How To Find Out If Solar Panels Are Working

Find out if your house is a good candidate for solar energy.

How to find out if solar panels are working. Sun space and location can determine if your home can be updated with solar panels. For a traditional solar panel system panels are placed on the roof and rows of panels are wired in strings. Other potential failure points include. A standard solar panel also known as a solar module consists of a layer of silicon cells a metal frame a glass casing and various wiring to allow current to flow from the silicon cells silicon atomic 14 on the periodic table is a nonmetal with conductive properties that allow it to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.

After all home solar panels are an investment meant to last decades. This is because they react to the visible light spectrum meaning if it s light enough to see there s enough light for solar panels to start generating electricity. The strings are connected at one end of the system and the wires are run to a central inverter which takes the dc electricity from the panels and changes it to ac electricity that can be used by your home appliances and the rest of the electrical grid. There are two important components to your solar pv system.

How do solar panels work to generate electricity. Solar pv systems can chug away quietly for years without an issue but the figures above show it s not unusual for an unknown problem to cost you money. Solar panels are a great way of cutting your electricity bills find out whether your home is suitable and how solar panels work. If you re not sure how well your solar panels are working take our six simple steps to do a quick health check of your system.

First it s essential to know some basics about how your solar pv system works and the common issues that can arise. We all want to live self sustainably or at least reduce the. There are many other companents that make up the complete solar system and each needs to be working correctly to get the most out of your investment. The uk is famed for its grey skies but luckily solar panels don t need direct sunlight to work.

Orientation it s usually best to have the panels facing north to maximise the amount of sunlight that falls on them. Which can be polycrystalline or monocrystalline panels. Don t rely on your electricity bill. So how do you know if your solar panels are working properly.

Whether you have already gone solar or are considering it you may eventually wonder whether your solar panels are working as advertised. Here are five.