Solar PV Monitoring/Automation Thread

graememk · 15-05-2022 11:11pm

Dug up the pdf from the us solis website and it gives the read/write registers (holding?)

What actually threw me was that the input registers and the holding registers both start at 3000 but hold different data. (On a standard inverter)

What can be changed is the all the grid settings/standards etc

SD_DRACULA · 17-05-2022 5:18pm

How did you D/N meter guys setup the Home Assistant energy dashboard to track the different tariffs?

Currently I have:

daily_energy:
  source: sensor.shellyem_5e26f6_channel_1_energy
  cycle: daily
  tariffs:
    - peak

And I assume I can add - offpeak under - peak above to create the night one but where do you set the times that each tariff is active between?

mp3guy · 17-05-2022 8:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119076775#Comment_119076775

- platform: template
  sensors:
    energy_tariff:
          friendly_name: "Energy Tariff"
          unit_of_measurement: EUR/kWh
          value_template:  "
            {% if utcnow().hour >= 23
                or utcnow().hour < 8 %}  0.0523
            {% else %} 0.1818
            {% endif %}"

john__long · 18-05-2022 9:44am

Solis have got back to me saying the inverter has been updated to latest FW. Will retry the modbus changes over coming days!

JimmyVik · 18-05-2022 11:27am

I was down with a friend this morning who got solar installed last week.

He is using the solis cloud app. he has a 6kw solis hybrid inverter but no battery yet. He is getting that in a few months.

We noticed something strange, or maybe its just us.

In his inverter at peak today it says he is creating 6.998kw. Is that right for a 6kw inverter, or should the max be 6kw. His panels are 7.5kw.

Also he says the data feed turns off between sunset and sunrise. It doesnt update or show him any values for consumption. He is not generating then but he would like to see what he is using at night anyway, because he wants to see what his total consumption is at night too. Is there a problem with it or does he have to wait til he gets his battery.

SD_DRACULA · 18-05-2022 12:56pm

I have a very similar setup and yes it can spike to to over 6kw but it wouldn't sustain it for too long, saw it jump to 7.5kw even, when the sun hits cold panels after heavy clouds.

And yes it will turn off at night unless you have the battery connected.

JimmyVik · 18-05-2022 1:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119080205#Comment_119080205

Thanks for clarifying that. We wre wondering if something was broken but it makes sense to be that way.

Nifty system he has. We have got quotes for similar but i think we would need the battery.

SD_DRACULA · 21-05-2022 2:34pm

Anyone have the solis LAN logger, I'm trying to swap out my wifi one as the wifi is not the best but having some issues.

I can connect to its IP locally just fine but the python code sends and never receives it seems.

As far as I can see all is set up ok:

modbus = PySolarmanV5(
        "192.168.0.250", 123456789, port=30003, mb_slave_id=1, verbose=1
    )

    """Query single input register, result as an int"""
    print(modbus.read_input_register_formatted(register_addr=33130, quantity=1))

Any ideas?

Could be a million things, old FW, unsupported FW, etc

This is the FW on the stick: ME-121001-V1.0.6(202104161800)

SD_DRACULA · 21-05-2022 2:52pm

Actually I can see this which id a bit odd:

But the data is being sent to solis cloud just fine, just won't let me access it locally 😔

Jonathan · 21-05-2022 5:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119093681#Comment_119093681

Not at home right now but Modbus TCP is not the correct mode. I think it is TCP Server and port 8899.

That said, I never noticed the Modbus TCP setting before. Try using a Modbus TCP client to see if you can get any response.

SD_DRACULA · 21-05-2022 5:18pm

The other option is transparent mode whatever that is and I did select it and still couldn't get any data back.

Might be the LAN adapter uses some other protocol.

Midlakelands · 22-05-2022 10:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119094105#Comment_119094105

I had the lan logger and had the exact same issue as you. Drove me nuts trying all the combinations including multiple firmware revisions. I swapped mine out for the wireless version and everything worked perfectly.

SD_DRACULA · 22-05-2022 7:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119096395#Comment_119096395

Looks like I will have to do the same, I'll swap it back in.

I think the LAN ones are way older and use different protocols than the wifi ones.

Jonathan · 22-05-2022 8:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099232#Comment_119099232

Was actually half thinking of swapping mine out for a LAN one. Thanks for saving me the hassle!

reklamos · 22-05-2022 8:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119093681#Comment_119093681

With ModBus TCP you should not need to use PySolarmanV5 at all and just read registers directly. They are still the same as before. Check if port 502 is available as this is the default modbus TCP port. If not try to scan all port and see what you have. Once you find the port download https://www.simplymodbus.ca/TCPclient.htm and try to connect to IP and Port. If conncted you can then try to read the registers. I have used ModBus TCP in Solismon2 when I had relay to switch between 2 Modbus masters. I may still have the code somewhere.

SD_DRACULA · 23-05-2022 10:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099581#Comment_119099581

Sure if you can find the code it might help, not getting much luck, seems to connect ok but tried to read 33030 and getting this:

Not sure if all those other settings are correct though.

john__long · 23-05-2022 10:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119061952#Comment_119061952

That sorted it! With the firmware updated, the modbus commands now working as expected. Thanks for pointers!

reklamos · 24-05-2022 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101238#Comment_119101238

Looks like the code was on github :)

https://github.com/NosIreland/solismon2

neiljung · 24-05-2022 9:52pm

Hi folks, Recently upgraded to the Soliscloud App from the older Solis Home. Much improved nicer interface etc. There's a weird anomaly with some older data though, see graph.

Screenshot_20220524-214715_SolisCloud.jpg

The first three months are obviously way put scaling wise and with no self use recorded. When I drill into one of these months the underlying daily data appears fine but is not being summated correctly. Anyone with a similar issue or any idea of a fix?

Screenshot_20220524-215139_SolisCloud.jpg

Cheers

Irish Steve · 02-06-2022 10:36pm

Putting this here to make sure people are aware of the issue, I recently ordered a Shelly 3EM to monitor the incoming supply, and it's had to go back to Shelly for reprogramming due to an issue with the firmware that can result in the device becoming unrecoverable by the normal user.

There is an option to set a password in the device to prevent unauthorised access to the web browser of the device, which I chose to do, but due to a combination of issues with the device, and the software being used to access it, (Windows 10 and Firefox browser) the password was not saved into the password manager that normally saves all passwords when they are created.

To make matters worse, the password was also in the keyboard buffer, as it was pasted into the device as a copy, but due to the issue with the browser, which froze before it saved the password, the keyboard buffer was lost.

In theory, that should not be a problem, as there is an easy way to reset the 3EM back to factory default settings, but on taking that route, it becomes clear that the log in password is NOT cleared by a factory reset, so effectively, if the password is lost, it cannot be reset and recovered.

The only way to fix the device is to reflash it using a serial port access, but that's not as easy as it sounds, as there is not a base level software version available to download from Shelly, and it needs a specific serial interface access device, so I've ended up having to get the device picked up and returned to Shelly, it's on the way to them, and they've given a voucher code to enable a replacement to be ordered.

That all takes time, the original device was ordered over a month and a half ago, and it was actually "live" here for about an hour, so the fact that it's now been returned is not exactly pleasing.

So, and this may also apply to other Shelly devices, it seems that great care is needed to make sure that if you're setting a password, make sure that you've saved it into a password manager or something else before you put it into the device, it seems that some of the Shelly software is still a bit tender, and may not produce the result you are expecting, and the factory reset doesn't work to the degree needed in order to recover the device.

I will try and post some results from it when the new one arrives, but that could take a couple of weeks if the last delivery is anything to go by.

webels · 03-06-2022 2:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119151468#Comment_119151468

I agree completely you shouldn't have to flash the device.

Having said that I am starting to flash all my Shelly's with ESPHome for better Home assistant integration. Have to say an all around better experience than the propriety firmware.

Irish Steve · 03-06-2022 2:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153962#Comment_119153962

Hmmm, Been wondering about that myself, but I wanted to get the basics working before going "off grid", it seem that quite a bit of this stuff is still maturing, and the official software is not quite as capable or mature as might be expected. I have some arduino hardware, and pretty sure I have a USB to serial device that might be suitable for updating the Shelly devices, with the appropriate connector, but that's a subject for another time and place, for now, in theory, I should be able to get the information I want from the standard software.

Time will tell, and a solar system is higher on the agenda, to get the bills down to a more acceptable monthly hit.

Metric Tensor · 04-06-2022 8:30pm

Hi all. I got a new system installed during the week and it has a Solis WiFi Data logger. It seems to be a v3.5 version and the firmware and interface are different from what everyone else is describing on line. The model number is S3-WIFI-ST.

There are no "advanced" settings in the html page and the serial number for the unit is a big long mixture of letters and numbers.

The result is that I can't connect to it to poll the data using any of the published on line tools. I have also run a port scan that only shows Port 80 to be open (although I may not have done this correctly).

Has anyone experienced something similar or am I snookered?

championc · 04-06-2022 9:01pm

You don't get data that way. You might get it from the RS485 port, or hack the logger. It's just a configuration web interface. For data, your initial method is via the cloud using the app

Jonathan · 04-06-2022 9:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119159034#Comment_119159034

Can you post a screenshot of the webui and of the logger itself? Not familiar with that one.

Metric Tensor · 04-06-2022 9:21pm

championc - I want to access the RS485 data locally by TCP connection with the logger. All the methods for this online rely on using the 9 digit serial number of the unit as part of the header when addressing the unit via TCP. I can't access it this way.

Johnathan see below:

Metric Tensor · 04-06-2022 9:29pm

P.S. I should add the "Advanced" menu only has WiFi settings in it. Nothing useful.

Metric Tensor · 04-06-2022 9:35pm

This is the logger itself. Will photograph in the attic tomorrow but it looks exactly like this. 3 lights and an external reset button that I believe the older models didn't have.

https://www.ginlong.com/accessories5/WiFi_Data_Logging_Stick_11231607.html

Jonathan · 04-06-2022 9:44pm

Interesting. I understand Solis intend to add remote inverter configuration to the Solis Cloud app in the coming months, so it would be a retrograde step to remove remote Modbus functionality from newer data loggers.

Metric Tensor · 04-06-2022 10:32pm

I'm certain the Modbus stuff is still there. I'm guessing they just locked down the access. I'd much prefer to keep it all local than have to ask for permission to get my data from their cloud system.

Solar PV Monitoring/Automation Thread

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