Solar showing zero? Run this checklist before you panic.

A sudden drop to zero production looks scary, but the most common causes are simple: a tripped breaker, a grid outage, or an inverter that needs one restart. Work through these steps in order.

The 5-minute checklist

1. Check whether the grid is down. Grid-tied solar is required to shut itself off during a utility outage to protect line workers (it's called anti-islanding). If your neighbors are dark too, your system is fine and will restart on its own when power returns.
2. Check your breakers. Look at the main electrical panel and any solar sub-panel. A tripped solar AC breaker is the single most common cause of zero production. Reset it once.
3. Look at the inverter. Note any error code, message, or light pattern on the display. A red or flashing light with a code tells us exactly where to start. Take a photo of it.
4. Try one gentle restart. For everyday codes (grid voltage, communication, overheating on a hot day), switch the inverter's AC breaker off, wait two minutes, and switch it back on. Once.
5. Separate "no data" from "no power." If your monitoring app shows nothing but your utility meter shows solar flowing, it's a reporting issue, not an outage. Still worth fixing, but not an emergency.

If the checklist didn't fix it

A system that stays at zero after these steps usually has a failed inverter, a wiring fault, or a hardware issue upstream. That photo of the error display you took in step 3? Text it to us. Our AI-assisted diagnostics match it against known fault patterns for your equipment, and many issues get resolved remotely the same day. If it does need hands on hardware, we arrive knowing exactly what to bring.