Most EMP scenarios are created by a nuclear warhead. DrZ's first comment was about how nuclear weapons create an EMP. Perhaps you should learn to read - and learn a little more about EMPs.

2. Most electronic circuits are grounded even if they are disconnected from the power source, which means they act like antennas. This is in fact how an EMP induces currents in power lines. This means you have transient current flow and induced voltages, because any grounded wire can act as an antenna. Remember antenna theory and transmission lines. As a result, these induced voltages can definitely effect the electronics. <br /><br />3. True, but if you want to talk about the practical side, any EMP that is close enough to take out the electronics in your solar panel (not connected to the grid) would mean that you would likely need to be in a shelter to survive. The most likely way an EMP will take out your solar panel is for it to be connected to the electrical grid and the voltage spike to come from the power lines.

If you were a looter-type personality, had limited resources, and knew that in one direction there were houses belonging to people more well off than you, and in another a desolate wilderness, woods, or forest, with nothing but logging roads, dark forests, and maybe the occasional hunting cabin every few miles, in an area known for conservative values, survival instincts, and no predisposition to fear firearms, ... where would you rather go loot? <br /><br />By the time the trouble came out as far as you on a gamble they *might find something* they would be weakened by lack of food, possibly by being on foot for some hundred plusmile trek to the unknown, if something closer to their homes didn't pick them off first. And then they'd be going into a land of strangers... strangers wary of those people coming out from the cities... <br /><br />I could be wrong, but then again, knowing that as someone has less (or no) food and water, they will get weaker the further they travel. It's why the Bug Out bag is generally not a good idea - tho people can last a little while on this "enforced campout", not many people really *can* live off the land, out of a pack, and stay healthy and retain their body mass and strength. It's why "bugging in" is usually a better option. <br />

Probably much more likely than an EMP pulse.

EMPs are created by NUCLEAR WEAPONS - quite proving you ignorance.

Bam, your knowledge of physics is lacking. A semiconductor device can not only be affected by the induced voltage and current, but the ionizing radiation can destroy the device without any connected conductors.

There is definitely ionizing radiation in an Nuclear EMP. The highest frequencies are present in Nuclear EMP (NEMP) bursts. These continue up into the optical and ionizing ranges. <br />

Bambi will be happy to hear you think he's a girl. Bambi would like to repeal women's right to vote.

I know enough about this subject to confirm dbhalling and contradict BambiB.

See These videos are instructive for showing what will happen to metal if struck by an EMP <br />Aluminum foil in Microwave <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUsutyTM" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUsutyTM...</a>... <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx7IZ4WBd" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx7IZ4WBd...</a>... <br />Read more at <a href="http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/591df78/will-solar-panels-survive-an-emp-backdoor-survival~q4vdm6b2xnef3p7y73xgwccyl4#5ZRAQwCpei0gKPUE.99" rel="nofollow">http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/59...</a>

Bam, there were no errors. I was not trying to give a complete lecture to people who do not understand EM theory. People who understand EM, know that any wire can act as an antenna, especially for an EM pulse. Your right, the array does not need to be grounded (however see articles on crystal radio sets) , but that was never my point, it was to help you understand there could be induced current flow and voltages. <br /><br />Ionizing radiation still occurs in Nuclear EMP, which is the only kind of EMP worth worrying about with respect to solar panels. But I believe you are right that the distance of this EM radiation is less than other waves. This would be consistent with the general propagation of EM waves, where longer wavelengths are able to deffract (and reflect) around objects more easily than shorter wavelengths. <br /><br />The situation is clearly very fact specific. DrZ is the only one on here who has probably studied the specific circumstances. I read a book on the effects of Nuclear Weapons and the distance at which different effects occurred, but nothing about EMP. Near the blast zone, it didn't matter what you did, but at farther distances small things like the terrain could make all the difference between you and your neighbors. I am not a survivalist expert either. My belief, not fact, is that if your solar panel is destroyed by an EMP you probably are going to have much bigger problems. That said my reading led me to believe that Churchill and others have overstated the damage of Nukes, which maybe kept countries from using them. Certainly, Carl Sagan's nuclear winter made about as much sense as AGW (Global Warming). Calculating likely risks, I think the march of socialism is a much bigger concern than EMPs. <br /><br />Can we put this to bed now?

Bambi you are RUDE and IGNORANT. You know nothing about electromagnetics and antennas. An EMP pulse is a large impulse of electric and magnetic energy. Kirkoff’s law states that the electric field E in a ‘perfect’ conductor is always zero, 0. When an impulse of electric energy impinges on a ‘perfect’ conductor the electrons immediately rearrange (small current) themselves to cancel out the field and this results in a reflected wave. But real conductors such as copper and aluminum are not perfect conductors as a result, the electrons do not immediately rearrange themselves and this results in the build up off charges (i.e., voltage difference for Bambi). To see this in action take a look at the YouTube videos below. <br /><br />Bambi here is some reading for you so you can learn something about antennas and electromagnetics. <br />Here is a paper on Antenna theory that is relevant. <a href="http://wirelessu.org/uploads/units/2008/08/12/39/5Anten_theor_basics.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://wirelessu.org/uploads/units/2008/...</a>. Pay particular attention to Slides 4, 5 and 21. <br /><br />This paper explains why charge builds up at boundary interfaces, including between metal and air. <a href="http://www.antenna-theory.com/tutorial/electromagnetics/electric-field-boundary-conditions.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.antenna-theory.com/tutorial/e...</a><br /><br /><br /><br />These videos are instructive for showing what will happen to metal if struck by an EMP <br />Aluminum foil in Microwave <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUsutyTMOk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUsutyTM...</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx7IZ4WBdy4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx7IZ4WBd...</a><br />Bambi, note that the aluminum is not connected to anything – IT IS AN OPEN CIRCUIT, but those sparks are the result voltage differences. NOW QUIT PROVING YOUR IGNORANCE. <br /><br /><br />This video gives you a good idea of how an EMP will affect semiconductor circuits. <br />Here is a DVD in a microwave <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5i8jgk1H6I" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5i8jgk1H...</a><br />

1. This post is about whether solar panels will survive an EMP pulse. The very first comment talks about EMP pulses being created by nuclear weapons. In fact, non-nuclear EMP pulses are small and targeted so they are irrelevant to solar panels. <br /><br />2. Solar panels are made of solid state devices. If they are photovoltaic then the collection device is solid state as is the inverter and probably other parts. Solid state devices are never off in the sense of physically disconnected. If power is on then they have leakage currents and they are small which makes them more vulnerable to EMPs. <br /><br />3. If a solid state is not connected to power they are connected to various electrical conductors, which will act as an antenna allowing voltage and current to build across the solid state device. Even without this the only EMP that matters here is a nuclear one and then you do have ionizing radiation that will also damage solid state devices. <br /><br />This all relevant to the discussion and technically correct and I have a MS in Physics and BSEE <br />

FOCUS EMP is about nukes you clearly are incapable of logical thought.

You don't have the faintest idea what logic is, The reality is that non-nuclear EMP devices are very short range and cannot take out the power grid and would not be aimed at your solar panel, so are basically irrelevant to this discussion. <br /><br />From Wikipedia <br />"The range of NNEMP weapons (non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse bombs) is much less than nuclear EMP. Nearly all NNEMP devices used as weapons require chemical explosives as their initial energy source, producing only 10−6 (one millionth) the energy of nuclear explosives of similar weight.[4"