solar panel project

[Grant Gardner]

Hi everyone. Im new here and to electronics troubleshooting in general. I am in el salvador and need to repair the junction boxes on two 135w solar panels that supply power to my sailboat. The junction boxes filled with rain water while the panels continued to charge for 10 months. The internal components of the junction boxes were heavily corroded and dissolved and need to be replaced. The panels work fine and produce 20 volts but there is no way to transfer this energy into my batteries until I rebuild the junction boxes. So how does one go about sourcing tinned copper bus bars and how do I determine what sort of bypass diodes are used in there.

Any help would be appreciated.

Grant

 

[alec_t]

You may be able to get the bus bars re-galvanized locally?

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

You going to have to replace the box too. There needs to be a gasket. probably IP65 or IP67 rated. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

The box should have the ability to mount or come with a backing plate that doesn't require penetration. It should also have a flange mount.

I'd consider doing a DIN rail system:

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2013/01/bus-ele-pp-3169-din-tb.pdf

Diodes will be rated by PIV or PRV (Peak Inverse Voltage). This needs to be greater than the max reverse voltage applied to the diode. My guess is 50V.

And you also need the max current they need to pass.