Are Squirrels Chewing My Solar Panel Wires?

Do squirrels really chew solar panel wires?

They do, and it's one of the costlier critter problems we see. Squirrels and roof rats, which are everywhere in Central Florida, are rodents. A rodent's front teeth grow for its whole life, so it has to gnaw all the time to wear them down. It will chew on branches, wood framing and the DC wiring under your panels.

DC wiring is the wiring that carries power straight from the panels. It sits in the exact warm, sheltered pocket rodents want to nest in, so it takes the brunt of the chewing. For the wider picture, see our bird and critter protection guide.

How dangerous is chewed solar wiring?

More dangerous than most homeowners realize. Chewed insulation and cut wires do two things:

• They knock power offline. A gnawed or broken wire can take one panel, or a whole row of panels, out of service. Sometimes it cuts in and out, which makes it hard to track down.
• They create a fire risk. Bare wires and damaged connectors can spark and overheat, right next to dry nest material. This is the one we treat most urgently.

Solar wiring carries high-voltage power whenever the sun is up. So this is not a job to poke at yourself, and you should not climb onto the roof to look. If you suspect chewed wiring, book a solar panel repair with someone who works on live systems safely.

What are the signs squirrels are chewing my solar wires?

The tricky part is that the damage hides under the panels. So you watch for indirect signs:

• An unexplained drop in output on your monitoring app, especially one panel or row reading low or offline.
• Scratching, scurrying or thumping on the roof, often at dawn or dusk.
• Gnaw marks on any wiring, conduit or roof edge you can see from the ground.
• Droppings and nest debris under or around the array.
• Squirrels or rats running the same path up to the roof and under the panels, over and over.

If your app shows a dip and you hear activity too, don't wait. That combination usually means the wiring is already being chewed. Birds cause similar trouble, so see whether birds under solar panels cause damage.

How do you fix and prevent squirrel damage?

The right job runs in one sequence, not in pieces:

• Inspect and repair. We check the wiring and connectors under the whole array. Then we repair any chewed sections, so the system is safe and back to full output.
• Clear and clean. Remove any nest and clean up the droppings before anything is closed off.
• Seal with critter guard. Fit critter guard, a rigid metal mesh, around the full edge with no drilling into your roof. Chew-resistant metal holds up where soft plastic netting fails.

The order matters. Seal an array with a chewed wire still inside, and you've only hidden the damage behind the mesh. Inspect first, repair, then seal. The seal itself is covered in what solar panel critter guard is.

If chewed parts are covered by a warranty, Service Solar Pros can help you with the warranty claim.

Why is this common in Central Florida?

Roofs stay warm all year, so squirrels and roof rats stay active in every season here. There's no hard winter to thin them out. Big trees near the house give them an easy path to the roof. Keeping branches trimmed back from the roofline helps.

An unsealed array then gives them a perfect place to nest, with wiring to chew. We repair rodent-chewed systems and seal arrays across Ocala, Leesburg, Mount Dora and all of Central Florida. We work on any brand of system, from any installer. A maintenance plan with a yearly critter-guard check helps catch this before it turns into a repair bill.

Frequently asked questions