Does a solar power have amps with nothing hooked up

[Alpha-y2k]

I bought a harbour freight 100 watt solar panel kit.
have had it for 3 years now but I'm running into problems of my battery dying, my guess is from not being charged.

So in short I don't run much in this setup, I have a cell phone, 3 fans that are rated 12v DC, 0.8 amps 10 watts each fan. I have a 35ah gel battey from harbour freight as well, and finally a 500watt regulator that shows battery volts, amps from the panels and amps from the load which I have nothing hooked up

I've spent numerous hours tracking down if there is a power issue somewhere in the setup with a volt meter reading volts and amps

The panels are 4 single panels, hooked to 4 plugs that run into a single plug to go into the regulator.
When I check each individual panel (4x) all 4 read 21 volts 0.00 amps each panel. Each panel has a rating if 25 volts 5.1 amps (not exactly sure on the amps but it's close to that)

So I'm curious, if there is no draw, or load on the system, will a volt meter show some sort of amps at all, or does the system first need a load to make it show amps?

example:
If I have the panels just sitting with no regulator, no battery, when I test with a volt meter, will/should it register amps on the volt meter??

[solarix]

Its like if you had a dam full of water, but the outlet gate is closed. Lots of potential energy, but no flow - so no power....

[Alpha-y2k]

Its like if you had a dam full of water, but the outlet gate is closed. Lots of potential energy, but no flow - so no power....

So if I'm reading your text right that would be no it won't show amps, with anything pulling power from it ie: there is no power "flow"

That being the case, I'm really confused, and just don't get it then. I see videos of people checking solar panels for voltage and amps, they have a meter and when they check, they show voltage + amps on the meter, maybe I'm missing something.

Here is just one video I've seen and watched https://youtu.be/g2cW5dlue8A that shows a simple way of checking for amps and registers amps without having anything hooked to it.

[Mike 134]

So if I'm reading your text right that would be no it won't show amps, with anything pulling power from it ie: there is no power "flow"

That being the case, I'm really confused, and just don't get it then. I see videos of people checking solar panels for voltage and amps, they have a meter and when they check, they show voltage + amps on the meter, maybe I'm missing something.

Here is just one video I've seen and watched https://youtu.be/g2cW5dlue8A that shows a simple way of checking for amps and registers amps without having anything hooked to it.

The meter served as the load. That is why he moved the test leads to a different port on the multimeter to measure amps

[Alpha-y2k]

The meter served as the load. That is why he moved the test leads to a different port on the multimeter to measure amps

Thanks, makes sense now.

I think after all this testing and time I figured out why I'm getting 0.00 amps when I test.

I'm not really savvy when it comes to electric, so I never really knew what settings do what, but I am quickly learning. Stuff like voltage, and using 20 vs 200 settings on the meter, as well as AC (squiggly line) and DC (straight line) are.

So all this time my volt meter was AC and not DC. I learned that solar is DC as apposed to AC so it never ever registered maybe I need DC on the amps side.

Soooo, fast forward to this morning I was looking and testing again, once again getting 0.00 amps, so I'm scratching my head and it finally dawned on me, OOOOH DOH! You goofy man, DC, DC DC!!

So I went and bought a meter that does ac and bingo! I register amps!!!


I am SO SO SO sorry for my rooky newby mistake and I hope I didn't waste your time.

I greatly appreciate the replies though.

[Mike 134]

I am SO SO SO sorry for my rooky newby mistake and I hope I didn't waste your time.

I greatly appreciate the replies though.

No worries we all started from zero, and went in different directions learning various subjects