On Monday, August 10, 2015 at 1:15:12 AM UTC-7, Harry Hymen wrote:
On 08/09/2015 09:34 PM, wrote:

Anyhow, my question is what can go wrong with a solar panel? It was not
dropped, smashed, cracked, or anything that would physically damage it.
Since it's junk anyhow, I am going to try to open it, but it appears the
screws or (whatever) holds the two halves of the case together are
embedded in some sort of plastic. So, I guess drilling them out is my
only way.



Every day the panel heats up and expands.
Every night, it cools off and shrinks.
My first guess would be thermal cycling killed it.
Maybe a cracked solder joint?

Yeh, probably bad solder joints or maybe a bad blocking diode.