Solar panel question

[gonegary]

I hate admitting when I've been super stupid but I think I have been.   I just bought a 100w panel and for some idiot reason I plugged the male lead into the female lead OF THE PANEL ITSELF!   aaaagh.  I pulled it apart as soon as I realized what I did which was about 2 seconds.  Have I completely effed up this panel?   It reads the same as my old panels on my voltmeter which is 20  but my charge controller isn't lighting up when attached to the new panel.   Any ideas?

 

[jimindenver]

Naw We test the Isc by short circuiting them.

 

[IGBT]

Jim, don't use fancy short terms when someone is a solar virgin

Isc is short circuit current, which means the maximum current the panel can produce, taken by shorting the leads together with a current measuring device in series.  Note you have near zero power at this level because the voltage is very close to zero (might be a little voltage drop in the resistance of the wire)  Power = voltage times current.

The other way to measure panels is the open circuit voltage, which is where you have the leads connected to nothing (no load) and measure the voltage between them using a voltage measuring device in parallel with the leads.  This also has no power because there is no current flow (except for the microamps flowing into the meter resistance of course).

I guess Jim's answer was shorter.  You did not hurt the panel (assuming you didn't also drop a sharp rock on it and forgot to tell us).

 

[gonegary]

Naw We test the Isc by short circuiting them.

Ok, thanks to both of you.  My second question is that the new panel is not lighting up my charger?   I just have an inexpensive green light, red light yellow light windy nation 30amp charger and my old panels light up the charger when connected, this new one isn't.  Any trouble shooting ideas?

 

[ZoNiE]

It probably is not putting out enough current to trip the charger. Make sure it is in full sun when you read the voltage and amps, and test it with the charger.
Put your DVM in Amps and read across the panel. Read meter lead to plus, black meter lead to minus. It should read around whatever the Isc is on the sticker in full sun.
If it still reads zero Amps, It may be kaput. Check for fuses in the junction block, but as Jimindenver stated, when we test the Isc of a panel we are basically shorting it out...

 

[gonegary]

It probably is not putting out enough current to trip the charger. Make sure it is in full sun when you read the voltage and amps, and test it with the charger.
Put your DVM in Amps and read across the panel. Read meter lead to plus, black meter lead to minus. It should read around whatever the Isc is on the sticker in full sun.
If it still reads zero Amps, It may be kaput. Check for fuses in the junction block, but as Jimindenver stated, when we test the Isc of a panel we are basically shorting it out...

Another embarrassing moment, turns out my multimeter was broken.  I tried a friends out.  Also turns out the diameter of the panels MC4 metal contact was larger than the MC4's I had so they were not making contact and that was why charger didn't light up.  Friend spotted that right away.  Not all MC4's are created equal.  Problem solved,  thanks for helping, I'm getting there.