[chbot] OT: Solar PV panel configuration for fault detection.

[Volker Kuhlmann]

On Thu 31 Oct 2013 08:12:12 NZDT +1300, Richard Jones wrote:

> I'm beginning to see the benefit of the enphase microinverter solution.
> Innovative suggestions anyone?

Not sure whether this meets your innovation level, but tie a signal
cable to each panel so you can monitor its voltage. Hmm, the sparky
would want that to be fused, and galvanic connection is always more
painful. How about slipping a current coil over the bypass diodes to
bypass the sparky? Needs good noise filtering, but you're not into high
sampling rates there.

Install a light sensor near the panels, or next to each one/a group of
them, and work out what the expected panel output at a given light level
is for a faultless panel set. Then keep on comparing while running.
TEPT5600 is a good daylight sensor (SMD versions available, the Vishay
datasheet is good), but it's matched for human eye response, which may
or may not be close enough to the PV panel response (I guess they'll
work fine because their response is still linear to total illumination).

Ask Oscar to make you a quad-inspection-copter... ;-)

Volker

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Volker Kuhlmann
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