Popular Post Crossy Posted July 24, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2022 Our outside floodlights have a 150W solar panel feeding a 20A PWM charge controller and about 30Ah of 12V LiFePO4 batteries (batteries are made up of a motley selection of 32650 cells acquired over the years). I noted from day 1 that the charge current wasn't quite what I expected, but it was filling the batteries so I put it down to the el-cheapo PWM charge controller. Fast forward a few months and I see the lights are not making it through the night and the batteries are nowhere near full at the end of even a nice sunny day. Changed the charge controller - no difference. Tracing the wiring back to the panel revealed:- Evidently warmth had been generated over a period, that wire was hanging on by a couple of strands. The screw terminal was decidedly not tight! Since the plastic cover was melted and brittle a new one was fabricated, that's just a regular plastic electrical box that was in-stock, not even new. It looked a bit manky so I sprayed it with black acrylic. Connections were tidied up and proper crimps used on the cables. Under test before I install it back onto the patio roof. So, it wouldn't hurt to verify your panel connections are good before hauling them up onto the roof. 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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