If a nuclear weapon of sufficient size is detonated high in the atmosphere an emp can disrupt everything that uses electronic circuitry potentially causing irreversible damage to electronics in cars airplanes the u s.
Does emp damage solar panels.
A larger solar flare can get through the magnetosphere and impact the earths surface.
The good news is that almost all other components of your off grid solar setup would be unaffected by the emp.
The different parts of a nuclear emp.
Emps can irreversibly damage anything with a circuit in it including your solar power system inverters and charge controllers.
Our magnetosphere protects us from most solar radiation and emp effects.
What effect does an emp have.
But a nuclear emp powerful enough will destroy unprotected solar panels.
There s an asterisk to this one for a reason.
These transformers are critical to the u s.
It depends on how strong the electromagnetic pulse is.
This means you won t be able to use your solar panels.
But since solar panels are pretty expensive i guess that only a few people buy them just to put them aside for hard times.
Of course if a nuke is detonated a little closer to the ground the emp will be the least of your worries.
A very large extended solar flare emp could destroy some or all of the high voltage backbone transformers.
They do suffer some damage reducing their output by about five percent but they will still work.
The majority of solar panels would probably not be damaged.
On the other hand an emp event can result in catastrophic damage.
The larger your solar array the more likely is that an emp will damage other equipment associated with your solar rig like your inverter wiring and charge controller.
However the larger the solar array is the more likely that there will be damage to the supporting equipment including the wiring charge controller and inverter.
Financially the united states estimates that a solar derived emp will cost up to two trillion dollars in damage.
Surprisingly enough solar panels can weather an emp fairly well.
Depending on the strength of the electromagnetic pulse emp most solar panels would likely not be affected.
Since solar power systems are typically designed to provide more power than needed to account for cloudy days those who have solar panels on their homes will still have some electrical power for a while even though it will be somewhat lower.
Both events have the potential to damage our solar panels and both need to be protected against.
Solar panels can withstand an emp very well but the solar charger controller that charges the batteries and the voltage inverter that converts the power created from that battery are going to be in bad shape.
Recovery efforts from such an event will take as little as four or as much as ten years to complete.
Whether a nuclear bomb or a solar event causes an emp the cost is enormous.
