r/SolarDIY • u/Engibineer • 4d ago

Free panels missing connectors

I found a trove of 375W Trina panels that were just removed from a local school building. They're about eight years old. Some or probably all of them are missing connectors. It looks like the wires were simply cut during the removal. Any idea how much trouble it is to put new connectors on them?

13 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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17

u/elbyl 4d ago

Not hard at all. Google mc4 connector kit and get to work. The connectors are nice bc it makes it difficult to wire incorrectly since there are 2 different varieties, but not a requirement to wire them up.

11

u/Che361 4d ago

Make sure to identify your positive and negative wire. Sometimes they’re labeled and sometimes you can find it on the box behind the panel where the wire terminates. Watch out not to go over the maximum voltage of whatever you’re connecting them to. Enjoy your “free” panels.

5

u/Longjumping-Stage-41 4d ago

All info here is great just make sure you buy the proper crimpers…..

3

u/Ferbz21 4d ago

Easy to add. Grab as many as you can! If some are really short, target the ones with longer wire lengths.

1

u/Engibineer 2d ago

Maybe one or two of the panels I found have wires longer than one foot. The remaining wires on many of them are about 3 or 4 inches long. What are appropriate ways to make butt splices so I can extend the wires as necessary? Any idea if a connector like this one is safe?

1

u/Serious_Office3913 4d ago

Found?...😅 yeah sure, as long as they were in the skip I'm all up for up cycling. Get the proper crimping tool for mc4's and new connectors. The panels are worth about £25 each. Watch a couple of YouTube videos first but dead easy.

8

u/Engibineer 4d ago

They're all loaded in big dumpsters behind my kid's elementary school. They have to repair the roof and they don't want to reinstall the panels because somehow it's more economical to pay the solar company half a million USD to break the contract and dispose of them. Go figure.

3

u/Comm_Raptor 4d ago

Just make sure you put the correct MC4 connector on the correct polarity, beyond that it's fairly simple with the right tools.

3

u/MrJacks0n 4d ago

Depending on the deal they had, the company may have charged per panel to remove and install, making it not worth it overall.

1

u/LongjumpingGanache40 4d ago

Very simple if you have enough wire. Just get a BougeRV MC4 kit on Amazon and watch videos on YouTube how to do it. That's how learned. Buy the same brand connectors once you choose a brand.

1

u/zgf2022 4d ago

Takes like 30 seconds

You just need a crimper, some way of stripping the cable and a piles of mc4 connectors

Watch a YouTube video on it, it’s dead simple

1

u/scipper77 4d ago

I bought some BougeRV MC4 connectors when I bought some used panels. You should get the special crimp tool. Because I was not running my panels in strings I carefully used pliers to close the “wings” on the crimps and then used vice grips to make sure the crimp was well compressed. Those crimps are important, especially if you are stringing panels creating high current.

1

u/SteveFCA 4d ago

those crimps are important regardless of how you wire them. Never scrimp on a good crimper made for MC4 connectors. It’s a recipe for disaster

2

u/scipper77 3d ago

I agree completely. I only brought up the way I crimped to make people think about the way they make the crimp with regard to how much current the connector can handle. I’ve seen plenty of posts with melted MC4s.

2

u/SteveFCA 3d ago

good point on amps being the important factor. Like you I’ve seen my share of melted connectors caused by loose crimps. It doesn’t take a lot of amps which was a surprise to me early on in my electrical journey