NailBiter Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) I've previously been using quite a lot of SolarEdge stuff but I'd rather not be forced to use their cloud. We recently had a device (unrelated to solar) trip the power a few times and our battery refused to keep working. It ended up needing to be reset by SolarEdge from their end as it was in some sort of lockout mode. Fortunately it wasn't a tricky process but I dislike not having root on my own equipment / poking holes in my firewall. Are there any inverter manufacturers where you can selfhost the control plane locally? Edited April 4 by NailBiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 We have a Sunsynk inverter which can be connected to their cloud through a wifi dongle or an ethernet connection. You can also attach a modbus interface - I've done this because their app which accesses the cloud data only updates every 5 minutes, so doesn't really give real time data. So you could simply disconnect the wifi dongle and not connect a LAN connection and just use the local modbus interface - of course you won't be able to use their app but while that is comprehensive it ain't brilliant... Ours btw is still connected to the Sunsynk cloud whiel we're still tinkering. For modbus I've half-inched a nodered set of flows -> https://powerforum.co.za/topic/8451-sunsynk-inverter-monitoring/ to read the data and feed it through to a local open energy monitor server -> https://openenergymonitor.org/. The flows are very comprehensive and also include setting parameters and there's a pretty amazing nodered dashboard . I reckon if any other inverter has a modbus interface, you could use a lot of the flows with only a bit of adjustment. Not massively pretty but below is a dashboard from an openergymonitor server on a Pi Zero 2 which we're using at the moment as we get used to the new batteries and inverter. PV and house load are fetched every 5 seconds and the more slowly moving things every minute. The diverter data is from our Eddi. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 @Bramco I appreciate the reply cheers. Do you happen to know if it required syncing over the internet / with any cloud during activation? I'd rather stop the cloudy tentacles from the get go vs having to try and extricate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 AFAIK Solaredge inverters dont need a cloud connection to operate, certainly the one I installed last year didn't as the WiFi aerial was installed months after the inverter was up and running. You've asked them to do remote diagnostics which you may possibly have been able to do via SetApp?? I don't have a battery so don't know what access you'd have via setapp. If you're heading to bin solaredge, don't forget you'll likely need to lift all your panels and remove the optimisers or buy the tool to disable the 1v safe shut down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billt Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 None of my SMA inverters need to connect to the internet. (I wouldn't buy them if they did.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger440 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, billt said: None of my SMA inverters need to connect to the internet. (I wouldn't buy them if they did.) Indeed. Why would you want them connected. Its only going to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 9 hours ago, Roger440 said: Why would you want them connected. Its only going to fail. For remote expert diagnostics. For easy failure monitoring. For easy performance monitoring. Not essential to make it work but very handy to have. Why do you think its only going to fail?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 6 minutes ago, Dillsue said: Why do you think its only going to fail https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/14/much-of-west-and-central-africa-without-internet-after-undersea-cable-failures Have you ever been to Porth Curnow? Zooming in on those sheds. That is where a lot of our 'internet' comes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 15 hours ago, NailBiter said: @Bramco I appreciate the reply cheers. Do you happen to know if it required syncing over the internet / with any cloud during activation? I'd rather stop the cloudy tentacles from the get go vs having to try and extricate them. Don't think so. But it wasn't something I was taking note of at the time. There's an installation guide you could check. But like I said, you can manage it all from within your firewall if you want to. Takes a bit of effort of course. If you do set things up that way, you can't access the device when you're away from home. Which can be useful if it throws some error. Or if you just want to check on what's happening. We find remote access quite useful. Simon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bramco said: If you do set things up that way, you can't access the device when you're away from home. Which can be useful if it throws some error. Or if you just want to check on what's happening. We find remote access quite useful. No worries I run an overlay network for all of our devices (worth setting up, can help if you need). Similar to TailScale but not it. Huge difference between me having remote access and anyone the company wants having remote access. I try and follow best practices from here where I can: https://building.open-home.io Edited April 5 by NailBiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 Sorry I seem to have had some trouble replying. The main issue for us was the fact we had to put the inverter back on the public internet to allow SolarEdge to apply their fix. There must have been some code in the inverter that could trigger it into lock down mode even if it wasn't connected. With something as important as solar, especially as it pertains to self sufficiency I don't want a killswitch I can't reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 1 hour ago, NailBiter said: I try and follow best practices from here where I can: https://building.open-home.io Which is a Home Assistant front - and while they may be best practices, not everyone wants to go down the HA route. I've tried it several times and found it to be a massive overkill for what we want to do and massively time consuming to configure. I just need simple access to some of the dashboards that we use when at home. I've used DuckDNS in the past but we now have a double router system, so NordVPN Mesh looks like it might do the trick. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Bramco said: Which is a Home Assistant front - and while they may be best practices, not everyone wants to go down the HA route. I've tried it several times and found it to be a massive overkill for what we want to do and massively time consuming to configure. I just need simple access to some of the dashboards that we use when at home. I've used DuckDNS in the past but we now have a double router system, so NordVPN Mesh looks like it might do the trick. Simon You don't need to go down the Home Assistant route to run an overlay network. It is no more complicated than NordVPN Mesh (which also looks like a good solution, e2e encrypted so you should be ok but I'd rather trust my own code). I linked to OpenHome instead of Home Assistant directly because their ideas of how an Open Home should work are technology agnostic, simple things like having local and complete access over devices that may be running for decades vs being reliant on a cloud. Thanks for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate all info about which providers are doing what. I'll try and compile a list. Edited April 5 by NailBiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 51 minutes ago, NailBiter said: The main issue for us was the fact we had to put the inverter back on the public internet to allow SolarEdge to apply their fix. There must have been some code in the inverter that could trigger it into lock down mode even if it wasn't connected. With something as important as solar, especially as it pertains to self sufficiency I don't want a killswitch I can't reset. As mentioned previously, you may have been able to do everything SolarEdge support did using SetApp with a local connection. You can update Set App with latest inverter firmware/software wherever or whenever you like and then update the inverter/battery from SetApp without connecting the inverter to the internet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrerahill Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 21 hours ago, NailBiter said: I've previously been using quite a lot of SolarEdge stuff but I'd rather not be forced to use their cloud. We recently had a device (unrelated to solar) trip the power a few times and our battery refused to keep working. It ended up needing to be reset by SolarEdge from their end as it was in some sort of lockout mode. Fortunately it wasn't a tricky process but I dislike not having root on my own equipment / poking holes in my firewall. Are there any inverter manufacturers where you can selfhost the control plane locally? If it is just inverters specifically, the I have Solax & Solis inverters, both working away without any connection to the outside world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 48 minutes ago, Dillsue said: As mentioned previously, you may have been able to do everything SolarEdge support did using SetApp with a local connection. You can update Set App with latest inverter firmware/software wherever or whenever you like and then update the inverter/battery from SetApp without connecting the inverter to the internet I have full SetApp access (I installed it with a friend). I also have an RS485 USB adapter plugged in so I have full access to all the Modbus registers. There was nothing I could do about the lock out, it told me to contact support and they had to connect remotely to the inverter. I did try and push the tech to tell me what they had done but even as an installer they wouldn't tell me. There is obviously some kind of lock that can be applied without internet connection and only fixed by them. I'm not comfortable with that being possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Did you or they do a software update? Intrigued to know if was a known bug or you'd discovered a new scenario. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they intentionally installed a "lock" that only they could unlock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger440 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 10 hours ago, Dillsue said: For remote expert diagnostics. For easy failure monitoring. For easy performance monitoring. Not essential to make it work but very handy to have. Why do you think its only going to fail?? Because the internet always fails. Its what the internet does. Everone has the internet drop out from time to time. If i want something to work reliably, the last thing id do is connect it to the internet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elite Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 I'd be very surprised if it wasn't possible to "unlock" directly on the device - maybe it was easier for them to do remote access than talk the customer through it? What was the actual fault/fault code? I have a solax inverter, it does connect to the internet to email me stats, but other than that it functions fine without connectivity 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 19 minutes ago, elite said: I'd be very surprised if it wasn't possible to "unlock" directly on the device - maybe it was easier for them to do remote access than talk the customer through it? If they have half a commercial brain they will have an encrypted connection you can't break without enormous effort so when they want to monetise it they will hold all the cards. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 (edited) 13 hours ago, Dillsue said: Did you or they do a software update? Intrigued to know if was a known bug or you'd discovered a new scenario. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they intentionally installed a "lock" that only they could unlock. No software update for at least 6 months before generation stopped but when I went to troubleshoot you have to install the latest update. SetApp forces you to do so when you try to connect to the inverter. The issue was related to our battery, my guess is they have some sort of quite sensitive lockout mode as their Energy Bank is a newish device and they'd rather inconvenience customers than potentially get in trouble with grid operators. It came up as a priority 9 (highest) alert and the alert made it very clear the only way to clear it was to contact support. Interestingly it didn't just lock out the battery it also stopped all generation. I'd much rather have access to troubleshoot myself than have to beg someone else to make the changes to their backend I need made. Solar is about self sufficiency not dependance. @elite No specific fault code, just a generic message like below: Edited April 6 by NailBiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Stopping generation due to faulty peripheral kit doesn't seem such a good idea! We have an HD wave inverter with an unused integrated EV charger that had the comms disconnected so the inverter saw the charger as faulty but the inverter continued to run as normal, other than showing the charger fault. Shame they weren't more open about the reasons for the lockout and the fix for it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 (edited) I don't have a screenshot of the chat unfortunately but they were very cagey about what they were doing and wouldn't give any info. I wish I'd dumped all the Modbus registers before and after, if it happens again I will. It definitely does suck that a peripheral prevented generation. Also what happens if SolarEdge go bust? Edited April 6 by NailBiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 39 minutes ago, NailBiter said: It definitely does suck that a peripheral prevented generation. Also what happens if SolarEdge go bust? I guessing that if you'd disconnected the battery and reconfigured the inverter to remove the battery, it would have fired up. May have needed re setting to factory defaults?? If they go bust youre likely on your own- its same as any company hitting the wall. You'd never buy anything with tech if bancrupcy is a buying blocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailBiter Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 11 minutes ago, Dillsue said: I guessing that if you'd disconnected the battery and reconfigured the inverter to remove the battery, it would have fired up. May have needed re setting to factory defaults?? The battery DC isolator was set to disconnect and EnergyNet (Zigbee based) card removed from SetApp and disconnected. In all fairness I didn't try doing a total factory reset but it very much seemed some sort of flag had been set. I neither need nor want remote assistance, I'd much rather be empowered to fix my own issues without having to rely on a 3rd party. Having root on your own tech (or a company that won't ever go bust e.g. Apple) is incredibly important IMO 16 minutes ago, Dillsue said: You'd never buy anything with tech if bancrupcy is a buying blocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now