Solar installation photo checklist: what to shoot before the panels go on
Most install photos can only be taken once. After the panels go on or a cover closes, the attachment, the wiring and the label are out of sight. Shoot them in order, and the inspection, the paperwork and any warranty claim have what they need.
Printable photo checklist: PDFWordExcel
The checklist
Financing programs, utilities and inspectors often publish their own photo lists. Where theirs asks for more, follow theirs; this list covers what most of them have in common.
Before work
The front of the house with the house number
The entire roof before work, and a close-up of its condition
Existing damage to the roof or the property
Attachments and racking (before the panels go on)
Each attachment point, at each step: flashing, base and sealant or gasket
The racking on each array, with arrays numbered the same way every time
The grounding and bonding path from the box or conduit to the racking
End and mid clamps fully engaged
Wire management under each row
The finished array
A pull-back shot of each array
Pitch and azimuth, with the protractor or compass in the frame
Panel height above the roof
Fire setbacks and pathways
Roof conduit on standoffs, and its roof penetration with the flashing
Labels and serial numbers
The module label
The optimizer, microinverter or rapid shutdown device label and serial
The device map or stringing map
The inverter or gateway serial number
Electrical
Junction boxes, open and closed, with labels
Exterior conduit runs, and penetrations sealed
The AC disconnect, inside and outside, with labels and the fuse size
The main service panel, inside and outside, with labels
The utility meter with its labels
The ground rod and the water main bond
A pull-back shot of all the electrical equipment
Battery, if there is one
Battery and gateway serial numbers, wiring and labels
The working area, cleared
Commissioning
String voltage, or the monitoring screen showing every device communicating and producing
The grid profile or utility setting
The system running
Site and safety
The ladder tied off and extended at least three feet above the edge
The site cleaned up
Why install-day photos matter
They show the inspector what is now under the panels. They answer the questions a financing program or a utility asks before it approves or pays. They settle a warranty claim years later, when nobody remembers how a row was wired. And they tell the next technician what is behind the cover before they open it.
How to shoot them
- Labels and serials in focus. Take a close-up you can read and a pull-back shot that shows where the label is.
- Open boxes before you close them. Junction boxes, disconnects and panels are easy to photograph now and a nuisance to reopen later.
- Number roofs and arrays the same way in every photo and on the map, so "Roof 2, row 3" means one thing.
- Shoot attachments as you go, not at the end, when the panels already cover them.
Doing it in FieldPix
FieldPix has built-in install checklists for string and optimizer (DC) systems, microinverter (AC) systems and battery installs, with a photo asked for on the spot at each step. Copy any of them and add your program's own items. Every photo carries the time, date and location burned into the image and files itself to the job, and one tap turns the job into a PDF report with your logo. See FieldPix for solar installers.
Source for the ladder rule: OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(1).
