Burn Marks On Solar Panels

Hotspots on panels are mainly caused by badly soldered connections or are a result of a structural defect in the solar cells.

Burn marks on solar panels.

This is a sign of a burnt terminal. About half of the panels appear to have burn marks of an unknown origin. Typically they are in the same exact place on multiple solar panels. These have been seen on panels manufactured by smaller suppliers and large distributors alike.

The current output from the whole panel is limited to that passing through the weakest link cell. If even a small section of a photovoltaic panel is shaded for example by the branch of a tree there is a very significant drop in power output from the panel. When you use a charge controller that is what it is doing anytime the battery bank is full tapering off the. Badly soldered connections cause low resistance in the part of the panel that receives the power generated by the cell.

Mark having solar panels in the sun without a load on them should not damage them. As a result the voltage can rise which leads to a hotspot in the soldered points and or a cell. Just like a car battery solar panel system battery terminals can burn out. This is because a pv solar panel is made up of a string of individual solar cells connected in series with one another.

If you work in the solar panel installation business long enough you ll inevitably come across solar panels with strange brown spots.