Solar Panels Not Working? What to Check Before You Call for Repair

On a clear Southern California morning, a healthy 8 kW system should be producing 2–5 kW by 9 AM — if your monitoring app shows zero and your utility bill looks higher than usual, something stopped working. The good news: roughly half of all "my solar isn't working" calls turn out to be a tripped breaker, a Wi-Fi dropout, or a monitoring glitch that a homeowner can resolve in under five minutes without touching a panel or calling a technician.

Last verified: October 2026 by Helios Energy Global.

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The five-minute self-check: what to look at and in what order

Work through this sequence before picking up the phone. Each step takes about a minute.

Step 1 — Read the inverter or gateway status light

Walk to wherever your inverter is mounted — typically in the garage, on an exterior wall, or in a utility room.

SolarEdge string inverters: The inverter uses three color-coded LEDs. A solid green light means the system is actively producing power; a flashing green means it's connected to the grid but not currently generating (normal at dawn, dusk, or during a brief cloud). A solid blue light means the inverter is communicating with the monitoring platform — if it's off, data isn't reaching your app. A red light means a system error or fault that needs attention.

The ideal daytime condition is a solid green + blue light combination, confirming the system is producing and connected to monitoring. A green light with no blue light means the system is producing but the monitoring platform is disconnected — the panels are working, just not reporting.

Enphase IQ Gateway (Envoy): The gateway has separate LEDs for power, cloud communications, and microinverter communications. A solid green on the production LED means all microinverters are producing power; a solid amber means at least one microinverter is not producing; off means microinverters are not producing (normal at night).

Tesla solar systems: Check the inverter's display for any error messages or colored status lights. A green light indicates the system is operating normally, while red or orange lights may signal an issue that requires attention.

SunPower systems (post-bankruptcy): Many SunPower systems were built on Enphase microinverters. Several hundred thousand SunPower customers use the proprietary PV Supervisor gateway for monitoring, and many of those systems are built with Enphase microinverters. Enphase now offers system monitoring, service plans, and full system upgrades for these homeowners. If your SunPower app has gone dark, check whether your microinverters have an Enphase gateway you can reference directly, or contact Enphase support.

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Step 2 — Check the solar breaker and AC disconnect

Check your home's main panel or solar subpanel to ensure the solar breaker has not tripped and is switched fully ON. The breaker is usually labeled "Solar," "PV," or "Enphase/SolarEdge." If it's in the tripped middle position, push it fully to OFF, then back to ON.

Also look for the AC disconnect — a gray or red box mounted near the inverter, usually on the exterior wall. The AC disconnect and DC disconnect (on or near the inverter) are the two shutoffs for a safe inverter reset. After turning both off, wait at least 5 minutes for the inverter to power down fully before turning them back on.

What you can safely do yourself: flip a tripped solar breaker once. If it trips again immediately, stop — that's a sign of a wiring fault that needs a licensed electrician.

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Step 3 — Check the monitoring app

A monitoring outage and a production outage look identical from your couch. Here's how to tell them apart by platform:

Platform	App name	Key thing to check	"Monitoring only" clue
SolarEdge	mySolarEdge	Inverter status + real-time power (W)	Green LED on inverter, app shows "Communication Error"
Enphase	Enlighten / Enphase App	Array screen — are panels black or colored?
Gateway offline; panels appear black on the Array screen
Tesla	Tesla app	Home screen solar flow arrow
App display issue, not a production fault; solar generation still visible flowing to house/grid
SunPower/Enphase	Enphase App	Same as Enphase above	PV Supervisor offline; switch to Enphase gateway if migrated

The fastest app check: look for a real-time watts (W) or kilowatts (kW) figure. If it shows a non-zero number during daylight, your panels are producing — whatever else the app says is a display or connectivity issue, not a hardware failure.

Wi-Fi is the most common culprit for app outages. The "Microinverters Not Reporting" status in Enphase systems arises when the Envoy is too far from the load center or if there is interference on the power lines — and it can also occur when the Envoy was moved from its original location to an outlet that is too far from the electrical panel. Before calling anyone, restart your home router, wait two minutes, and check whether the gateway reconnects.

Make sure the Enphase Envoy is plugged directly into an outlet and not into a surge protector, extension cord, or power strip. Ideally, the outlet should not be a GFCI type.

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Step 4 — Cross-check your utility bill export figure

If you're not sure whether the system stopped producing weeks ago (not just today), pull up your last two utility bills and look at the export or net-metering charges on them.

SCE customers on NEM 3.0: Under the Solar Billing Plan (NEM 3.0 / net billing tariff), SCE's TOU-D-PRIME rate runs 24–26 cents off-peak and roughly 59 cents during the 4–9 PM on-peak window on summer weekdays. If your bill suddenly shows no export credits and your charges jumped back to full retail, production likely stopped before the billing period ended.

LADWP customers: LADWP is a municipal utility that is not on NEM 3.0 and still offers retail-rate net metering — roughly 28¢/kWh credited for every kWh you export. A month with no export credits on an LADWP bill is a strong signal the system wasn't producing. The same logic applies to other Southern California municipal utilities: Pasadena PWP, Burbank, Glendale, Anaheim APU, and Riverside RPU all run their own net-metering programs separate from NEM 3.0. Check your bill for the "net metering credit" or "solar export" entry — if it's zero on a sunny month, something stopped.

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Step 5 — Is it one panel or the whole array?

This distinction matters enormously for cost and urgency.

String inverter systems (SolarEdge with optimizers): The inverter screen cycles through several displays. The "P_OK: XXX/YYY" screen shows the number of optimizers in the array versus how many are working. If XXX and YYY are not equal, there may be a problem with one or more power optimizers. A single bad optimizer typically reduces output by 5–10%, not zero — the system keeps running.

Microinverter systems (Enphase): Open the Enlighten app's Array view. Gray or black panels mean the microinverter hasn't reported data — it may be offline or not communicating. Red indicates an active fault like over-temperature, grid voltage out of range, or a hardware error. Yellow often means reduced output due to shading or low light. Green or blue indicates normal production. One red panel in a sea of green is a single microinverter failure — the rest of your system is fine.

Whole-array failure (everything dark, zero watts): This points to the inverter, the solar breaker, the AC disconnect, or a grid event. Run through Steps 1–3 first.

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What you can safely do yourself vs. what needs a licensed contractor

Action	Safe for homeowner?
Read inverter status lights	✅ Yes
Check and reset a tripped solar breaker (once)	✅ Yes
Restart home router / check Wi-Fi	✅ Yes
Power-cycle the inverter (AC + DC disconnects, wait 5 min)	✅ Yes — follow manufacturer steps
Plug Enphase Envoy directly into wall outlet (not surge protector)	✅ Yes
Inspect panels for visible debris, bird nests, or shade from new growth	✅ Yes (from ground level)
Climb on the roof to inspect panels or connectors	❌ No — licensed contractor
Open the inverter enclosure	❌ No — licensed electrician
Swap or replace a microinverter or optimizer	❌ No — licensed contractor
Diagnose a repeated tripping breaker	❌ No — licensed electrician
Any work inside the main panel	❌ No — licensed electrician

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The warranty reality: parts yes, labor usually no

Manufacturer warranties typically do not cover labor to remove and replace failed equipment. That's true for panels, inverters, and microinverters alike. A solar inverter warranty generally covers defects in materials or workmanship for the covered equipment — it does not automatically mean the manufacturer pays for troubleshooting, technician labor, roof access, or shipping.

In plain terms: manufacturer warranties cover parts, not the truck roll. When a microinverter fails, the part ships free, but someone has to climb on the roof to swap it — and that labor cost lands on the customer by default unless the installer's workmanship warranty or a third-party program covers it.

This is why checking your installer's workmanship warranty matters as much as the manufacturer's equipment warranty. See our full breakdown at /guides/solar-panel-warranties-explained.

If you do need a repair, the cost depends on what failed. A single microinverter swap, a panel removal and reinstallation, or a full inverter replacement all carry different price tags — see /guides/solar-inverter-replacement-cost-california for current ranges. For panel removal and reinstallation (say, for a roof repair), expect roughly $250–$350 per panel, or about $5,000–$7,000 for a 20-panel system. Our solar repair and maintenance service handles diagnosis, warranty coordination, and licensed repair work across Southern California.

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Frequently asked questions about solar panels not working

My app shows zero production but the inverter light is green — which one is right?

Trust the inverter light. A green inverter light with no blue light (or a disconnected app) means the system is producing power but the monitoring platform is disconnected. Restart your router, wait two minutes, and check again. If the app reconnects and shows a non-zero wattage during daylight, your panels never stopped working.

How do I know if my whole system stopped or just one panel?

Open your monitoring app's array or panel-level view. On Enphase Enlighten, black or gray panels are not reporting; red panels have an active fault. On SolarEdge's mySolarEdge app, the optimizer count screen (P_OK: XXX/YYY) will show a mismatch if one optimizer is offline. A single dark panel in an otherwise healthy array is almost always a single-device issue, not a system failure.

Can I reset my solar inverter myself?

Yes, a single power-cycle is a safe homeowner step. Turn off the AC disconnect, then the DC disconnect, wait at least 5 minutes for the inverter to power down fully, turn the DC disconnect back on, then the AC disconnect back on, and wait while the inverter reboots and status lights stabilize. If the fault light returns after the reset, stop and call a licensed contractor — repeated faults need professional diagnosis.

My SCE or LADWP bill jumped — does that mean my solar stopped working?

It's a strong signal worth investigating. For SCE customers on NEM 3.0, check your bill for the "Solar Billing Plan" export credit — if it dropped to near zero during a sunny month, production likely stopped. LADWP customers should look for the net metering credit line; a missing credit at the retail rate (~28¢/kWh) on a sunny month is a red flag. Run the five-minute check above, then compare your monitoring app's historical production graph to the same month last year.

What does a red light on my SolarEdge inverter mean?

A red light on a SolarEdge inverter indicates a system error or fault that requires immediate attention. Note the error code shown on the inverter screen or in the mySolarEdge app before doing anything else. Always document error codes before resetting — those codes tell a technician exactly where to look and can speed up a warranty claim. If a single power-cycle doesn't clear the red light, contact a licensed solar contractor.

Does a cloudy day or marine layer explain zero production?

Partly. Panels produce 10–25% of their rated output under heavy overcast — so a 10 kW system might show 500–1,000 W on a June Gloom morning, not zero. If your app shows exactly 0.0 kW during daylight hours even on a partly cloudy day, that's not weather — something stopped the system. A few watts of production, even low, confirms the system is alive.

My SunPower monitoring app is gone — are my panels still working?

Possibly yes. Many SunPower systems are built with Enphase microinverters, and Enphase is offering monitoring, service plans, and full system upgrades for those homeowners. The panels and microinverters may still be producing even if the SunPower app is offline. Contact Enphase directly to check whether your system can be migrated to Enphase monitoring, or book a pre-sale or diagnostic inspection if you're preparing to sell and need a documented system status report.

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Next steps

• Book a free consultation and custom design — if you're troubleshooting an older system and wondering whether repair or replacement makes more sense, we'll give you a straight answer at no cost.
• Solar repair and maintenance — Helios handles diagnosis, warranty coordination, and licensed repair across Southern California.
• Solar inverter replacement cost in California — current cost ranges for string inverters and microinverter swaps.
• Solar panel warranties explained — what your manufacturer warranty actually covers, and where the labor gap lives.
• Pre-sale solar inspection for realtors and homeowners — if you need a documented system status report for a home sale or refinance.
• NEM 3.0 explained for Southern California homeowners — understand how your SCE export credits work and why a non-producing system costs more than you might expect.
• Compare your savings with a custom design — see what a correctly sized, properly monitored system looks like for your home.