Hi Just another quick update on my home solar power system that I've got here. I've done several videos on this before but everyone still wants an update on this thing. The last one I did is where one of my are LG Mano X panels here I've got 12 of these things. One of them actually shattered due to an impact now I have to replace this one.

So um LG as it turns out, um LG Australia actually saw my video and said hey, we might have a spare one that you can have and sure enough they looked in their warehouse and they got me a brand new replacement mono ex panel so thank you very much LG Australia Awesome! They don't normally do that but they saw my video and thought that they could help out. Now as it turns out, LG Australia looked at I sent him. they had a look at the video, looked at the impact and they actually said that this is the first one in Australia out of like three hundred thousand panels installed that they've actually seen shatter like that. so they believe yeah, it is a direct sharp impact of some object.

Yeah, current theory. Ever a cricket ball or not a baseball? we don't have baseball here in Australia As all you Yanks pointed out, I may be a cricket ball or more likely I am fairly close to a flight path here, so you know, just a few hundred metres away. so it could actually be some blue ice or something else that's fallen from a plane to actually impact this thing. We don't really know.

No, it wasn't hail or anything like that. So yeah, and they claim that's the first one they've heard about anyway that's shattered like that. So anyway, I'm gonna replace this puppy and and I'm just waiting until it gets dark here because you don't want to go disconnecting these things under load. It actually warns you on the on the connectors, on the panel itself and everywhere.

You just don't do it because these things can generate some high voltages and that this in in fact, in this case my one, the open circuit voltage 456 volts maximum short-circuit current at 7 amps of my system here, so you don't want to be yo disconnecting that. So I'm going to wait. It's getting fairly late here. The Sun setting I've actually my output actually drops off very quickly due to shading of some houses behind me.

so you know it plummets. Here's a graph which shows you it actually plummets up fairly quickly right at the end. So I'm just waiting for that to happen. It's currently still at 330 volts and these systems currently output it still output in 210 watts or there abouts.

And here's my Sonny-boy 3000 tail inverter you've seen before. It's got a look, you just tap on it and the back light comes on here and you can probably see it There we go. it's still generating 318 volts and 0.7 amps it's actually got. Now it'll actually switch to the second array in there I Don't actually have a second array? We've only got one string or an array or a string so it supports two strings.

I've only got the one so it'll switch back and that's currently generating 200 watts. It's it's going to drop pretty quickly after this and what it's feeding into the grid. 244 volts at there we go. No point.

eight amps and what we've got here and you can just see my day. That's my output for today and that's yes, that's my output for today. It's been very cloudy today and everything else and that's my output for the light the last ten days or so. But you can't actually follow my system if you're interested.

I'll link it in down below on PV output or org. You can actually follow all my daily outputs. Anyway, before you work on this thing, you want to isolate the DC panel. And of course it would warned you all about that up here.

And there's my DC isolator over there. So I want to switch that off? That'll actually switch. That'll isolate the panels from the inverter itself just in case the inverter might feed something back or something like that. I Don't think it does, but yet, you want to isolate it there.

and there's a I've actually got a second isolator switch up on the roof so you disconnect though for those, you're waiting until the power to drop and then we can safely work on our panels. No need to touch the AC inverter isolator here. you can leave this hooked up to the grid. So as far as the inverter is concerned, well, well, if we disconnect that, it's just like it's nighttime and it's just outputting nothing.

So yeah, it won't know the difference. And here's the panel that I've got and I'm replacing its LG 255 S1 See, it's the G3 models. They've gone through various series, but this one I believe is now out of date. It was like one of the world's best ones, but hey, technology marches on pretty quickly in the couple of years I've had this system installed.

but yeah, like they've improved by, you know, maybe a percent or two efficiency or something like that since then. But still a damn good panel. And here's the cable for your cable aficionados out there. Specific Pv wire.

So there you go: Twelve Awg-9 TC wet or Dry Beauty 600 volt rated and -40 C is that it's a nominal low temp right in. Anyway, looks like good stuff made by nude virgins. and here's the connectors that provided with it. Here we go: I'm not familiar with these things I'm not really in the PV industry, but there you go.

They just clip together like that. no worries at whatsoever, can rip those apart. Don't go shorting this thing out when you've got it in direct Sun that would kinda sort of ruin your day. Yeah, nice.

Oh, ring around there. Nice What? It'll form a nice waterproof seal when these things are in there, and they'd have waterproof sealing around the end as well. Beauty! So here's my array and there is my shattered panel: I'll link in the video if you haven't seen it. I Previously got some good close-ups and things like that.

Luckily it's on the end because this way I only have to do undo two of these clips here and I'll show you the show you the clips there we go. Now if they were, if it was in the middle, then it might be a pain in the butt because you've got two. Screw the whole thing, lift it out, and then hope that it, you know. hope that you don't lose the nut down there and you can screw the thing back in.

So I'm pretty lucky they had them in super dark tight. I mean ridiculously tight and but like I had to get a hammer and smash and put a long long bar allen key in this thing and just smash the hell out of it trying to loosen these things. So yeah, maybe that had something. Maybe the glass actually was stressed or something like that, but it definitely is a direct impact on something which I could never find by the way.

So anyway, I just have to do these clips. then this panel. I Just lift up there. it is no worries, it's coming up now.

it'll come right out. Just got to get the new one up on the roof and this old one down might have to wear gloves for that. Yeah, but anyway, it's still been up here for many weeks and not a huge amount of sign of water ingress like that's because they're angled of course, so nothing really seems to have pulled down the bottom, so it seems to have been fairly fairly waterproof as it is. So I just haven't had a chance.

I Went on holidays, haven't had a chance to install the new panel I've had it for a while and anyway, because that's the main risk because this thing still works. still works. A treat. You know it's giving basically almost practically full power output like you can't see like, you know I can't notice the difference when it's in the whole string like this.

So yes, still works just fine. So maybe I can I seal it back up and use it for something else. All right, leads disconnected. That was a pain in the butt.

There were these little retention clip things in there and are really annoying. Anyway, out with the old hymn within you and there you have it. That wasn't too hard at all. Pretty easy.

looks like a bought one and we'll just turn the DC isolator switch back on. There we go. We've got two of these, one the other one you saw back down at the thing and we're ready to go. It's a bit yellowed as I said last time due to the bromine that's leaked out of the plastic.

There you know with the UV and a each bit well, not aged must be all UV and weather in. But anyway, done here we go. switch it back on and Wow nothing zero watts. but then again, it's pretty dark now and there's a spider blocking my path.

straw. Lea No worries, harmless. Well, that's one thoroughly busted panel. But the good thing about it is that like there's no no real shards, the only real shards are like inside here.

so I can. probably. Well, you know there's two ways to repair. this one is to try and get all the glass out, which would just be horrendous cause it's like it shattered everywhere everywhere on the panel, right down to the bottom.

Tiny little shards. so it's obviously got some sort of protective film on it, so that's obviously keeping everything all the glass intact. So best bet is to just coat it with some sort of polyurethane or some sort of polly put the kettle on or something and we can maybe seal it in because it's you know it's still probably gonna work. a treat and check out the back of it clean as a whistle by the lights.

Being up for there for like two and a half years or something and there's the impact. Wow that some sort of it's a some sort of point object. Definitely you.