How to fix solar panels on the spot

vanlife

aidas | Aug. 5, 2023

After constant issues with electricity and charging, I finally decided that it'd be less risky to get my hands on the solar panels than wait and suffer.

I had to unscrew the front solar panel to get the access to the wires.

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After measuring the voltage between the solar panel contacts, it turned out that there was no voltage. Nothing. 0.

Wires looked okay, so I opened the little black box hoping that the problem hides there (and I won't have to throw all the panel away).

After removing the isolation and playing around with multimeter, turned out that at the bottom there's no contact!

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That's where the creative part kicks in. The proper solution would be to sold it, however being countries away from home with no soldering equipment that's not feasible.

I remembered I had a broken fuse, which I disassembled.

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And put the conductive part between the contacts.

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However, for the contact to work, I needed to push the conductor down.

After some more creativity, I decided to find some unnecessary piece, which I could put on the conductor. It would be squeezed between the conductor and the top of the box, which clips!

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Later I had to change the detail into something more firm (like the blue plastic from the fuse) as the rubber adapter to the pressure and the contact disappeared.

After all the effort, finally, I started to see the numbers!

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Both panels together:

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This was such a blissful feeling...

Screwed everything back together and haven't had any problems with electricity (~2 weeks already)!

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