a solar panel has a small temperature dependency and is an indicator of sun intensity. VOC and P max has a high temperature dependency.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia ....indeed...Red display.. terrible to see in Full sun light...that's what you want to test the panels... ...😄.i spent my money now for the Internal Resistence Battery meter..another nice measure tool ..😄👍
050722/1413h PST🇺🇸 050822/0713h Brisbane🇦🇺 Andy, once again thank you for the demo and info on WS400A. I ordered it from amazon. It should reach me on Monday 050922. I am planning on procuring a few PV cell modules. 73s...
please "forget" a little bit about "amps" the only relevant metric is power.... within boundaries, your inverter (or controller) doesn't care if it has more or less amps, it cares about watts.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia sorry, but you are wrong. The physics law is for conservation of ENERGY, not conversation of Amps, or Voltage... So, ENERGY (in Watts in given amount of time) goes out the panels, through the controller, and ENERGY comes out to the battery. Relation between V x A can be manipulated as need with minimal losses. Energy can not. You CAN have 3A coming in and 6A going out (just half the voltage), but you certainly CAN'T have 100w coming in and 200w going out. Of course there are practical constraints due to controller design (although perfectly possible, most won't increase voltage, only decrease), but the theory still applies. So talking "amps" alone as measurement of panel's output is pointless. The whole reason a MPPT controller exist is to manipulate this very relation between VxA to extract the maximum POWER (Maximum POWER (watts), not amps, Point Tracker). AFTER the controller "amps" is a acceptable way to measure battery SoC because voltage is basically fixed (or at least, known), but that is outside the scope of this topic.
Wenn Du jetzt noch so ein Solar-Leistung-Messgerät hättest de.aliexpress.com/item/32961979673.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.414578b9dpvCuV&algo_pvid=af158b9f-4374-46a8-b3b1-0c28c88a7543&algo_expid=af158b9f-4374-46a8-b3b1-0c28c88a7543-4&btsid=0b0a556b16224035331265164eff6f&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ dann könntest Du den tatsächliche Qualität der Panel ausrechnen.
Buying at night isn't the problem. It's when they say they (at night) that they just tested the modules a few minutes ago and they don't have a flash tester or light bank.
Clearly your funniest video yet, but equally as informative. Thank you!
This video was not only informative but also funny! This is exactly what I need. I don't know how to use a multimeter and this seems so fast and easy. Just bought it on Amazon. Thank you for making this video!
Simple tool for a complex measurement, love it. Well done again Andy!
Many thanks!
Looks like a very useful tool. Thanks. This is also useful for matching the optimal MPPT current for strings of panels.
Feb04’24/0001h 🇺🇸 Feb04’24/1801h 🇦🇺. Good evening Herr Andy. Soon after your exhibition of ELEJOY WS400A years ago, I acquired the SPMM immediately. I had several used PV cells and after testing them, I found a few of them were dud and a few, very close to the factory spec. The sellers were flabbergasted to see me with a strange meter getting the reading from their old used PV cells. Frowned even at me, because I got the best sets of used PV cells @ a unbelievable rock bottom price ($25 each A$41) The cells, therefore were like new. I wanted to thank you again for introducing WS400A. Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Andy. 73s…
I brought one after seeing the video, I work on electrical systems on boats and we are always getting asked to test panels for boatowners, showed it to my boss and he immediately brought off me for the buisiness LOL good tool that gives solid evidence to our customers.
Schön das du meine Ergebnisse bestätigt hast und ich dir keinen "Elektroschrott" empfohlen habe :)
So weit ich das gesehen habe, sind die FET's nicht parallel, sondern schalten kurzzeitig verschiedene Widerstandswerte und misst dabei.
Kann man in meinem Video auch sehen. Freut mich aber dir geholfen zu haben, mach weiter so mit deinem Kanal :)
Ah, so geht das, OK, das macht natuerlich auch Sinn...
Vielen Dank nochmal fuer den guten Tip mit dem Tester.
Thanks!
Thank you for your ongoing support, Sree. 🙏
Received mine a couple of weeks ago, very happy with it as well.
It's great, right? I love it.
I've been waiting for this one! Wanted to know if it is worth buying. Thanks! I see a new tool in my future.
Same
Do it!
@@williamvaughan1218 Actually I did order it today. I live about 5 miles from San Tan solar and will take it over to check out their used 250 watt panels (for $50 each)
@@john_in_phoenix not bad price. I got 30 180watt panels for 30 each and they came with rails also but limited clamps and bolts. Dam hard to get any sun lately though here in Texas
Yeah, not much sun here either. Winter has just started and we still haven't passed this 21. June, the shortest day down here...
Thanks for the great tip, recieved mine down south at the same time:) Will be very helpful in testing the 22kw+ used panels I've gathered before installing them. Thanks again for sharing your discoveries
Glad it helped. Thank you 😊
Great video and thanks for sharing the tester and the link to it. Awesome.
No problem 👍
Nice gadget!
this now leaves us with the dilemma of why the other solar panels without the cracks are failing.
I'm guessing the only anyway to find out is to test each of the cells (resistance / output) keeping an eye out fir dry solder joins and the like.
Someone also suggested to test the single strings inside the panels individually for those where I removed the lid of the junction box.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia
hi,
it would be nice to know how / why they degrade in performance.
all the best
You sure are a good sale rep. andy.. I purchased one of these elejoy's and have used it already to find panels that aren't much chop,
only thing is I used it after making the purchase and getting them home. It was a case of elation and disappointment all at the same time. lol.
Yeah, the same happened to me. I've now got a lot of panels which aren't, well, up to the frog's standard....
Thanks Andy, have been waiting for this one. Should be able to identify a faulty string in the panel
Yes, so far this tester has identified the faulty panel at least. I haven't tried with a single string inside a panel. But good thinking.
Hi Andy
Just found your videos.
Love how you get straight to the point and very informative.
You must be in qld with that beautiful weather. I live north of brisbane
Order confirmed thank you Andy! So far with your battery and lamp method with spring Scotish sun my £500 4kw looks very good indeed. You make this look easy and idiot proof, I can't wait to play with another toy. Cheers Andy
Thank you very much, Gary. That's awesome!
@@OffGridGarageAustraliaIt just arrived!
And it brings me great joy to see 232watts from seccond hand 250w panel at 8.30am!!!
@@garys-half-baked-offgrid-dream Woohoo, that is awesome, gives you great piece of mind, right? 4kW for that price, that's a steal!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yeah Andy great peace of mind on a gamble. The system was installed in 2016, they had an expanding young family and did a loft convertion and it couldn't go back on their roof. It was a poor location with roof direction and tall trees so I was hopeful the degredation hadn't set in to badly yet. I feel guilty I did steal it. Well worth the money and a 500 mile round trip. 1 down 15 to go Just need some more sun, I have jinxed my summer. 🤣🤔😭
Thanks Andy you are a big help!
Good little tester!
OMG!! You purchase more stuff than anyone I know.
Essential tools. I need to know if this works or not. Just reading about it, is not good enough 😉
Seems like a good test tool. You could have tested each of the 3 individual 24 cell string on those 190W panels with the open junction box that way you may have identified witch part of the panel causes the problem (not that is anything you could do about the cracked cells).
Yes, I can now measure the string separately to identify any problems in the future.
Hello how are you, greetings from Argentina, I thank you for your effort in the videos and thank you very much for sharing your experience. When you have time it would be nice if you could test the WS400A with the panels that gave you problems with the diodes and compare them with the healthy ones. Another issue is that bigger panels like the Jinko of 465wp or more are coming every time and I don't know if the equipment will support them at least to do a test since the mosfets are 75A. Thank you so much for everything!!
Thank you Ramiro. I've tested all panels now with the tester, video is coming...
Thank you and greetings to Argentina!
That unit would be great to have when you are buying used solar panels.
Exactly. I would have bought used panels based on VOC and ISC, but clearly that is not enough.
Nice!
However, you do now have me worried about my panels I bought used, they were a pv farm, and still in use when I bought them, they were supposed to be tested before shipping to me! I kinda want to test them before installing now!!
Maybe not, just install them... why have they been removed though?
Again a very good review and we learn something every time. Where do you find Oettinger beer in Melbourne?
Thank you. Dan Murphy has got Oettinger ;) It's cheaper than XXXX
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Product sales and now beer sales. What next.
@@henvan8737 T-shirts 😉
Great device and so easy to handle. Maybe you should also measure the Substrings of a faulty panel?
Yes, I can do that now!
Received my WS400 recently. Checked 2 x 80W panels, one was 72W in the winter sun, and the other only 56W (10am this morning). Both from the same emporium..but different suppliers.. I will be running a small 24V system, and will get another good panel...to match the other one
When disconnecting the tester from the panel, should the panel be blocked from light to prevent arcing at the connectors...?
Interesting fact...In the USA, we call those things "alligator clips". 1:01 Hahaha.
Awesome work thank you!
No problem. You know what you're getting now 😉
Another great video, thank you
Andy, Great job, thanks for highlighting the tester. For the crowd that thinks the cables are bad, how about clipping on to the solder joints at the junction box to eliminate the cables and connectors. I see that problem, as possible only if the lead wires are CCS or CCA rather than copper. Have you applied for a patent/copyright on spat before someone steals it? LOL
I had many junction boxes open now and also checked the cabling . Sure the cables seem to be older sometimes but all were without any corrosion and also made of tinned copper mostly. I really don't think it's the cables.
I should licence the word 'SPAT', that is true 🤔😂
It's amazing how that little tool can detect the maximum power point in the split second it lets power trough the mosfets, I wonder how it'd look with a oscilloscope, if it's just a quick 0 amps to short circuit ramp or there's something else going on there
Apparently it uses these three Mosfets and different resistors to measure power on different points of the curve.
I didn't watch this video till I posted my results with mine! Haha I had one in the box for months and forgot all about it. Yeah that screen is really hard to read. I thought mine was broke at first. I bought two and one was off by 2% :( maybe I got unlucky
The display is not great and I don't understand why they went with LED instead of a nice LCD for that tester. Overall, I'm very happy with it and especially when buying used panels, this will be super handy to use for quick health check. Some panels I bought lately weren't that great but I only found out after installation. Wish I had this tester before I bought them...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, I have this tester and its great apart from the display that lets it down. Really hard to see, especially when the sun comes out, oh the irony.
As we discussed on email, I made the same mistake, bought a load of panels (12) sometime ago (before I had the tester) and 2 out of the 12 report low voltage even though the panels look perfect. The only difference is I haven't had chance to check the connection box where the diodes are as they are potted on my panels.
Is there any connection of PV panels. Are they connected to the house or inverter? Can direct DC current measurement be made without PV panels connected to any inventer or any other devices?
You are so funny, do what everybody expect in the beginning, when opening the case ; )
Good tool! I have some big 500w panels with open voltage right over 60v do you think it will kill this instrument?
Cant you just use a regular mulitmeter with some mc4 test leads? Or would you get weird readings off mppt controllers?
With a normal multimeter, you can only measure the open circuit / no load voltage and the short current. So that is either extreme but it does not tell you how the panel actually performs under normal conditions (around the MPPT point). That's what a MPPT solar charge controller does or this tester. In previous videos, I used to setup the charge controller connected to a battery and then tested each panel individually. The tester is a lot quicker though and just needs to be connected. No other setup required.
whats the advantage over this meter vs just using the volt and amp setting on a multi meter and doing the math?
You get to make a video for the views. And this piece of kit only has one use and a multi meter does way to many things
It's just much, much easier to use this tester. Imagine you pick up used panels and start pulling out your notebook, taking different measurements (how would you measure it, just Voc and Isc?) and calculating...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yeh as far as i a aware just measure voltage and current across the leads with a multi meter the right amperage. or inline watt meter and short the outlet. the meter would be easier. i guess more of a luxury.
considering that it is not the cheapest tool the display does not look that great at least in your light conditions from our viewing point.
Might be better in real life, but I would prefer an LCD Display cause testing these happens usually during more or less bright sun light where LCD are quite good readable like that uniti multimeter.
But the main question or mystery is still unsolved cause I watched the last 2 or 3 videos in the playlist a second and third time. The only result for me is that some modules were faulty and you kept the good ones.
Might be worth to add another short video as a big summary about the lessons learned.
I'd appreciated it cause I watched the whole playlist and somehow I feel a bit lost what has caused what except the tool is the only solution to identify the bad panels.
I'm surprised they didn't integrate an insolation meter with it. It could do efficiency calcs with that input.
Well detailed thanks
Well, my panels are 430W so I'm SOL... Is there any self contained meter like this that does 450 or 500W? I know I can use a volt meter, this tests under a load, big difference
Haven't seen larger ones than 400W. It still should be OK for your panels.
Hi Andy, just wondering if you have the date of manufacture on all those panels. Using this tester might also highlight the real loss over time that may differ from the Solar Panel Makers claims.
The only other contention would be if any of the panels were water or storm damaged as one reason for the sale of the panels. There has been a long list of previously approved panels here in Australia that are now not considered Tier 1 or non compliant with the REC, some of these were from early 2008 - 2016/17 the issues were varying in nature but most would end in water or storm damage by cracks or corrosion and water ingress from the edges and a large proportion of the lower cost panels did not last much more than 7 - 10 years, so effectively did not complete the expected life of 25 Years and so did not fulfill the Carbon credits which many had reduced costs for but have now had to go through a repurchase of newer panels.
No, I don't have this information. Sometimes it is printed on the back sticker, but not on any of my panels unfortunately.
I have a question and I can't figure out the answer😶. What are you doing with that beer can on the solar panel? Shadow? Why?
QC at the Elejoy factory seems a little bit lacking. I recently purchased the EY1600W model, and it was DoA. The wire from the PCB to the +ve terminal wasn't even soldered to the terminal. Got a 50%refund from Ali after the seller (not the manufacturer) completely failed to give a response better than "We're checking" when I asked for support, for over a month. Soldered it on after the dispute closed and it powers on ok. Now to do some actual panel tests.
50% is not bad for a perfectly working device. The quality what's coming from the motherland is sometimes just nuts!
hmm whats interesting is the multimeter showed half of the testers value, which ive had the same experience when testing my 80w panel, seemed to be exactly half of the rated amperaage abouts, not a very scientific test or under optimal conditions, so i concluded it wasnt faulty, but still not sure, but this testers readings compared to a multimeter give me confidence that maybe my panel is fine and within sub optimal conditions.
How do you disconnect the MC4 connectors I always struggle?
Yeah kann das Gerät für den Kurs auch echt empfehlen, habs im vorletzten Vid och kurz angeschmissen um 16 Jahre alte Polys zu testen. Simpel, günstig, gut👍
That sums it up 🍺
@@OffGridGarageAustralia 🍻
nice good to have for panel testing
thank you for a great video /i want one of those meters/no more guessing /thanks-thanks-thanks/do you live off grid/what are you going to do with those used not so good panels / someone might be able to salvage some cells out of them/thanks much
Does it work downstream? That is, could I use this to determine V, A and watts coming from several panels, rather than using a multimeter that can test for DC amps?
Weird that that many panels have lower than rated specs. I have the opposite, my 50 Watt panels deliver more than 3.5 A together (in series) at 72 volts. ( I removed diodes). The MPPT controller boosts the current even higher buck converting the voltage down to 14 volts. I do not have them strait pointed to the sun either. The panels are only rated for 1.39 A. They cost me 50 euros each from Amazon Germany, almost free shipping. Can not find any more now, sold out. I remember them being sold as square 100 Watt panels, but I did not believe that for itś size. It might actually be ! PANEL: Eco Line ES50P72 (Specific cell quantity and array 72 - 4 x 18).
Any guesses why when you compared the MPPT and pwm charge controller in past videos on the bad panels why the pwm was able to get more from the bad panels?
The PWM connects the battery directly to the panel. I was looking at the pure amperes coming in and the PWN does a better job in these cases when you have only one panel. The MPPT always tries to maximise power and use its DC-DC conversion to 'produce' more amps when connecting more panels in series.
Thanks Andy.
Hey Andy, can this meter test panels with open circuit voltage of 68.v and maximum power voltage of 56.7v? I see that the tester shows it can test up to 60v. Wasnt sure if that 60v was under load or open circuit. Thanks Man!
Ha I have one of those. Works good
The power transistors are probably being run in the linear region as variable resistors. They would dissipate what ever watts the panel produces times the on time percentage (duty cycle).
They are. Easier to use MOSFETs than BJTs for this as it doesn't need a base drive current source and all it needs is for a sweep of the MOSFET linear region to do the test.
@@randacnam7321 Yup. That's the way I'd do it. Would take a fraction of a second. :)
Is there a model for 650W solar panels too?
do you know Sonel PVM-1020? can i use it for measuring DC power output
instead of WS400A?
Hi i have 1x 100ah leshure battery but i am thinking of getting another and join them paralel what regulator would you recomend i am currantly using just one of those blue ones with 2 x solar panels in serius 10 w each connected to the regulator but as i said i want to add another 100ah battery can you advise me thank you .
What I've noticed that all depends on the cracks if it's just cracking you'll only lose up to 20%(panels can get hairline fractures) if your cracks look like a spiderweb the panel beyond repair
Can you tell me why my elejoy multimeter get pretty warm as though it's getting hot when I plug my solar cable ends?
What solar panel have you connected to it?
Thumbs up and subscribed!
Awesome thank you!
Thank you
Nice video.
I ordered one
It's a great device for checking solar panels quickly. Especially when you buy used ones 😊
Have same problem with my panels and fixed them. the problem is the joints of busbars and cells itself. Doesnt look burnedout or corroded. When the panel was in shade i checked the connection of cels and it was all fine but when i took the panel outside to the sun he gives me only 11v and 1A. I cuted out back of the panel and changed the busbars and put new solder connections and now panel gives me 29v and 7.8A!. You can fix your panels by checking the connnection between the cels inside. If you have cracked sell it puls down the whole panel V & A like parrarel connection of panels with different V and A. Also had cracked cells and i cut back off panel and cutted out bad cell and jumped connection with good cells ;) you can try it panels are already bad ;) have nothing to loose. Sry for bad eng ;)
Yea! Closure for the solar panel debacle...
Still don't know why some have failed...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia You are tenacious. I know you will figure it out and post a video! Now I have to buy that internal resistance meter... Just when I thought I had it all.
@@peterrock2838 hahaha, thanks Peter.
Wait, there is more... 😋
I wondering do you have a thermal camera? Let me explain, I saw a picture that shows up a faulty cells on the solar panels, I wonder if it true, can you test one if you have the thermal camera. Either no load or load.
I don't have a thermal camera, now. I'll do this test once I have one...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia ok great thank
Definitely much faster results than the other method. The only downside in my situation is that I have quite a bit of 96 and 128 cell panels and they would exceed the maximum open circuit voltage of the tester. I guess the MPPT under load method will have to do for now, sure beats dragging them up the roof to find out that you have an under-performer panel putting a damper on your array string.
Quick onsite testing will also keep you from getting burned on the next sunny day panel acquisition adventure. I'll just have to keep an eye out when they might have one that will safely measure higher open circuit voltages (fingers crossed).
There is a 800W model
@@fromtheflightdeck252 just looked into it, the VoC max is 60 volts DC. I'm dealing with commercial panels where the nominal voltage is around 85 volts or higher. Darn it...
Yeah, the only downside is the voltage
Great intro , Lol 👍
I also purchased one to test the 32 panels i had laying around. It worked for first four panels then died. anyone got any circuit info for me to try and repair?
What panels have you tested with it? Never heard or read that this device faults after testing unless you overload it.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia All the ones i had were 250W . all around 31V 8.8A there abouts. first four no problems . then i found a faulty one :( it didnt work there after. when i opened the small compartment to investigate it had that lovely burnt out smell. brilliant tool. but sadly waiting on a replacement would take to long.
Try to use flashlight at the back sheet of pv, one by one of each cells to see hidden cracks of those degraded panels
It does not shine through at some.
👍😊
SUGGESTION: when featuring the TESTER - stop - Stop - STOP waving your HAND holding the TESTER so we & the CAMERA can focus on the item !
Thanks
COOP
...
It's a type of editing style. I'm not a news channel.
Sick panels will still charge and float your big tractor battery.
At least now you know.
It's good the tester has confirmed all the measurement we did before so we know it's not 🐄 💩
I already know all this shit he is talking about. I watch this channel because I always get a good laugh!
Same as me 😂
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks for sharing all your work! I was drinking when I wrote that and being smug. I actually learn a lot from all your experiments and glad I found your channel. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Looks a bit like Big Clives hobie meter
Yeah, the design is not the greatest, really. But ease of use is really top and it works well.
👍
Really Cool tool! A lot easier to make measurements on the roof.
Can it measure I short circuit?
I really expect about a 10% loss in power from the back label value, due to the difference between stand test conditions and nominal operating temperature. Even the I max power shows a less than 1000 watt/m^2 from the sun at your location and time of year. The current from a solar panel has a small temperature dependency and is an indicator of sun intensity. VOC and P max has a high temperature dependency.
It can only measure Voc and MPPT, not the Isc.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia It seems have the hardwire to do it.
It is still an absolutely great tool! Good find.
Looks like they make one that will measure 800 and and another that measures1600 watts also. $36 to $41 each plus tax.
You are a spat guy ;-)
I am part of the S.P.A.T.-Team 😂
The readability of the display is terrible ...
It is not the best, no. Not sure why they didn't use a LCD display which would also pull less power.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia ....indeed...Red display.. terrible to see in Full sun light...that's what you want to test the panels... ...😄.i spent my money now for the Internal Resistence Battery meter..another nice measure tool ..😄👍
The Multimeter is to slow , with a DSO in single mode you can catch the current .
050722/1413h PST🇺🇸 050822/0713h Brisbane🇦🇺 Andy, once again thank you for the demo and info on WS400A. I ordered it from amazon. It should reach me on Monday 050922. I am planning on procuring a few PV cell modules. 73s...
Nice job, Sree!
Are you going to follow in LTT clumsiness? 😂
Okay I want to know what the s*** camera is lol
Hi
please "forget" a little bit about "amps" the only relevant metric is power....
within boundaries, your inverter (or controller) doesn't care if it has more or less amps, it cares about watts.
Ampere is charging your battery. Only that maters.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia sorry, but you are wrong.
The physics law is for conservation of ENERGY, not conversation of Amps, or Voltage...
So, ENERGY (in Watts in given amount of time) goes out the panels, through the controller, and ENERGY comes out to the battery.
Relation between V x A can be manipulated as need with minimal losses. Energy can not. You CAN have 3A coming in and 6A going out (just half the voltage), but you certainly CAN'T have 100w coming in and 200w going out.
Of course there are practical constraints due to controller design (although perfectly possible, most won't increase voltage, only decrease), but the theory still applies.
So talking "amps" alone as measurement of panel's output is pointless.
The whole reason a MPPT controller exist is to manipulate this very relation between VxA to extract the maximum POWER (Maximum POWER (watts), not amps, Point Tracker).
AFTER the controller "amps" is a acceptable way to measure battery SoC because voltage is basically fixed (or at least, known), but that is outside the scope of this topic.
053021/1211h PST 🇺🇸 053121/0511h Brisbane. Thanks.
Ich glaub er kann Deutsch. So wie er Öttinger sagt... 🤔
Wenn Du jetzt noch so ein Solar-Leistung-Messgerät hättest de.aliexpress.com/item/32961979673.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.414578b9dpvCuV&algo_pvid=af158b9f-4374-46a8-b3b1-0c28c88a7543&algo_expid=af158b9f-4374-46a8-b3b1-0c28c88a7543-4&btsid=0b0a556b16224035331265164eff6f&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ dann könntest Du den tatsächliche Qualität der Panel ausrechnen.
Bestellt!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Na dann schau mer mal ob das alles so klappt ;-)
🤣🤣🤣..OK.OK..LET IT BE.. WHY YOU DROPPED YOUR solar panal reading meter..???🤣🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅👏👏👏👏😛😛😛😛😛😜🤪🤪🤪
Completely not-informative I can't figure out how to use this thing at all.
Lesson learned "Never buy solar panels at night"
Hahaha, yeah, that's a good advice 😉
Buying at night isn't the problem. It's when they say they (at night) that they just tested the modules a few minutes ago and they don't have a flash tester or light bank.
thank you sir