This summer I put in 200 watt system to run a pond aerator. My location is good with decent sunlight through out the day. During the summer I was only able to get 13 to 15 watts from the panel’s now I’m only getting 3 to 5 watts . The charge controller I’m using is a MPPT 100 1 20. Are my panels bad?
Do you happen to have a picture of the data sticker on the panels, or know their specs? Are they in series and do they have bypass diodes?
What are the settings on the mppt?
I can’t find anything online that shows whether or not they have a bypass diode so I would have to assume not. So that could mean you have a bad panel, but I would check your mppt settings first, if the system has never worked properly and the mppt hasn’t been configured it could very well be a setting that is causing the issue
When the panels are getting good sunlight what is the voltage showing from the PV?
During the summer the max watts were 13 to 15.
Yes but what was the voltage?
I’m sorry if you could explain like I’m a 3 year old, if my charge controller is showing that I’m only get 3 to 5 watts from the panels wouldn’t it have to be the panels?
Not necessarily. The wattage you see from the mppt is merely what is being utilized not what the panels are providing. If the mppt isn’t drawing any/low current due to a setting issue then the wattage from the PV will be low regardless of what they’re capable of.
If the entirety of the setup is too disproportionate (small array, large mppt, large battery bank that never fully charges) it’s also been known to cause the mppts to do weird things.
First things first since this never worked properly out of the box is to start back at what should have been done on day 1 and check/set the mppt configuration.
Put the panels in parallel, if power goes up, one is dead.
Do you know the specs of your pond aerator, voltage, amps or power. Do you have a battery in the system. If you only have a 15W aerator then that is all the panels will produce. Has something happened to the aerator such as weed covering the inlet which would reduce power demand.
In winter if you are northern hemisphere you will get lower sun angle and lower power.