Solar Panel Inspection: What to Look For
How to inspect your own solar panels — and what to leave for a thermal-equipped professional.
A visual inspection catches obvious damage. A thermal inspection catches the hidden failures that are actually costing you production. Here's how to do both.
What you can see from the ground
From the ground with binoculars, you can spot bird-dropping concentrations, visible cracks or shattered cells, browning (delamination), heavy dust film, and obvious shading from new tree growth. Anything you see this way is worth scheduling a cleaning for — the things you can't see are usually worse.
What a thermal camera catches that you can't
A FLIR thermal scan reveals hot spots (failing cells running 20–40°F hotter than neighbors), micro-cracks invisible to the eye, failing bypass diodes, and underperforming optimizers or micro-inverters. We've found four-figure warranty-eligible failures on routine cleanings — the homeowner had no idea.
When to call a professional
Call a professional immediately if you see browning, cracked glass, water inside the junction box, or production drops in your monitoring app that don't recover after a rain. Annual professional inspection is also worth scheduling regardless — it's the cheapest insurance available against an out-of-warranty panel failure.