Hi all,

I have an acquaintance, a menace I've mentioned before, who has
come up with another way to surprise me

He's just installed four 200W solar panels to power his house via
24V batteries and an inverter

He rang me this morning and asked a question that I wasn't able
to answer except to say it didn't sound safe. I Googled then and
now but didn't find any relevant information

Apparently the 24V panels he ordered are actually 12V, which
he's going to sort out with the supplier

But in the meantime, he's connecting the panels directly to the
batteries, bypassing the charger, as he says in full sunlight the panels
put out 26V which is "enough to keep the batteries topped up"

What concerns me is that he says he connects the panels only when
their output is over 24V and sees a spark. The supplier has suggested
he not do this, which sounds reasonable to me. 'menace'claims (based
on what, I don't know) that this spark will do the panel no harm, and
rang me for reassurance that he is correct. To my mind, a spark when
a power supply is connected to a load means something is under stress,
for better or worse, and if they were my panels I'd not be tempting fate
by blowing an internal connection, thereby getting lumbered with a non-
returnable damaged panel

Am I right to right to advise that panel damage is possible and that
basically what he's doing is an intuitively stupid thing to do ? (for
various reasons)

TIA

Joe
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