A solar system that was producing 30–40 kWh per day last month showing zero on your monitoring app today is alarming — but it doesn’t always mean a major failure. Before calling a technician, there are several things you can check yourself that may identify the problem in minutes. This guide walks through the most common causes of complete production loss, in order of likelihood.

Step 1: Check Whether Your Inverter Has Power

Your inverter is the first place to look. A string inverter will typically display a red or amber LED, an error code on its LCD screen, or no lights at all when something is wrong. For Enphase systems, the IQ Gateway (the white box usually mounted near your main panel) should show a solid green LED. If it’s flashing or dark, the gateway has lost its communication link.

Walk to your inverter and note exactly what you see: LED color, any text on the display, and whether it’s making the faint hum it normally produces. Take a photo — this information is useful if you end up calling a technician.

Step 2: Check Your Electrical Panel

Before assuming inverter failure, check your main electrical panel for a tripped circuit breaker. Solar systems have a dedicated breaker — often labeled “Solar,” “PV,” or “Inverter” — and it can trip during a power outage, a grid voltage surge, or simply from heat on a hot day. A tripped breaker sits in the middle position rather than fully on or fully off.

If you find a tripped solar breaker, reset it once by flipping it fully off then fully on. If it immediately trips again, stop and call a licensed technician — something downstream is drawing excess current, and re-resetting it repeatedly can cause damage or create a fire hazard.

Step 3: Check Whether There Was a Grid Outage

Grid-tied solar systems are required by code to shut down during a grid outage — a safety feature that protects utility workers from backfed power. If SCE had an outage in your area in the past 24–48 hours, your inverter may have shut down and not automatically restarted. Most modern inverters will restart on their own within 5 minutes of grid restoration, but older units sometimes need a manual power cycle.

Check SCE’s outage map or your neighborhood’s Nextdoor feed. If an outage occurred and your inverter is back on but still showing zero production, a manual restart (turning the AC disconnect off for 30 seconds, then back on) often resolves it.

Step 4: Check Your Monitoring App Carefully

This sounds obvious, but monitoring apps report what the communication device last received — not necessarily what’s happening right now. An Enphase IQ Gateway that lost WiFi connectivity three days ago will show three days of zero production in Enlighten, even if your panels are physically generating electricity the entire time. The system is producing; the monitoring just doesn’t know it.

To distinguish a communication failure from a production failure, look at your utility meter directly. If you have a net meter, it should be showing export (spinning backward or showing a negative reading) during daylight hours if your system is generating. If the meter shows no export during peak sun hours, the system is not producing — and the issue is real, not just a reporting gap.

Step 5: Identify Whether the Failure Is Total or Partial

If you have an Enphase system, open Enlighten and look at the panel-level view, not just the total production number. A total production of zero is rare from a hardware perspective — it typically means the gateway or the main AC connection has failed. Partial production loss — where some panels are offline and others are working — points to individual microinverter failures, which are much more common and easier to address.

For SolarEdge systems, log into your monitoring portal and look at the power optimizer map. Offline optimizers show up distinctly from offline strings, which helps narrow the diagnosis before a technician arrives.

When to Call a Technician

Call a licensed solar technician if any of the following apply:

  • Your inverter shows a red LED or error code that doesn’t clear after a manual restart
  • A tripped solar breaker immediately re-trips after resetting
  • Your utility meter shows no export during full-sun hours despite your inverter appearing to be on
  • You notice any burning smell, visible scorch marks, or unusual sounds near your inverter or electrical panel
  • Your monitoring shows consistent partial production loss that has persisted more than 48 hours

The last scenario — gradual partial loss — is actually the most economically costly, because it’s easy to overlook. A single failed microinverter in a 20-panel system reduces production by about 5% per day. Over three months before it’s noticed and repaired, that adds up to real money on your utility bill.

What ElectriCare Does During a Diagnostic Visit

When we respond to a production loss call in Southwest Riverside County, we run string tests, read inverter error logs, check DC and AC measurements at multiple points in the system, and compare actual output against expected production for the time of year. In most cases, we can identify the root cause in a single visit and provide a written estimate for repair before leaving your property.

If your system stopped producing and the steps above haven’t resolved it, call us at 951.696.9669 or submit a service request online. Same-day and next-day appointments are available throughout Southwest Riverside County.