Suntellite Inverters

[marmott2334]

Hi all,

 

New to this forum.

I had solar panels installed a long time ago - 2014.

 

The inverter I have is a Suntellite SL-TL3600. See the photos attached.

 

I'm looking at implementing some software that will monitor the Inverter's output.

What I am wondering is a couple of things......

 

Does anyone have a manual for this inverter? I have looked online and not found anything.
Or know what the pin out for the RS232/RS485 port is?

Does anyone have any experience of using software to monitor this inverter's output? If so which software works?

 

Any advise on this would be great.

[elite]

No knowledge of them, but data are you wanting to extract? Using CT clamps and something like https://openenergymonitor.org/ might be a quicker / easier route?

[SteamyTea]

Looks like a Sunyboy 3.6 kW model.

Do you tap on the display to make it light up.

Many of the SBs had Bluetooth built in.

 

TL in the SB range stood for transformerless.

 

See if the manual makes sense,  though this may be a newer model.

 

https://manuals.sma.de/SB30-50TL-21/en-US/index.html

 

[marmott2334]

22 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Looks like a Sunyboy 3.6 kW model.

Do you tap on the display to make it light up.

Many of the SBs had Bluetooth built in.

 

TL in the SB range stood for transformerless.

 

See if the manual makes sense,  though this may be a newer model.

 

https://manuals.sma.de/SB30-50TL-21/en-US/index.html

 

The display is light up most of the time. 

I'm not sure if it does have bluetooth or not. I don't often look at it very often. But there is a button on it with a symbol that could be bluetooth. 

 

Would it be the same pin out on the RS232/485 port on my inverter as the Sunnyboy? The manual that you've posted only says that there is a RS485 output.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, marmott2334 said:

Would it be the same pin out on the RS232/485 port on my inverter as the Sunnyboy? The manual that you've posted only says that there is a RS485 output.

Plug a cable in and hook it up.

[MikeSharp01]

the menu will probably have a setting to fix the speed of the RS485 connection and get its address, if not use 9600 Bps and 1 and see what gives. You will need something like this (https://thepihut.com/products/rs232-rs485-to-rj45-ethernet-serial-server-poe-port) to talk to it and an ethernet connection to plug it into the RS485 wire can be as long as you need - even Buckingham palace does not extend so far that RS485 won't reach.

[marmott2334]

On 08/05/2025 at 15:45, SteamyTea said:

Plug a cable in and hook it up.

 

Thanks for all your help so far.
 

I've looked a bit closer at the RS232/485 Port. It seems that it is just a plug and there are no visible contacts in the plug itself. There are 4 screws holding a plate where the port is. 

 

Before I start randomly unscrewing things, if I take this plate off, I'm assuming that this will give me access to the actual connector?

Would the pins be marked which is which? Sorry, never worked on inverters before. 

I'm thinking that I might use either a bluetooth or a wifi module. Has anyone any experience of which one would be good for this?

I've had a look at the menus, but it just shows different displays, like the current voltage, output current, frequency,  firmware, etc.

There is a LED that looks like it signifies a transmitter, but like I've said, there is nothing in the menus that would turn any transmit on or off.

The LEDs that I can make sense of

Top - Power ok

Middle - Fault

Bottom - transmit

Any help with this would be great. 

 

[SteamyTea]

Been over a decade since I looked inside an SMA.

There used to be two, numbered, dials that set up the country codes and other options, can't remember if that is on the smaller inverters.

There was a free Bluetooth app that you could download from SMA, maybe worth seeing if that is available still and see if you can connect.