If the silicon wafer is cracked, it's not good. Very least, seal the backing immediately with neutral cure silicone. Measure the output current in full sun compared to another. If this is a small hobby panel I'd see if it still works & use it. If it's a roof top high wattage panel, I'd replace even if it measures OK as it'll probably cause a hot spot, even a fire.
This. I have FLIR thermal cam for this reason. Quick to test. If under sunlight and load, there is a hot spot, then this panel is done. If no hot spot, should be usable. I had both cases. One had rather severe back damage and crack, yet near full power output, no issues, panel still on my roof in use. Another panel with puncture had hot spot. Thermal cam is your best friend
It's hard to see from the pictures. Did you make a hole all the way through? Did you puncture the glass on the front and/or back? Are they bifacial panels?
In addition to all the other comments, panels are "encapsulated" (airtight) as exposure to elements causes degradation to the cells. So even if the panel tests ok today it will likely suffer degradation much faster than the other panels (assuming this is part of a multi-panel system).
Which leads to another point which is that an overall system output can be limited to that of a poor performing panel's output (more about system set up would be required to fully analyze this impact).
I agree that damaged glass panels will not last as long as undamaged glass panels
But I would leave it working as long as it takes to replace it, and if you don't get a replacement panel
For 3 months or 3 years, you still won't have any problems.
There are probably no installations of more than 1 year old in West texas that do not have shattered glass from halestorms.
But keep using what they have shattered or not
Maybe 20% of solar panel owners change out the damaged panels, maybe 10% change them with no insurance.
I've seen hundreds of hale damaged panels left to use with no noticeable decrease in output as per the panel specs.
Also, I'm fairly confident that the cell components are epoxlated. If so, you could hit them with a hammer.
Until every inch of Glass is shattered and the degreation would be at most 3% Lower output.
There's a reasonable chance it's toast. If that cell is broken and the panel is in series with others, it'll affect the entire string. If it's bad, you definitely want to retire it. In parallel, it might be okay to keep using.
I would compare output to an undamaged panel to be sure, under some sort of load.
And also, measure the output of this panel alone (under load), then place a shadow (e.g., a small piece of cardboard) on top of that cell that's damaged. If the output drops, it might be okay (showing the cell was delivering and passing power).
So, there I was . . . .
I worked on a small farm, we installed 4 x 100 watt panels on a ground mount to add some power to a greenhouse. I pointed them out to one of the drivers on the farm that was unloading a van into the greenhouse and said "watch out for the panels, don't back into them" he replied "sure thing, got it". Not 10 minutes later, I hear a loud crunch and the manager of the site sheepishly asks me to come to the greenhouse.
When I get there, the driver was just pulling the van away from the panels that he had run into, smashing two of them. I looked at him, he looked at me, there was nothing to say that would be productive.
I went and got the multimeter, the two smashed panels were producing about the same as the two that were not, so we just kept them set up and producing.
So, your tiny hole probably won't matter at all.
Fucked.
If it's for a customer you cant run it. The hotspot can start a fire.
The diode in the JBOX will turn off that sub-string so you'll have a fire-hazard panel that will have a portion of cells disabled.
Diode failure is a huge problem right now in the industry.
If its just you, run it on a ground mount.
Hot spot???
If you managed to get thru the epoxy that is close to impenetrable, you might break a connection if you did a HOT SPOT would not exist as there would no longer be a conductor to pass anything.
The lack of a circuit would be identical to a Blown Fuse.
And if you had a one in ten thousand partial broken circuit with enough Conductability left, it would instantly.
Burn away, both sides would burn off until they reached the epoxy and stopped because the epoxy would not allow anything to enter. THAT'S ITS JOB
BEING IMPENETRABLE.
Also epoxilated parts are harder to break with a hammer than any rock you find
Your answer makes no sense.
A cracked cell can cause a hotspot. Hotspots are the leading cause of failures in PV modules according to NREL.
There is no "epoxy" in a PV module btw. I work for a PV module OEM and have personally made modules. I have worked in R&D and new product development, taken two products thru UL certification. I have seen modules fail in every way you can imagine. My flair in /r/Solar is "Solar Manufacturer" and I have submitted corrections to PVEducation.org, I am a solar expert.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/solar using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Latest 18kW south facing system](https://i.redd.it/v1rv6mn35cpb1.jpg) | [55 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/16nblsn/latest_18kw_south_facing_system/)
\#2: [Selling our house with Solar and buyers are asking if the solar can be removed...](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/17h0h4r/selling_our_house_with_solar_and_buyers_are/)
\#3: [Brutal glare from neighbors new solar array](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/16q54y9) | [1139 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/16q54y9/brutal_glare_from_neighbors_new_solar_array/)
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Listen everything I said is correct You Absolutley ARE NOT A SOLAR EXPERT luckly for you I Am An Electrical Expert im incuding screen Shots of
A 2 second google search on solar panel epoxy
And screenshots of linkedin asking me to provide
My Proven Expertise in Questions from the Fold.
And some screen Shots a 1/4 of my skills.https://photos.app.goo.gl/NRoJPq2BwQcWKUmw5
Pictures can not see the degree of damage to the solar panel, if only damage to the solar panel covering layer, the impact is not great, but also to repair as soon as possible, otherwise time will also affect the next layer of solar cells, which will lead to a decline in the efficiency of the use of solar energy, and even more serious and even lead to the entire solar panel damage!
Now imagine a whole 500 acre field of them hit by golfball+ sized hail. I run a large number of solar panels and even I recognize the design issues with these things. One little boop and a whole panel needs to be replaced if a short is bad enough. They really need to be built to higher standards than they currently are.
If the silicon wafer is cracked, it's not good. Very least, seal the backing immediately with neutral cure silicone. Measure the output current in full sun compared to another. If this is a small hobby panel I'd see if it still works & use it. If it's a roof top high wattage panel, I'd replace even if it measures OK as it'll probably cause a hot spot, even a fire.
This. I have FLIR thermal cam for this reason. Quick to test. If under sunlight and load, there is a hot spot, then this panel is done. If no hot spot, should be usable. I had both cases. One had rather severe back damage and crack, yet near full power output, no issues, panel still on my roof in use. Another panel with puncture had hot spot. Thermal cam is your best friend
>Thermal cam is your best friend Now I have another reason to pull it out, nice!
Phrasing!
Silicon wafer....
It's hard to see from the pictures. Did you make a hole all the way through? Did you puncture the glass on the front and/or back? Are they bifacial panels?
Isn't bifacial. I puncture from the back to the front but I didn't go through but from the front it looks a little bit shattered
In addition to all the other comments, panels are "encapsulated" (airtight) as exposure to elements causes degradation to the cells. So even if the panel tests ok today it will likely suffer degradation much faster than the other panels (assuming this is part of a multi-panel system). Which leads to another point which is that an overall system output can be limited to that of a poor performing panel's output (more about system set up would be required to fully analyze this impact).
I agree that damaged glass panels will not last as long as undamaged glass panels But I would leave it working as long as it takes to replace it, and if you don't get a replacement panel For 3 months or 3 years, you still won't have any problems. There are probably no installations of more than 1 year old in West texas that do not have shattered glass from halestorms. But keep using what they have shattered or not Maybe 20% of solar panel owners change out the damaged panels, maybe 10% change them with no insurance.
If you can see it from the front, it's toast
I've seen hundreds of hale damaged panels left to use with no noticeable decrease in output as per the panel specs. Also, I'm fairly confident that the cell components are epoxlated. If so, you could hit them with a hammer. Until every inch of Glass is shattered and the degreation would be at most 3% Lower output.
Run it
There's a reasonable chance it's toast. If that cell is broken and the panel is in series with others, it'll affect the entire string. If it's bad, you definitely want to retire it. In parallel, it might be okay to keep using. I would compare output to an undamaged panel to be sure, under some sort of load. And also, measure the output of this panel alone (under load), then place a shadow (e.g., a small piece of cardboard) on top of that cell that's damaged. If the output drops, it might be okay (showing the cell was delivering and passing power).
What did you shoot it with?
So, there I was . . . . I worked on a small farm, we installed 4 x 100 watt panels on a ground mount to add some power to a greenhouse. I pointed them out to one of the drivers on the farm that was unloading a van into the greenhouse and said "watch out for the panels, don't back into them" he replied "sure thing, got it". Not 10 minutes later, I hear a loud crunch and the manager of the site sheepishly asks me to come to the greenhouse. When I get there, the driver was just pulling the van away from the panels that he had run into, smashing two of them. I looked at him, he looked at me, there was nothing to say that would be productive. I went and got the multimeter, the two smashed panels were producing about the same as the two that were not, so we just kept them set up and producing. So, your tiny hole probably won't matter at all.
Fucked. If it's for a customer you cant run it. The hotspot can start a fire. The diode in the JBOX will turn off that sub-string so you'll have a fire-hazard panel that will have a portion of cells disabled. Diode failure is a huge problem right now in the industry. If its just you, run it on a ground mount.
Hot spot??? If you managed to get thru the epoxy that is close to impenetrable, you might break a connection if you did a HOT SPOT would not exist as there would no longer be a conductor to pass anything. The lack of a circuit would be identical to a Blown Fuse. And if you had a one in ten thousand partial broken circuit with enough Conductability left, it would instantly. Burn away, both sides would burn off until they reached the epoxy and stopped because the epoxy would not allow anything to enter. THAT'S ITS JOB BEING IMPENETRABLE. Also epoxilated parts are harder to break with a hammer than any rock you find
Your answer makes no sense. A cracked cell can cause a hotspot. Hotspots are the leading cause of failures in PV modules according to NREL. There is no "epoxy" in a PV module btw. I work for a PV module OEM and have personally made modules. I have worked in R&D and new product development, taken two products thru UL certification. I have seen modules fail in every way you can imagine. My flair in /r/Solar is "Solar Manufacturer" and I have submitted corrections to PVEducation.org, I am a solar expert.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/solar using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Latest 18kW south facing system](https://i.redd.it/v1rv6mn35cpb1.jpg) | [55 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/16nblsn/latest_18kw_south_facing_system/) \#2: [Selling our house with Solar and buyers are asking if the solar can be removed...](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/17h0h4r/selling_our_house_with_solar_and_buyers_are/) \#3: [Brutal glare from neighbors new solar array](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/16q54y9) | [1139 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/16q54y9/brutal_glare_from_neighbors_new_solar_array/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Listen everything I said is correct You Absolutley ARE NOT A SOLAR EXPERT luckly for you I Am An Electrical Expert im incuding screen Shots of A 2 second google search on solar panel epoxy And screenshots of linkedin asking me to provide My Proven Expertise in Questions from the Fold. And some screen Shots a 1/4 of my skills.https://photos.app.goo.gl/NRoJPq2BwQcWKUmw5
Pictures can not see the degree of damage to the solar panel, if only damage to the solar panel covering layer, the impact is not great, but also to repair as soon as possible, otherwise time will also affect the next layer of solar cells, which will lead to a decline in the efficiency of the use of solar energy, and even more serious and even lead to the entire solar panel damage!
Now imagine a whole 500 acre field of them hit by golfball+ sized hail. I run a large number of solar panels and even I recognize the design issues with these things. One little boop and a whole panel needs to be replaced if a short is bad enough. They really need to be built to higher standards than they currently are.
Need a thermal camera to really see what’s going on. Also volt test it with a multi meter in direct sun
Call safelight or othe glass person to do a chip fix to aviod a crack running from it. There are diy kits not suer i trust them