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Problems connecting directly to Tesla Inverter and Powerwall

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Hi All, new solar panel owner here.

I have a 9.6kW system with one Powerwall and one stand-along Tesla inverter. I want to connect directly to them to get their status, rather than go through the app, but I have problems connecting to both.

With the inverter, I was able to connect to its WiFi, change the password and see the status at 192.168.92.1, but after some time (~1 hour), the inverter disconnected me and gave me a message that said in order to log in, I have to power cycle the inverter and go through the process again. This happened TWICE.

With the powerwall, I was able to connect a few days ago. This morning, I tried to connect again and it said to cycle the power to log in. I did this - and now I can't detect the Powerwall's WiFi on any of my devices (tried three different phones/tablets)! The Powerwall does seem to be working and I can see its status in the app; its just that I can't directly connect to it because its hotspot doesn't seem to be enabled.

Anyone see any issues like this?

Thanks!
 
The solar inverter is not intended to stay accessible on your network. It's only for diagnostic purposes. The Powerwall Gateway should remain online and accessible from the LAN/WLAN at all times. As stated above, the WiFi on the Powerwall Gateway is not great. I went to the trouble to install outdoor conduit for a nearby Ethernet.

 
The solar inverter is not intended to stay accessible on your network. It's only for diagnostic purposes. The Powerwall Gateway should remain online and accessible from the LAN/WLAN at all times. As stated above, the WiFi on the Powerwall Gateway is not great. I went to the trouble to install outdoor conduit for a nearby Ethernet.

Thanks, I just re-read the web page that describes how to connect to the inverter, and it says "The configuration interface of the Tesla Solar Inverter is available within 15 minutes of the system being powered on" - I thought it referred to literally the configuration interface, but I guess it refers to any connectivity to the inverter over WiFi.

The Powerwall gateway does indeed remain connected to my WiFi so I can access status via the app. But I needed to get status of the array connected to the Inverter; at least I can remain directly connected to the Inverter's WiFi for over 30 minutes before it kicks me off, and I can get the status I need during that time.

Thanks for link for wired Ethernet connection, it will come in handy if I decide to go that route!
 
powerline ethernet works well if getting actual wired ethernet is more difficult. i have mine running now on powerline adapters, and it has been solid in the three or so days since (prior to that, it almost never worked).
 
The Powerwall gateway does indeed remain connected to my WiFi so I can access status via the app. But I needed to get status of the array connected to the Inverter; at least I can remain directly connected to the Inverter's WiFi for over 30 minutes before it kicks me off, and I can get the status I need during that time.
What inverter status are you looking for? You can get the parameters of each MPPT through the /api/devices/vitals resource on the gateway, for example.
 
powerline ethernet works well if getting actual wired ethernet is more difficult. i have mine running now on powerline adapters, and it has been solid in the three or so days since (prior to that, it almost never worked).
I do have powerline ethernet adapters I am not using, so if I decide to go the wired ethernet route, I will be sure to use them, thanks!
 
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What inverter status are you looking for? You can get the parameters of each MPPT through the /api/devices/vitals resource on the gateway, for example.
I have two arrays/inverters, and had concerns that one wasn't working properly (i.e. I suspected the power output was really low). So I wanted to see its output separately from the total power output of the system that the app shows. I was able to get this info by connecting to the stand-alone inverter's WiFi, but it disconnects after a while and is very annoying to re-connect.

I tried your suggestion and went to 192.168.91.1/api/devices/vitals on the gateway, and it downloaded a file. When I open with a text editor, I can read some of the ASCII text, but there are also a lot of special characters. How do you read this information, is there an app? Will it show me the information I was looking for? thanks!
 
First, if you assign static IP for the GW2 you should not have problem getting to it using the local DHCP IP or disconnecting, or as someone here suggested enter the GW2 into the ARP table if your router permits it. Second, if you use Python script pypowerwall you should be able to decode vitals, you just would not get inverter strings data unless you have PW+ (integrated inverter and gateway).
 
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I tried your suggestion and went to 192.168.91.1/api/devices/vitals on the gateway, and it downloaded a file. When I open with a text editor, I can read some of the ASCII text, but there are also a lot of special characters. How do you read this information, is there an app? Will it show me the information I was looking for? thanks!
The data is encoded using Google's protocol buffers. You can decode it with GitHub - jasonacox/pypowerwall: Python API for Tesla Powerwall and Solar Power Data and show the data in a nice dashboard with GitHub - jasonacox/Powerwall-Dashboard: Grafana Dashboard for Tesla Powerwall.

@yblaser and @SaveOurPlanet, are you sure it only works with the integrated inverter in the PW+? It seems like the stand-alone inverter is the same as the integrated one, and in both cases, communication between the inverter and gateway would be required. Is it just that the standalone inverter doesn't get a CAN bus connection to the gateway?
 
@yblaser and @SaveOurPlanet, are you sure it only works with the integrated inverter in the PW+? It seems like the stand-alone inverter is the same as the integrated one, and in both cases, communication between the inverter and gateway would be required. Is it just that the standalone inverter doesn't get a CAN bus connection to the gateway?
I haven't delved into the API yet so don't have any direct experience. I saw the application note when researching the python scripts that @SaveOurPlanet posted so I assumed it didn't work with the standalone inverter. I would guess it's because, as you stated, there is no hardline communication between the GW and the inverter. I do wonder if there is an API interface if you directly connect to the inverter that has some of this info.
 
Replying here mostly to following this topic...I just got my Solaredge inverter replaced with a Tesla inverter by Tesla. It would be super cool to have access to the generation info locally. At least I can know if the inverter is online by pinging its IP for now?