Solar panels get sold as set-and-forget. They aren’t. The panels themselves are fairly robust, but everything connecting them — isolators, cabling, connectors, mounting hardware and the inverter — sits on a Brisbane roof through storm seasons, summer heat and, on the bayside, salt air.
Advoltage Electrical services solar systems across Brisbane. A proper inspection catches the small problems while they’re still small, and confirms you’re actually getting what you paid for.
The biggest problem with solar isn’t dramatic failure. It’s the slow decline nobody notices.
A system can lose a string of panels, sit on a corroding isolator, or shut down every afternoon on grid voltage for a year before anyone spots it. There’s no warning light in the kitchen. The bill just quietly stops being as good as it used to be, and most people put that down to price rises.
An inspection every couple of years, and after any serious storm, is what turns solar from a hopeful investment into a system you can actually rely on. It’s also worth checking your warranty paperwork — some manufacturers expect periodic servicing as a condition of cover.
We pull the fault and error history, check operating voltages and compare your current output against what your system size should be producing at this time of year. That comparison is where most hidden faults show up.
Rooftop isolators are the most common failure point on Australian solar. We check seals, look for water ingress, heat damage, corrosion and arcing. On bayside systems this is the single most important part of the visit.
UV perishes cable ties and lets cabling drop onto hot roof sheeting. Connectors corrode. Mounting hardware works loose over years of thermal movement and wind. All of it gets looked at.
Cracked glass, delamination, hot spots, discolouration, and shading from vegetation that has grown since installation — a tree that was fine in 2014 may be costing you a third of your afternoon production now.
We check the solar circuit at the board, labelling, and whether your protection is up to current standards. If the board itself needs work, we’ll say so — see switchboard upgrades for solar.
Brisbane rain does a reasonable job on a decent pitch. Flat or low-pitch arrays, anything under trees, and anything near dust or bird roosting is a different story. We’ll tell you honestly whether cleaning will make a measurable difference to your output or not.
Our advice is no, and not only for the obvious reason of being on a roof.
Solar panels carry live DC voltage any time there’s daylight. It can’t be switched off at the panel. Wet conditions and damaged cabling make that considerably worse. On top of that, walking on panels can cause microcracks you won’t see and won’t know about until output drops, and hosing hot glass with cold water on a summer afternoon can crack it outright.
If you want to do something useful from the ground, keep an eye on your monitoring app and cut back any vegetation that has started shading the array.
Brisbane’s summer storms are hard on rooftop solar. Hail, wind uplift and driving rain all cause problems that don’t necessarily stop the system working straight away.
After a significant storm it’s worth having the array checked for cracked or impact-damaged panels, water in the isolator enclosures, and mounting that has shifted. If you’re planning an insurance claim, a written inspection report from a licensed electrician is exactly what an insurer will ask for.
Systems around Wynnum, Manly, Lota and the Redlands cop conditions that inland Brisbane systems don’t. Salt-laden air accelerates corrosion on isolator enclosures, connectors, mounting rails and earthing.
We service a lot of bayside solar and we know where to look first. If your system is within a few streets of the water and hasn’t been inspected in years, it’s worth doing.
We service solar systems across Brisbane’s southside, eastern suburbs, bayside and Redlands, including Capalaba, Carindale, Camp Hill, Coorparoo and Wynnum West.
As a general rule, every couple of years, plus a check after any severe storm. Systems on the bayside, under trees, or over ten years old benefit from being looked at more often.
We quote a fixed price based on your system size and location before we come out. Any repairs found are quoted separately, and you decide whether to proceed.
Sometimes a real one, sometimes barely any. It depends on pitch, dust, tree cover and bird activity. We measure output first rather than selling you a clean you don’t need.
Almost always worth maintaining. Panels typically carry 25-year performance warranties, so a decade-old array usually has plenty left in it. The inverter is the part more likely to need attention — see our inverter replacement page.
Yes. Any brand, any installer, any age.
Yes. You get a written summary of what we inspected and what we found, which is what insurers and manufacturers generally want to see.
Tell us your system size, rough age and suburb, and we’ll come back with a fixed price.
Keep your solar system working
