The time between the removal of the ice ball from the cold storage container and impact on the module
shall not exceed 60 s.
It is quite common practice to use 25 mm / 7.53 g ice balls.
Again, after the test one should check if there are any major defects caused by the hailstones, and also
Pmax (for IEC 61215 only) and insulation resistance are checked.
Laboratory statistics show very low failure rates for this test.
Light-soaking: irradiance (only applicable to thin-film IEC 61646)
This is a critical passage for the final pass/fail verdict of thin-film modules. The purpose is to stabilize the
electrical characteristics of thin film modules by means of prolonged exposure to irradiance after all the
tests have been completed, before checking Pmax against the minimum value as marked by the
manufacturer.
The test can be performed under natural sunlight, or under steady-state solar simulator.