Solar PV Monitoring/Automation Thread

reklamos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119040202#Comment_119040202

Can you provide solismod log output? If running in container just run 'docker logs container_name'

john__long

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119040875#Comment_119040875

Sure thing. If you need the debug values, let me know.

Enable

2022-05-10 18:57:26 INFO Register 43141 topic nodered/solis/charge_amp value is already 250 not changing

2022-05-10 18:57:26 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

2022-05-10 18:57:26 INFO Changing register 43143 topic nodered/solis/start_charge_hour value from 0 to 19

2022-05-10 18:57:27 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

2022-05-10 18:57:28 INFO Changing register 43145 topic nodered/solis/stop_charge_hour value from 0 to 21

Disable

2022-05-10 18:58:31 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

2022-05-10 18:58:31 INFO Changing register 43143 topic nodered/solis/start_charge_hour value from 19 to 0

2022-05-10 18:58:32 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

2022-05-10 18:58:32 INFO Register 43144 topic nodered/solis/start_charge_minute value is already 0 not changing

2022-05-10 18:58:32 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

2022-05-10 18:58:33 INFO Changing register 43145 topic nodered/solis/stop_charge_hour value from 21 to 0

2022-05-10 18:58:33 INFO Connecting to Solis Modbus

john__long

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119040875#Comment_119040875

Been going back through historic posts in this thread. Either I'm doing something wrong, or maybe my logger isn't the 'right' version. Am on MW_08_512_0501_1.80

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119042867#Comment_119042867

Are you able amend the registers using pysolarmanv5 directly?

john__long

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119042889#Comment_119042889

Same as the solismod option, the code executes. Occasionally getting some unpack errors and that.

On follow up query of the registers, the new values appear to be set.

On physical inspection of the inverter, the timed charge options are unmodified.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119043109#Comment_119043109

Can you charge any other registers? Can you change the date/time etc? My data logger is on MW_08_512_0501_1.82.

reklamos

As @Jonathan try changing time and see if that works.

What inverter firmware are you on?

graememk

Threw together a quick and dirty python script for basic logging, all it does is output some Json that I handle in nodered and post to mqtt. Seems to be working well.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047580#Comment_119047580

I dont know what firmware version that is on the inverter but I have noticed some differences. When running on batteries, its reporting about 150 odd watts more from battery than the bms is reporting. So for my monitoring i'm using the BMS values instead.

It also is reporting that its sending power to the backup, but I think both are just reporting issues.

I have an emonpi monitoring everything else and taking the bms details is giving me numbers id expect. (also the solis seems to run at a 15-20w import) is there any settings on the meter they use?

(i havent been hands on with it yet)

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119052000#Comment_119052000

Yeah, noticed that too. Seems to be lag in the BMS figures from inverter. Have also noticed the spurious backup power.

Not aware of any way to calibrate the meter unfortunately. Have looked through all of inverter registers and the manual for the meter, but can't find anything that would allow it.

Fred7631

Yes, mine is the same. Runs around 15-40w import constantly. Be nice to have 0 but I imagine it's hard to achieve that and it needs to see a value of some kind and this is the lowest they could achieve? Not the end of the world, the energy it uses costs about 2 euro a month.

graememk

Well it's just acting on the reading from the meter attached to it

Found a manual from alpha ess that shows some of the setup menu

0f42aef04fd89fb73b90f551f5d0f7a9.pdf

There could be a value to "trim" in there.

reklamos

Disable backup port if not using it.

I think I posted somewhere already about differences in BMS and Inverter monitoring. Here is battery voltage difference. It does depend where the voltage is measured hence the differences.

Even on BMS itself there is difference depending where it is measured

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119058682#Comment_119058682

That's the thing, I don't think it actually uses power, just incorrect readings.

reklamos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119058745#Comment_119058745

Well I think it does have to use a little since it is a separate circuit in the inverter. When you enable/disable backup you can here relay clicking.

Irish Steve

I have to admit to beginning to wonder if some of this stuff is really ready for front line use. As the first step to getting things into some sort of order, I got myself a Shelly 3EM to allow me to monitor grid usage, but getting it to actually give me the information I want is proving to be a regal pain.

The first problem is that the meter is in the garage, so the 3EM has to be out there as well in order to be able to monitor all the phases, as only one comes over into the house. The problem then is that the garage is just too darn far from the existing WiFi, there's one router upstairs about 60 Ft away, and another one downstairs about 30 Ft from the meter, but neither of them are providing a stable WiFi signal in the garage because of the concrete and brick walls that are in the way. I had an ancient D-link wifi repeater that uses Ethernet, and there's Ethernet to the garage, but from what I can see of it, that device is just too darn ancient to work with my Android phone, in fairness, D-link discontinued support for it in 2013, so it's seriously ancient.

OK, Plan B, get a TP Link power line WiFi repeater, as there's no way I can afford the stupid money for mesh WiFi devices, they're telephone numbers if anyone even has stock,but so far, I'm 2 hours in to trying to get it to work the way I want it to, rather than using their default SSID, but can I get it to work AND connect to the Shelly? Can I hell, and the conclusion is that I'm going to have to remove the app from my phone, and factory reset every device in the chain, and see if I can then get it to work, but I didn't want to have to have WifI A then WiFi B, and then Wifi C depending on where I am in the house.

Perhaps I'm just getting too darned old for all of this stuff, and the problems I'm seeing already are making me wonder if I'm setting myself up for a nightmare trying to get all of this stuff to work with Home Assistant.

The next few days could get to be very interesting.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119059368#Comment_119059368

All I will say is start small, and gradually build. But best way to learn is by doing! Get them wheels turning again!

I do have multiple access points in my house but 1 does 99% of the work, the other is at one corner to get wifi out to the garage. Thankfully I have a cable between the two.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119059368#Comment_119059368

Can you use powerline adapters to do it? I use them into sheds around my place with decent results. Cheap enough on Amazon where I got mine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01G5Q9E0O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119059455#Comment_119059455

In theory, that's the hardware I picked up earlier from Power City, TP Link AV60, which is an ethernet in, ethernet and Wifi out pair of devices, which since my last post i have got working indoors with the default settings, what I was hoping to do was to get it to work with the same settings as the other 2 WiFi routers, so that I can just walk around the place without the mobiles, (among other things) dropping out of coverage.

When I tried it earlier with the same settings as the rest of the devices, it didn't perform as expected, but now I've got the powerline's working, I'm going to try factory defaulting the Shelly in the morning, and also remove the software from the phone and reinstall it, while I can't prove it, I think there are some settings in the EM3 that are confusing things when trying to connect to the WiFi system. I also need to prove that the Powerline is working in the garage, in theory it should, but theory and practice are two very different things, and there are some possible issues with how the power routes from the garage to the house, it should be OK, but there may be some complications. All I can do is go back to square 1 and make sure that each step works, the problem seems to be that all of these devices work as long as you don't deviate in any way from the way the developers set it up, and all too often, that's down to the mentality of the developers, as long as they get it to work (somehow), all too often they don't then make sure that it still works if a user does anything even slightly different from "their" way.

It's been a long time since I was cutting code at this level, most of the work I did in the latter years was high level language stuff, and a lot easier than having to work only one step away from assembler.

con747

What I did was set up the power line in the house and went out to the sheds with a laptop and turned WiFi off on it and connected to a powerline in the shed with an ethernet cable and ran a speed test to see if it worked, and it worked good enough for me.

bullit_dodger

Most of the Wifi extenders use the same SID for both the 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz, I think it's useful to name them differently. E.g.

The_Batline_2.4Ghz

The_Batline_5.0Ghz

You'll want to use the 2.4Ghz freq as many wifi dongle (incl smart plugs) don't support 5.0Ghz as it's barely got the punch to go through a partition wall and by naming them differently, you make it easier to ensure that you are actually connecting to the 2.4Ghz as opposed to the 5.0 (and then it failing due to it being non-supported)

Course if you have it working......I'd leave it alone.

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119060192#Comment_119060192

The TP link is only 2.4, which is not an issue, and yes, I have 2.4 & 5 on the other WiFi, and they are separately named SSID's, for exactly the reason of making sure that phones use the 5 when ever possible.

The TP link is now working indoors, so the plan now is to try it again in the garage on the default SSID, to prove that it's working OK out there, then change the SSID on it, to match the rest of the system, and then try it again, and then see what's happening with the Shelley, while the devices look good, the technical documentation is not exactly strong, so there are a lot of gaps in the information about the devices, but that's nothing new these days.

I have to head out for a few hours to dig a friend out of a problem, and will get back to this later in the day, and see how it goes.

bullit_dodger

Good stuff regarding the 2.4 & 5.0 SIDs - I'm always conscious of perhaps posting info that people might already know.....or have done themselves, but reckon it's better to err on the side of caution and suggest something rather than not post and have the person needlessly struggling.

john__long

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119044554#Comment_119044554

Finally got around to testing the time change, yeah it works. Took two goes to get the time to change back though! :D

Inverter firmware shows as 28001B on the device.

//cc @Jonathan

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119061511#Comment_119061511

Inverter firmware is quite old. Suggest you contact Solis to get them to remotely update the firmware.

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119060322#Comment_119060322

No argument from me on that, it's been a bone of contention for a long time that working out what's really happening with WiFi is much harder when they all share the same SSID, at one stage I even went as far as to use different SSID's between the routers, but that caused some issues with file sharing across the network in Windows, and Microsoft haven't made that scenario any easier with more recent releases, I stuck with XP for as long as I could, and I've seen nothing since to make me think it was a bad move,

Evenatually, one of the manufacturers posted a procedure for having common SSID's, which resolved the file share issues.

I'm a great believer in using Wired Ethernet whenever possible, I've seen too many horror stories, especially on high density estates, where it's just impossible to get a reasonable WiFi signal because of the number of systems in the immediate area.

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119059417#Comment_119059417

The powerline unit is eventually working correctly using the same SSID as the rest of the network, so I can move freely without the problems of reconnection, but that's the only good news.

The Shelly 3EM is a PAIN, the software is effectively still only really Beta, on the android version, you can't even paste a password into the log on, and I'm way too old to be trying to remember long random passwords, that's what I use LastPass for, but it won't work with Shelly, so that's the first down side. The absence of a way to use the device from a sensible size device like a laptop also doesn't help. I HATE having to use a phone keyboard for stuff like this, if I'd been meant to type on a 2 x 2 keyboard, God would have given me pointed fingers.

The App is unstable, I was totally unable to get the device correctly configured using the procedure in the (very small) manual, all it did was go through the motions, and then crash before completing the task it was supposed to be doing, I did eventually manage to get it to work to the network by using the web interface by attaching the phone directly to the device AP, and then using a browser log in to the device, so it worked as such for all of 5 minutes, as I looked around, then it told me there was a firmware update, so I decided "yes", and that has bricked the device, it won't even accept a front panel reset now, and powering it down means turning the power to the entire system off, which then means going round the house to reset several clocks etc, which I'm not about to do, as I will probably have to do that again to replace the device, so a change to the way it's connected is needed if I get a new device.

Let's just say for now that Shelly have some serious work to do to persuade me that a new unit will be OK, right now, the simplest way to put it is that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression, and my impression hasn't been improved any by having to use Facebook to look at support information, Facebook already know too much about me, giving then even more is not what I want to do, and to make it worse, looking at the posts on the Facebook page has only confirmed my suspicion that most of the software that Shelly are putting out is still pretty much raw Beta rather than polished and user approved working software.

To make it worse, it's impossible to create a user account on their support and support system, and I've tried 2 different browsers, as Firefox is not stable at the moment, there are a number of sites that are not working correctly, so I tried Chrome to see if that was any better, but it too is failing at Captcha stage.

I have spent too much of my life being someone's guinea pig to be going down that road again, so I suspect I'm going to have to look for a different supplier for what I want to do, or just forget the whole thing, which may well end up being the better idea, there seems to be way too much guesswork and smoke and mirrors around too much of the Solar systems.

Pity, but better to find out now than find out after I've spent a lot of money and still not got a result that does actually work for me and save money in the long run, at over 70 and with the problems of Covid also going the rounds, there's no way to know if I will actually be able to get any benefit from "long" term. I'm not giving up as such, but I am for sure going to be a lot more suspicious of some of the things that are being posted as "fact".

Tree

My preferred way to use the Shellys is with Home Assistant. You can also skip the app and visit them directly on their ip through any browser on the same network. The app is crap, I only use it for initial configuration

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119063723#Comment_119063723

Have you considered an Android emulator for example

Bluestacks BlueStacks – Best Mobile Gaming Platform for PC & Mac | 100% Safe and FREE

and the you can run this android app in a window on your PC, along with full cut-n-paste, internet access, chrome etc.

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119063765#Comment_119063765

That was my plan, but the device going hard lock made that impossible for now, and it's going to be up to Shelly how that gets resolved, as short of removing power from the device, which is a pain, I can't access it at the moment.

The Bluestacks option is a help, just downloaded it and set it up (version 5), and it will load the app, so that may help going forward, if nothing else, at least I can use a proper keyboard now.