Hello everyone,

I just bought a new house near Phoenix, AZ. I currently live in Virginia. The new house has a 9.6 KW Solar Panel system that was installed in 2019. The system is not leased, it is owned. It is mounted on the roof. The system feeds into the power lines, so the current owner receives credit on their power bill for the power the system produces that they do not use. The panels are made by Canadian Solar and the Inverter made by Solar Edge. I have no idea if these are good brands or not. I settle on this house in about two weeks.

I have no knowledge or experience at all of the operation and maintenance needs of solar panels, although I do have basic electrical knowledge. I have googled and searched YouTube, but most of the information out there is about making the decision whether to buy solar panels, and little about operating them. For example:

1) How do I tell whether the panels are operating at peak efficiency?

2) How do I know or become aware if the system is malfunctioning in some way?

3) What is the average lifespan of solar panels, and the inverter?

I did learn on YouTube that some systems have an Internet or Blue Tooth capability so the owner can monitor the operation, but this system does not appear to have this - can it be added?

I have a copy of one recent power bill that does show they have a credit on their power bill from the power the system produces that they do not use.

I had the house inspected, but the inspector was not a Solar System expert, and only notifies the purchaser if something major is obvious (like a physically broken panel).

What's the best way to quickly become knowledgeable on these systems? Anyone have a link to a video or a website that explains operation and maintenance of the system?

I moved from VA to Phoenix, but have had my solar panels for about nine yrs now. Surely, a system installed in 2019 is still under warranty. Solar companies monitor their systems via your home wifi. So, as long as you have that working, they can see how it's performing. I'm sure your system has a production guarantee, so that anything below that production will get them to perform a warranty repair. This is something your realtor should know all about.

I have not had any issues at all in my nine years, but I have run into people who didn't have wifi at home, the solar installers hadn't really explained things to them and they only knew there was a problem when their electric bill went to the moon. I'm leasing mine, so I have a 20 year guarantee. Anything goes wrong in that time, it's on Sun Power. Thereafter, I figure I got my money's worth. Sure, PV panels degrade over time. But once the system is all built, replacing panels as they die doesn't seem to be too big a deal.

Following the advice of member Sigolicious here, I contacted Northern AZ Wind and Solar to build a system for our off grid home in CO. Here is their website: https://www.solar-electric.com/info.html
They may be able to help you with any questions you may have. Super nice and knowledgeable people there.

We have 7920 watts of solar panels (24 panels x 330 watts each. We use an 8000 watt Outback inverter, and the panels are separated into 2 groups, going to a midnight solar combiner. We are completely off grid, so no grid tie.

As to your questions;

1. You can check out the specs of your panels, and find out what voltage they are, and how many volts they put out, and test each one with a volt meter. I imagine being as new as they are, they all still work fine, unless something is cracked, or the wiring is frayed or badly connected.

2. Since it is kind of a passive system, where you are feeding the grid, as opposed to mine, where I store the electricity in batteries, it will be hard to know if it isn't working properly. You're inverter will probably tell you there is a fault, or, you'll notice when your bill gets higher than normal. Not all systems are wifi capable. Make sure to get all the documents for the solar system when you take possession of the house, and if they don't have them, download copies off the internet. I have heard of your inverter, but don't know much about them.

3. Those panels probably have a lifespan of 20+ years, no problem there.

Hope that helps.

You don't have a digital display showing all of the real time data ?

Ideally you have some kind of paperwork coming with the house identifying the installer. If not, at some point start contacting local installers with your address and ask who did the job. The actual installer should have number of panels installed, output, customer name, etc.
They can give you specifics on the system.

Being so new, there is likely (as noted above) a web link to your system, telling you how it is preforming. My system is some 15 years old, 11kw, 40 panels. It has a connection to my computer where I can observe output at the present time, for the past week, past month, past year. It also shows me which are producing more or less power.
As an example, I have a Blue Spruce that shades a few of my panels late in the day. The computer shows me that those panels are producing less at that time.

As far as maintenance, I have had very little to do. Over the years we have had twice where a local lightening strike has indirectly damaged the system. We called our “people” they came out, figured out the problem, ordered parts and fixed it. Since we are connected to the grid we had no interruption to our power and little urgency to get us back on line. In our case we were back to being a producer in a few months.

Note too that you don’t have to use your original installer to maintain your system. That company went belly up. We actually found another that is better overall and we have had no problems since.

Note that your home insurance covers your panels. That is what paid for our repairs.

I would expect to get from the seller the owners manuals for washers, dryers, fridge, and certainly a solar system!

If they can’t tell you what brand it is and who installed it that’s pretty ridiculous. Regardless, something has to have a name or model or serial number on it. Find it and call the company and find out who installed it.

Last thought, call the utility company. Certainly they would not have something connected to their grid without knowing what the hell it was.

Thank you all for your responses. To answer some of your questions:

I have a copy of the contract stating who installed the system, and the brand names of the equipment installed. The company is still in business, but my name is not on the account yet so they will not tell me anything. I just do not have any operational information on the system yet. I have sent an inquiry through my agent, who will contact the seller's agent, so communications is slow.

I did not see a data panel when I visited the property, but it is possible it has one, probably inside a closed panel. Note that I am 2500 miles away from the property right now. One thing I did learn from the YouTube videos stating that Homeowner's insurance must have a special rider on it that covers the solar panels. One video stated their insurance cost an extra $2,000 a year because of this. I suspect this varies heavily from state to state.

Note that other than the solar panels, everything else with the house is as close to perfect as can be, so I am looking at the solar system as simply an added bonus. They have proven to me that it works, I just don't have the details and came up with these question.

Make sure the roof under the panels is in good shape.

Had my system installed for 10 years now. Maintenance has been zero. Following arcwelder’s advice I leased mine. The only thing that has happened in 10 years was hail. But the panels are stronger than shingles. The only damage was these little plastic end caps that go on the end of the rails for the panels. We’re talking 50 cent pieces of plastic here. If I owned them I wouldn’t have done anything but since it is leased I called the company and made them come replace a bunch of little plastic end caps Panels had zero damage themselves. Rails no damage. Just those little plastic end caps. Many of them just fell off. Some had to be replaced.

I had to replace all the shingles on the roof after that, that were not covered by panels. The shingles under the panels are still mint.

My system overproduces compared to what they quoted before signing. I’m sure they are none too pleased about that, but that’s their problem. I know the system is operating based on the kwh bill I get. You should have two power meters. One for the grid, a 2nd for the solar array. There are panels installed in the 70’s that are still operating at 80% efficiency.

Cleaning them is snake oil today. There are these “companies” that “specialize” in cleaning them. And it’s absolute bullshit. I clean mine with a nozzle on a garden hose. Takes me about 5 minutes to do it. I don’t climb on the roof either. Just stand on my rear deck and hose them off.

Uh oh, someone remembers my advice..

Solar panels:

Everything has a life span, everything degrades in performance. A solar panel install will be sized for the usage at the time of install and to degrade. Solar panels are generally no maintenance, and if they fail due to equipment related, it is sooner than later. Just like the PC you bought, if it lasts a year it will last 30..

Exactly how your power/usage comes out depends on the contract with the utility. Monitoring is a matter of whose equipment and domain, such as Enphase etc..

Actually broken panels, inverters, or other problems do show up quickly in your monitoring software. Cleaning solar panels is a scam.

Solar is contracted in a variety of ways, if you own the panels and have net metering you should have access to all the usage and production data, and the cost/savings is a function of the utility rates and laws in your state.

Generally, a solar array on a home should be sized beyond current usage, and should pay for itself in 8 years or less. If you do a lease, there should be "buy out" terms, there should be the same terms with companies that offer "free panels" for a reduced bill.

The current "all electric" craze is insanity, the grid can't handle that. What does work is solar panels, and they are now cheaper and more powerful than mine.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder:
The current "all electric" craze is insanity, the grid can't handle that. What does work is solar panels, and they are now cheaper and more powerful than mine.

When we installed our (off grid) system in 2005, we went with larger output panels, 185 watt. I doubt they make anything that small these days.

In addition to the off grid system that powers the house, we use solar panels to charge the batteries that power the energizers for the portable electric fences that (mostly) keep the goats contained. Cleaning those is not a scam. Typically each time we move the system I take a dry rag and wipe the dust off.