The invention discloses an insulator live detection system and a method based on wireless ad hoc network communication, which belongs to the technical field of power equipment detection. Through the wireless ad hoc network communication technology, insulator string longitudinal electric field distribution is extracted; according to the insulator longitudinal electric field distribution, internal defects of the insulators are judged; and by using the wireless ad hoc network communication technology, the data are transmitted to a data receiving terminal of a ground surface worker, and the data are displayed in a mode such as a curve. Thus, whether internal defect fault exists in the insulator can be displayed intuitively, a transmission line fault insulator can be conveniently found, and reliability of power supply is improved.