Avoiding Solar Panel Problems

A solar panel is the heart of any solar panel system and is the critical component that is responsible for converting the sunlight into power in your home solar power systems. Even though solar panels for homes have gone through some amazing innovations in recent years, there are still occasional solar panel problems that many homeowners face with this technology. Some of these problems can be avoided if you know what to look for and take precautions before any of these solar panel problems affect your system.

More Durable

Older versions of solar panels were somewhat fragile and could suffer damage over the years while they were in use on a home. This damage would occur in a few different ways and would either diminish the amount of power that the solar panel could provide over time or destroy the solar panel completely.


Older Panels' Solar Cells Were More Susceptible to Water

Most of this damage was caused by the solar energy panel enclosure allowing water from rain or snow to damage the sensitive solar cells inside the panel. If these solar cells were exposed to water, they would eventually fail and not be able to generate the power they once did. Because the average residential solar panel has a large collection of these solar cells, the panel would not fail outright, but would instead slowly start to generate less power over time. This is a problem for homeowners since it severely impacts the amount of power that your home solar power system produces. What made this even more complicated was the fact that your solar panel system has a number of these panels all connected together and if damaged occurs to one of them it was difficult to detect it. It was also very hard to determine which solar panel was damaged among all the solar panels in the system.


Solar Cells Last Longer

Another very common one of these solar panel problems was with these older panels experiencing the natural decay of the solar cells themselves. Older formulations that were used when making these solar cells deteriorated over time. As these chemicals broke down, the solar cells were able to generate less and less power. This meant that the older your panels got, the less power they could produce from the same amount of sunlight. Even though the solar energy panels were technically working, they could in some cases be generating less than half of the power that they did when they were new. This eventually led to replacing your panels long before they actually failed because of their diminished output.


Modern Panels Last Longer and Perform Better

Modern solar panels for homes don't suffer from these early solar panel problems. They are built to be more durable and have solar cell formulations that will last for decades without losing their ability to generate power. The only problems that plague these newer panels are damage from the weight of snow in colder climates and the threat of being blown off the roof in areas with high winds. Both of these problems can be addressed through the proper mounting of your solar panels, which will minimize the chances of damage from these types of hazards. As long as they are mounted securely, your solar panel system should give you decades of use with little need for attention.