Your solar panels work in tandem to create a sustainable and energy-efficient way to power your home. So what happens when something in that system fails? What does it look like? If you need solar repair in Rancho Cordova, CA, this is what you can expect to encounter.
Wiring Issues or Failure
Your panels are out in the elements, constantly enduring the heat, wind, and rain. Something’s bound to break eventually, and in many cases that will be the wiring.
While solar panel wiring is very obviously intended for outdoor use, manufacturers can’t perfectly predict every weather event that your panels will endure. Sometimes the wiring isn’t up to the task.
If the wiring in the panel itself fails, it can be repaired or replaced. If you want to know if a panel is failing or not, your solar inverter should have a way to help you indicate which panel it is.
Micro-Cracks That Allow Rain Inside the Panel
While micro-cracks aren’t the end of the world, they can cause a few problems. If you’ve ever seen a video of a broken solar panel that still works, that’s because the surface glass on the top of the panel can be shattered and still allow light to pass through.
However, that doesn’t mean you should use a shattered solar panel. As soon as it rains, water will seep into the unit and destroy the individual solar cells. Think about micro-cracks as a smaller version of this: the damage will reduce that panel’s efficiency, but it doesn’t end there.
Like a crack in your windshield, micro-cracks grow over time, Failing to fix these will result in a loss of efficiency and eventually larger damages that can extend to interfere with your entire panel.
Panel Hot Spots
A hot spot is an abundance of heat in one or more cells in your solar panel. Instead of absorbing energy, the cell overheats and causes short-circuiting (which actually consumes power).
Solar panels have temperature ratings. If they endure a lower temperature than the maximum allowed degree and encounter this problem, it could be due to cell mismatching or the mishandling of silicon cells.
Basically, bad solar panels with shoddy construction will encounter hot spot issues more often than other solar panels. While you may encounter hot spots regardless of the grade of solar panel you have on your roof, they’re certainly more common amongst cheaper panels.
Hot spots can eventually lead to the cracking of your panel’s protective glass. This creates the issues we mentioned earlier about moisture seeping into your cells and causing long-term damage.
Keep Your Solar Panels in Tip-Top Shape
Your solar panels endure a lot. Do your best to maintain them and they’ll serve you well for decades to come. Although some of these repairs are inevitable over your solar panel system’s lifespan, the inconvenience is minimal compared to all the benefits you get from solar energy.
Contact Sierra Pacific Home & Comfort, Inc., the Guys in the Big Red Trucks, for all your solar panel repair needs.