question

Allan avatar image
Allan asked

109w from 100w panel?

I have a 6 month old 100watt solar panel charging 2 6 month old Varta LDF90 (90ah) batteries through a Bluesolar 75/15 controller

Yesterday, the P Max figure on my VictronConnect app display showed 109w! Is this possible or is my controller telling lies?

battery charging
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4 Answers
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

It is quite possible to see this.
It often occurs due to a "Cloud Edge Effect". The water vapor at the edge of a cloud will magnify the suns rays and focus more sunlight for a short while as the cloud moves along.

Solar panels are rated for a "Standard Test Condition" (STC) which is 1KW of light per square metre. Basically a PV panel is placed under a calibrated light array of lamps to test it's output. This output value is what the write on the back of the panel.

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Elimac avatar image
Elimac answered ·

Yes, is possible. Under the right conditions the solar panels can produce more than the nominal power. Essencially, there are 2 main factors: 1) Tolerances and variations in production and 2) the way the spec was set in first place - Temperature, radiation conditions, etc. Then, in real life, you could even have cases with reflections increase the radiation, low tempratures with clear skies, etc, as examples... Nominal power is for a certain set of conditions.

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Elimac avatar image Elimac commented ·

@WKirby beat me for some seconds :)

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kai avatar image
kai answered ·

100W is a nominal rating for a "typical" panel from a given manufacturer at a given light input. Manufacturing tolerances and light conditions can combine to give you power above the nominal rated value.

Its possible that your controller isn't lying.


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Allan avatar image
Allan answered ·

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone, that all sounds logical. If anyone is interested, it is an Antarion solar panel.

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