Solar Inspection & Diagnostics in Phoenix, AZ

Solar Inspection & Diagnostics is for owners who know something is off but not what. Maybe production is lower than last year, the bill is higher, or the system came with a house you just bought. In Phoenix, the answer is harder to read than in milder places because summer heat lowers output on its own. A careful inspection measures what the system is doing, compares it with what it should do in that heat, and finds the gap.

Normal heat loss versus a real problem

Panels are rated at 25°C (77°F). EnergySage notes rooftop panels can reach 149°F (65°C), and popular panels lose about 0.24% to 0.30% of their power for each degree Celsius above the rating. At the high end of that range, a panel at 65°C makes roughly 12% less than its label. Inverters may also throttle output in high ambient heat. So a July afternoon well below nameplate is expected. What is not expected:

• One string producing much less than its neighbors
• A drop that started on a specific date and never recovered
• Production falling year after year faster than normal aging
• Panels at zero in a microinverter layout
• Fault codes that clear and come back

What we inspect

• Monitoring history: daily and monthly production, string or panel level data where available, and the dates of changes
• Inverter: event logs, error history, fans, vents, clearances and whether it sits in direct sun
• Strings: open-circuit voltage and operating current on each string, compared with each other and with the specs
• Panels: cracks, burn marks, browning, delamination, broken glass and soiling
• Under the array: nests, debris, rodent or bird damage, sagging or loose wire
• Connectors, combiner and disconnects: heat discoloration, corrosion and loose terminals
• Mounts and flashing: loose hardware and signs of leaks at roof penetrations

Thermal imaging

Where it helps, an infrared camera shows hot spots that the eye cannot see: a cell cracked inside the panel, a failing bypass diode or a connector running hot. It works best on a sunny day with the system under load, which in Phoenix is most days.

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Buying or selling a home with solar

A system that comes with a house is easy to take on faith. An inspection before closing tells you whether everything is producing, how old the inverter is, whether warranties are transferable and whether the system is owned, leased or financed, which affects the sale. For sellers, a recent inspection answers buyer questions before they come up.

Orphaned systems

When the original installer has closed, owners often do not know who to call. The panels and inverter still came from manufacturers that stand behind their products. An inspection identifies each piece of equipment and its warranty status so you know what can be claimed and what has to be paid for.

What you get

You receive a written summary of what we tested, what we found, photos of anything wrong and a prioritized list of repairs with prices. If nothing is wrong and the system is simply hot, we tell you that too.