Best Practices for Mainting your Household PV System

Maintaining a household photovoltaic (PV) system is crucial for ensuring optimal performance, safety, and longevity. Here are best practices for maintaining your PV system.

 

A PV system needs little maintenance. However, for safety reasons and to obtain the highest yield and overall performance, a minimum maintenance effort is needed.

A daily check of the inverter can be done by monitoring the system. Because yield losses often remain unnoticed, a monthly yield check is recommended. An economically meaningful frequency for onsite maintenance by an installer depends on the costs and the installed PV system. For small residential installations, the necessary work can partly be done by the owner. This would include a visual check of the PV array to address soiling or moss growth.

For some safety issues such as ground faults, insulation checks are performed by the inverter automatically. In case of insufficient insulation resistance, a warning message is initiated by the inverter. This problem should be addressed as soon as possible – to avoid yield losses and potential hazards.

 

1. Regular Visual Inspections of the PV panels

Frequency: The PV system has different components with the most important part being the PV panels.

Therefor the PV panels require monthly inspections and the following need to be inspected for:

• Cleaness of the PV panels: Any dirt, leaves or droppings need to be removed with care as it will influence system performance as the panels are the main component to harvest the solar energy for the system:
  • When cleaning the panels it is important to use soft cloths, sponges, or deionized water (pure water). No hose with deionized water. The reason for using deionized water is because it leaves no residue, unlike normal tap water which can cause spots and reduce efficiency.        
  • Avoid using chemicals, abrasive materials, and high-pressure washers. The reason not to use high-pressure water cleaning is the risk of physical damage which reduce efficiency and potential voiding of warranties.             
• The panels need to be inspected for cracks, chips, or discoloration on the panel surfaces. All these elements will influence the performance of the system as any cracks or chips will influence the efficiency of the panel and discoloration is an indication of the panel not functioning any more at 100% of its output;                           
• The panel wiring needs to be inspected for frayed wiring. This may result in electrical failure or even fires due to excessive heat;
• The panels mounting structures need to be inspected for corrosion or damage to mounting structures. This is important, if the structure fails it can cause damage to the PV panels and create unsafe conditions for the people around the house; 
• Tilt angle: The panels need to be inspected to see if the tilt-angle has changed. Look for marks/indication that the panels tilt-angle has changed. The tilt-angle is particularly important to ensure maximum solar harvesting of the panels.               

 

2. Inspect the Inverter

Frequency: The inspection of the inverter can be done every second month or if low performance of system is experienced.

• The inverter needs to be inspected to ensure all operational indicator lights are on and in correctly indicated colour. The different indicator lights indicate different operational components within the inverter with green showing good operation and red that an error may be present;                                                                                             
• The inverter needs to be inspected for any audible noise or heat buildup. Noise can indicate a component of the inverter is malfunctioning and thus inverter not performing optimally. Excessive heat buildup by the inverter is the first sign of the inverter breaking down and are in process or already malfunctioning;           
• The inverter needs to be opened and visual inspection for any dust or insect build-up. These can cause short circuits and circuitry malfunctioning within the inverter or even damage to the inverter;
• The wiring connections of the inverter needs to be checked to ensure good connection. If the communication connection of inverter to BMS is not perfect it can create substandard performance of the batteries and damage to batteries due to overload conditions. The power wiring if not connected good can cause failure and/or “hot connections.” Hot connections can cause damage and even initiate fires around the connection and equipment.   

 

  3. Monitor System Performance

Use a solar monitoring app or inverter display to log system performance. This will allow you to detect:

• Sudden drops in energy output and any abnormal energy usage from the system;
• Any alerts or error codes on the system and/or inverter;
• Daily/seasonal performance trends and use data to optimally set the system to align with the load profile of your household.

The Battery Management System (BMS) protects and prolongs the life of the batteries in a PV system. The BMS monitor the crucial parameters like voltage, current and temperature of the batteries. Use the BMS data to ensure that the batteries are performing optimal and no failures are detected within the battery component of the PV system.

 

4. Ensure Electrical Safety

Avoid tampering with live components as it is not safe if you are not qualified to do it. This needs to be done annually to ensure safe working of the complete PV system.

Hire licensed professionals for any electrical work that needs to be done. This include but not limited to:

• The electrical inspections of the complete system including the wiring of the panels;
• The replacement of worn-out or damage parts.

 

5. Schedule a Professional Inspection

This important inspection can be done every 3-5 years.

The inspection needs to include:

• The system output test to ensure it is operating at design specifications;
• The electrical system to be tested for any electrical faults;
• Perform thermal imaging to detect any hidden issues;
• The grounding or surge protection checks need to be done as well.

 

6. Batteries need maintenance as well

It is important that your battery system is also maintained to ensure reliable performance as well as longer life span of the batteries. The maintenance of the battery system needs to include:

• The charge and performance levels need to be evaluated. Deep-cycle batteries need to be drained to but not below 45% before charged again to above 80% to ensure durability of the batteries;
• Lithium batteries do not need to be drained to 40%. For optimal lifespan it is recommended to avoid fully discharging (0%) or fully charging (100%) of lithium batteries. The preferable area of operation for Lithium batteries are between 20 to 25% and 80 to 85%. Occasional full charge is fine but frequent charging to 100% can contribute to battery degradation the same as depleting the battery to 0%;
• The battery terminals need to be checked for any corrosion. Corrosion at the terminals is an indication of a loose terminal or excessive heat generated at the terminals which can indicate that the battery is no longer functional at optimal performance;
• Establish if all software updates of the Battery Management System (BMS) did occur. This is to ensure the BMS is operating at optimal performance and that the BMS will protect the batteries against overload or over-charging operations.

 

7. Keep documentation

It is always a good habit to keep all system documentation and have it available if needed. The documentation needs to include:

• • Design specifications of the system which will include the power output details of the system;
  • Installation manuals of all components and warranties;
  • Keep performance and maintenance logs;

• • Installer and supplier contact information.

 

DATE: September 2025  |  DISCLAIMER: The content of this blog is accurate at the time of publication. STADIO reserves the right to change the content due to changes in legislation, as well as for market requirements and other reasons