On 29/06/12 9:42 AM, Ron Hardin wrote:
> My new Instaparkď 50W Mono-crystalline Solar
> Panel says "Do not disconnect under load."
>
> Why?
>
> Are they concerned about sparks in the connectors?
>
> High voltage transients wiping out a
> semiconductor?
>
> Do they mean disconnect at the panel or even at
> the solar controller?
>
> If so how do you disconnect them without waiting
> for night?
>
Seeing your panel is only 12V, probably not a problem, unless you've just set it
up at right angles to the sun, and the sun is near its zenith.
Then your panel, being cool of course, is producing it's maximum current (hah!)
of just over 4 amps, if you short out the terminals
Now that that explanation is out of the way, disconnecting the panel under those
conditions shouldn't affect whatever-you-had-connected, as you've now
disconnected it. What MAY happen is that at the moment of disconnection, as you
pull the cables apart, somewhere between a fifth of fuck-all and a poofteenth of
a millimeter, there MAY be a spark for a microsecond that's drawing all of four
amps.
This may be enough to induce an electric current in anything sensitive to an
electromagnetic field if it's close enough.
So don't disconnect your cables by laying them over your LCD watch, and pulling
them apart. You just may destroy your watch!!
That's the most pessimistic outlook.
If you're an optimist, then don't bother with that warning - you should live a
long time, and you probably won't destroy anything.
But don't blame the manufacturer if, by some strange chance, you stop your i-Pad
from working when it was just a couple of inches away. That's why the warning -
it's highly improbable that a spark from your panel would destroy anything
electronic, but the possibility's there, and the manufacturer has to cover his
butt from stupidity making an expensive legal claim, blaming that spark to cause
a chain of events that put you in hospital or destroyed
<house/caravan/shed/whatever>
I see someone else has made the right observation about what to do during the
day. It's the same as a fire - remove the heat and the fire goes out!!