topic Re: Does the Netgear Solar Panel utilize active bypass diodes? in Arlo Pro

Does the Netgear Solar Panel utilize active bypass diodes?

GearNetRouter — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 04:47:25 GMT

Check this: https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2012/dec/active-bypass-diodes-improve-solar-panel-efficiency-and-performance

If the panel has to be mounted in a partial shade area or partial shade area for part of the day, does the NG panel have active bypass diodes to maintain efficiency?

Re: Does the Netgear Solar Panel utilize active bypass diodes?

martinhj — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 11:14:38 GMT

Well in my view this really would be total overkill for something the size of the Arlo panel!!!!!

In large solar arrays of the sort that would sit on your house roof then this would become an issue. Its not an issue on a low voltage tiny little Arlo panel!

Re: Does the Netgear Solar Panel utilize active bypass diodes?

TomMac — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 11:37:15 GMT

GearNetRouter wrote:

Check this: https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2012/dec/active-bypass-diodes-improve-solar-panel-efficiency-and-performance

If the panel has to be mounted in a partial shade area or partial shade area for part of the day, does the NG panel have active bypass diodes to maintain efficiency?

As mentioned, prob not.

It is very common for small solar panels to loose quite a bit of output if even one of the cells are shaded.

But I can say in full sun the panels work well enough to keep the battery charged and/or extended the use time.

Remember that the panel only puts out good output +/- 2hrs of straight on sun to the panel, after those hours the output will drop anyway.

Re: Does the Netgear Solar Panel utilize active bypass diodes?

GearNetRouter — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:05:34 GMT

The large panels are for your whole house. The NG panel is for a cam. It's not overkill and all relative. If they made the freaking cord shorter I could put it in full sun but with a foot cord for my home its difficult to put it in full sun. The instructions say consider 4.5 foot I guess to give some slack to the cord so there is even less room to work with. They should sell a different version with a long cord or sell the cord in different sizes and let the customer connect to the panel with waterproofing engineered on that end.