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
Thermal images flag unusual surface temperatures, not confirmed faults or warranty eligibility. Your installer or manufacturer may need visual checks, electrical testing, or other imaging to identify the cause and decide next steps.
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.