Finally Connected, Now What?

[racerfern]

Jez - I did write to Solaredge but have not heard back. My inverter does have a WiFi option but I think you would have to install an antenna and board similar to the zigbee that came with it.

For me it was very easy to plug in an RJ45 cable and run it to my router. Then simply enabled the Modbus option on the inverter and on the router I made it a static port. The Modbus plug-in found it and I'm getting data. I still have to wake it up in the morning (I'm looking for a way to have that be automatic).

If you know of a modbus sniffer tool that is better than others, please let me know.

[racerfern]

More progress, I am able to read lifetime power from the registers. So two virtual devices later I can calculate power production for a given day or part of a day if I really want to. I plan on using Jon00DBCharting to track this.

[jezza]

Hi, I'm trying to do the same thing. how far did you get?

[racerfern]

At this point, I'm going back and forth with someone at solaredge support. They can't seem to grasp that I can have both zigbee (communicates with solaredge monitoring) and Modbus via LAN at the same time. I'm still waiting for a response to my last email.

As far as the Modbus, I have to click the test button to kick start the process every morning. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any help on how to automate that one needed part and I haven't seen anything from the developer that might indicate the re-write of this plug-in might help.

I do think the problem lies with Solaredge, since the unit goes into night mode around sunset, wakes up around sunrise and begins communication via zigbee. I told Solaredge that all I wanted was for the Modbus connection to wake up when the Zigbee connection wakes up. No joy.

[jezza]

no worries. i have got Modbus working today. will see how it goes over night. i have only been able to get the Float32 registrars working. did you get any of the others running?

thanks

[racerfern]

Hmm, that didn't display the way I thought it would. With these three registers I can track daily production and with a couple of events I get notified if the system goes dows. I also Here are some screen shots. Jon00DBCharting allows me to graph production.

[racerfern]

I may be closer to a solution. I installed Jon00EnableDisable plug-in. Rather than disable and then enable the gateway, I use the plug-in to disable the Modbus plug-in at sunset and enable it at sunrise. I didn't get errors this morning but I'll confirm after a couple of days of operation.

[clafa]

Hi racerfern and jeeza, I also have a Solaredge inverter and want to connect it to HS3 like you guys did. After reading your posts can you tell me if my understanding is correct?


Steps:
1.- Enable Port 502 on the solaredge inverter
2.- Install modbus plugin in HS3
3.- May need the use of the 'enable/disable" modbus plugin while there is no data (solar production)
4.- Read the "variables" through the modbus plugin

I have never worked with this Modbus plugin but sure its not that difficult

Thanks
Chris

[racerfern]

@ciafa - Your 1-4 steps are correct. I use enable/disable at sunrise, sundown and sometimes during the day if Modbus seems to be confused. I have an event that keeps an error count and if it gets to three in a row, I disable/enable the system.

Modbus is no more difficult than threading a needle blindfolded.

Interestingly, here in NY they just replaced my meter with a smart meter that I should be able to read via online access. I'll see if that yields more usable info.

[The Profit]

clafa racerfern Hello, we are thinking of going with Sunrun to install solar and according to the quote they are putting in a Solaredge inverter and an LG Chem battery. I’d like to be able to monitor the system with HS3. We are on a time of use program and the battery is set up to sell power back to the grid at the peak rate time between 4pm - 9pm, which is great but I’d like to be able to monitor it with HS and get notifications. Is it possible to ask the installers to open up port 502 on the inverter or is this something you had to call in to their tech support to have done? How has your setup within HS3 been going? Is it possible to get some screenshots of the kind of data you have been getting from HS3?

We also have a smart meter and wanted to see if you’ve had a chance to work with it yet?

Thanks guys!

[racerfern]

The Profit Interesting about the LG battery being set to sell back at peak hours. Great idea but I'm not sure how much of an advantage that is. Conjecture from here on. It seems to me that after 4pm you're well beyond peak production so if you're inland, you may actually be drawing from your battery to help cool the house. Not sure how much will be left to sell back. Of course being San Diego, if you're by the ocean you may not even need AC most times. Obviously it depends how big the battery is, Just thinking out loud.

You can open port 502 on the inverter yourself via the menu on the inverter. However, you're going to be better off having the installer physically install the RJ45 through the gland opening and into the port. From there the RJ45 runs to the router. Separately, there is a zigbee connection from the inverter that reports to a gateway in the house. That gateway also goes to the router and it reports directly to Solaredge. At least that's how it's set at my house. BTW, I have two zigbee units, Smartthings and a Raspbee and neither see the solaredge. I see its IP address but have never been able to connect to it. Now THAT would be cool.

The Modbus plugin is OK, I guess. You simply enter the IP address of the inverter. Via events, I monitor for minimal power during daylight hours. This is usually a communication issue with Modbus to the inverter, not something wrong with the inverter itself. Only once in three years have I had the inverter stop making power and that was due to a power surge followed by a power failure. When the power came back on the inverter did not power up. The event I have sent me a text message and I was able to reset the inverter.

You'll get more useful info from the Solaredge portal although it's about 15-30 minutes behind (as is a smartmeter) whereas the Modbus is live data.

IMO, you're better off figuring how to automatically download data from the Solaredge site or from your smartmeter even if it is slightly delayed.

I assume you're buying your system rather than leasing. I bought and I'm glad I did.

If there's an extended power outage your battery will not sell back to the grid since the system should disconnect from the grid on power failure. However, will it supply you within the house during a power outage?

How many kW of panels and how big a battery?

FWIW, my inverter was replaced some time last year. Determining that a solar system is not making the power it should be making is a challenge since each day is different. Haze, clouds, etc make for huge variations. I had to do a lot of homework in order to prove that the system was a good 20-30% lower than previously. Once I complained enough to my installer, they contacted Solaredge who finally agreed that there were unsolvable issues. A week later I had a new inverter and I'm back to full power. Thanks Scotty.

[clafa]

Hi @ The Profit,

I hope you installed solar, I have not yet connected the solaredge inverter to modbus...(will get there at somepoint), what I didn in the meantime, I had some Aeon Energy meters (clamps that go over the cables inside the panel) and I am using 2 (one to measure the production of the panels and the other the consumption coming from the street).

I also have installed the Jon00 Database Charting plugin which I capture the watts produced and consumed. I compared the energy in Solaredge vs the Aeon Energy meters and it was spot on.

I have some scripts running that compare the production vs the consumption and have events to turn on Pool pumps if I am producing more than consumed (If I have excess capacity).

In Georgia the Electric company is not Solar friendly so I am in a plan of use it or lose it.

I can share more if you like.

What have you done?
Chris

[The Profit]

Hey racerfern Sorry I never responded to you on this, I use Tapatalk and back when you wrote this I had stopped getting notifications of posts.

We do live in San Diego, not so far from the ocean that we don't get any benefit but just far enough that we have some hot days. The house has gotten up to 90-91 inside without A/C on, so not too bad but you defiantly don't want to sleep at that temp. So the way that we get benefit from the battery is that in the morning the battery charges up from about 30% to 100% in about two hours. While it's charging and afterwards the system is sending excess to the grid. Just before 4pm I have HS turn on the A/C and cool down the entire house and at 4pm it turns the A/C system off. Between 4pm and 9pm the temp in the house stays in a reasonably cool state. Then when the prices drop again at 9pm, the A/C system turns back on to bring the house to a temp we can sleep in. The advantage we get from the battery, between 4pm-9pm the battery starts sending its power to the grid, when power companies pay you higher prices for that energy. The sun is still up in the summer until about 7pm but we continue to get paid the higher price until 9pm when most solar systems without batteries no longer produce. We lived very comfortably and our system hadn't been turned on for the full month and we still had a $20 credit from SDG&E.

Yes, we bought our system. Everything I was reading indicated buying your system was the best way to go.

I had asked the installer to install the RJ45 to the port but he said I would have to call the solar company to get him to do it that way. After the installer was gone and I contacted them, they didn't know anything about how to do that and said to have solaredge send them instructions on how to do it, then they would send a tech out for $95/hr to set it up. Currently it is setup to send data out via cellular, so I don't have the gateway that you have. I did manage to get one of the techs to set me up with the solar edge app, it only shows me the production but at least it's much better than the standard app that the solar vendor provided.

"If there's an extended power outage your battery will not sell back to the grid since the system should disconnect from the grid on power failure. However, will it supply you within the house during a power outage?"
-Yes, if there is a power outage then the battery will supply the house power on up to four breakers and stops selling to the grid.

"How many kW of panels and how big a battery?"
We purchased 20 solar panels and if I remember correctly, it is a 6kWp system. We decided to get a system that would cover 110% of prior year consumption.

Hope that helps!

[The Profit]

Hi @ The Profit,

I hope you installed solar, I have not yet connected the solaredge inverter to modbus...(will get there at somepoint), what I didn in the meantime, I had some Aeon Energy meters (clamps that go over the cables inside the panel) and I am using 2 (one to measure the production of the panels and the other the consumption coming from the street).

I also have installed the Jon00 Database Charting plugin which I capture the watts produced and consumed. I compared the energy in Solaredge vs the Aeon Energy meters and it was spot on.

I have some scripts running that compare the production vs the consumption and have events to turn on Pool pumps if I am producing more than consumed (If I have excess capacity).

In Georgia the Electric company is not Solar friendly so I am in a plan of use it or lose it.

I can share more if you like.

What have you done?
Chris

Interesting, so if I'm understanding your setup correctly, you are getting both the use and production without the need to connect to the solaredge system? If that's the case then that is more information than I would get from solaredge and it would be real-time! Would you mind explaining how you set it up? I'm not an electrician so if you happened to take pics of it as you were setting it up or can help me understand how you connected it that would be great! I see on Amazon that they are about $100 each, and you bought two, correct?
Thank you!

[clafa]

Hi,

See my reply
Interesting, so if I'm understanding your setup correctly, you are getting both the use and production without the need to connect to the solaredge system?
Yes, I am getting both solar production and use.

If that's the case then that is more information than I would get from solaredge and it would be real-time! Would you mind explaining how you set it up?
I am not an electrician so if I can do it anyone can. As always when working with an electric panel I recommend caution.
So the Aeotec energy meters have 2 clamps (they have arrows to indicate how the should be put on). My setup is as follows:

On the 2 main cables coming from the street I am putting 1 Aeotec energy meter (2 clamps). These give me use (electricity consumption).

I dont have a battery but I assume your setup should be similar to mine:

My solaredge converter is connected to a breaker in the main panel. Before this breaker connection I connected the other Aeotec energy meter. I connected this at night to ensure that I get a zero reading. During the day I compared this energy production to what the Solaredge App provides on my phone and it matches.

I can post pictures tomorrow of how the panel looks like.

I mentioned that I am using the Jon00 Database Charting plugin which I capture the watts produced and consumed.

So I created 2 virtual devices one for Total Production (Virtual device 820) and another for Total Consumption (Virtual device 821).

Once the Aeotec Zwave device is added to homeseer a parent node and several child devices are created (the 2 clamps)

since the Aeotec meters have 2 clamps each one measures the kwh, I have a script that adds both clamps values in kwh (child devices) to give me a total production and total consumption.

The script runs every 15 min. (which happens to be the same time the Solaredge panels report to the inverted and thus I could compare to my zwave setup).

Then these 2 Virtual devices (total consumption) and total produced are posted to the Jon00 database. I create a graph with these values.

someone posted a detailed wiring video and yes they are $100 each so for $200 I have everyting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWl27bMF3DQ


If you are interested I can create a step by step of my Homeseer setup.

Let me know
Chris