PSA for folks getting a new solar install - ask for a map of your panel/optimizer layout

[SoCal Dave]

Look for the sticker with the QR code. That should have the 10 digit serial number that they’re looking for. Or maybe it’s just the last 2 parts of the big long serial number that you see.

Yah, it is the same sticker which I used to scan the QR code to use the MySolarEdge app. I had tried using the last two sections of the SN and it didn't like that either.

I'll try calling Tesla in the morning to see if they will give me access.

 

[BrettS]

Yeah, I think it’s the one covered by the yellow box with a red outline.

 

[SoCal Dave]

Yeah, I think it’s the one covered by the yellow box with a red outline.

It ended up being below that one. Which is actually the same number of the last two sections of the SN in the top sticker, but the top sticker had a leading 0. Once I removed the leading zero, it accepted it, but complained my inverter was already assigned.

I'm going to go with trying to get Tesla to give me access to the SolarEdge app first. If they say no, then I'll bug SolarEdge.

 

[BrettS]

It ended up being below that one. Which is actually the same number of the last two sections of the SN in the top sticker, but the top sticker had a leading 0. Once I removed the leading zero, it accepted it, but complained my inverter was already assigned.

I'm going to go with trying to get Tesla to give me access to the SolarEdge app first. If they say no, then I'll bug SolarEdge.

Yeah, I don’t think has refused to give anyone access, so it should be no problem.

For the installer account you would have to create an installer account and just leave the inverter serial number box blank, then submit a ticket to solaredge asking them to assign your system to your installer account. For me it took about a week and I had to sign a transfer of ownership document, but they did it.

 

[SoCal Dave]

Yeah, I don’t think has refused to give anyone access, so it should be no problem.

For the installer account you would have to create an installer account and just leave the inverter serial number box blank, then submit a ticket to solaredge asking them to assign your system to your installer account. For me it took about a week and I had to sign a transfer of ownership document, but they did it.

Why did you go the installer route instead of bugging Tesla?

 

[BrettS]

Why did you go the installer route instead of bugging Tesla?

I actually did both. I got the monitoring account from tesla first, then I got the installer account.

With the monitoring account from tesla you will be able to monitor your system. You’ll have access to the solaredge app and see your daily solar production as well as the per panel data. But unless tesla actually mapped out your panels in the system (and I don’t believe they normally do) then your panels will just all show up in a line. With a monitoring account you don’t have the ability to change the panel layout.

With the installer account you’ll have full access to your system, including the ability to map out your panels. However, when your system is assigned to your installer account then it is removed from Tesla’s installer account. As I said above, I don’t really know how tesla feels about this or if it would cause issues with warranty or service down the road.

Theoretically tesla could map out the panels for you so they would be available with a monitoring account, but I don’t believe that they would. It also may be possible to submit a ticket to solaredge so they could map out the panels in your account, but I don’t know if that’s something they would do either as it’s really the installer’s responsibility.

Also note that your inverters will need to be connected to ethernet so they can report their data back to solaredge.

 

[isjka]

Also note that your inverters will need to be connected to ethernet so they can report their data back to solaredge.

Does each inverter need to be connected to ethernet to get the layout you are showing here for either the installer account or monitoring account? It is noted they need a hard wire access, but how does one get ethernet on their roof? Or is it just one device that needs to be hardwired which in turn talks to the other devices?

Have a solar only installation on Monday. Wondering how I can prepare. I already know to ask for the map layout.

Thanks.

 

[BrettS]

Does each inverter need to be connected to ethernet to get the layout you are showing here for either the installer account or monitoring account? It is noted they need a hard wire access, but how does one get ethernet on their roof? Or is it just one device that needs to be hardwired which in turn talks to the other devices?

Have a solar only installation on Monday. Wondering how I can prepare. I already know to ask for the map layout.

Thanks.

Each inverter needs to be connected to the internet, but remember that tesla doesn’t use microinverters where you would have one small inverter under each panel. Tesla uses solaredge inverters so you will have one or two inverters for your whole system. These will likely be installed on the side of your house or in your garage, but definitely not on your roof. There are power optimizers that go under each panel to help with shading and report the panel data to the inverter(s), but the power optimizers don’t need an internet connection.

If you do get two inverters there is a way that you can connect one inverter to the internet and then connect the second inverter to the first with RS485 so they can share the internet connection, but that would be more difficult to configure, so if you do have two inverters it’s easier to just connect them both to ethernet.

Also do note that connecting the inverter(s) to the internet like we are talking about is not a tesla supported config, so the installers won’t do that for you even if you have an ethernet connect already right there by the inverter(s). You’ll need to do it yourself after the install is finished. The installers will give you a little black box that needs an internet connection inside your house somewhere. That box communicates wirelessly with the inverters, but it needs to plug in to ethernet.

 

[isjka]

Good info. My project lead (think that was his title) mentioned the same. He said that a device would need an ethernet port preferably on the back of the router. He also mentioned that some mesh wi-fi routers don't work so well with those devices. I was also told that if in fact customers want the installer account, Tesla does make that available. I asked specifically for the layout showing the panels with the QR codes and was told that would not be an issue. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[reddy]

Does each inverter need to be connected to ethernet to get the layout you are showing here for either the installer account or monitoring account? It is noted they need a hard wire access, but how does one get ethernet on their roof? Or is it just one device that needs to be hardwired which in turn talks to the other devices?

Have a solar only installation on Monday. Wondering how I can prepare. I already know to ask for the map layout.

Thanks.

My SolarEdge inverters connect to the Internet with the optional Zigbee module. They are about 100 feet away , and I have a Zigbee base station connected to my home network. Connectivity has been excellent, and SolarEdge was able to program and update firmware easily when I needed service once.

 

[BrettS]

My SolarEdge inverters connect to the Internet with the optional Zigbee module. They are about 100 feet away , and I have a Zigbee base station connected to my home network. Connectivity has been excellent, and SolarEdge was able to program and update firmware easily when I needed service once.

That is potentially an option too, but I suspect that your solar was not installed by Tesla. When Tesla installs a solaredge inverter they use a special tesla zigbee gateway. I believe that it would be possible to use the official solaredge zigbee gateway instead of running ethernet to the inverters to allow them to talk directly to solaredge, but one would need to spend money to get the solaredge gateway and possibly need an installer account to configure the inverters to talk to the gateway. I think there was a forum member who was looking to go that route, but I’m not sure if they ever did.

 

[reddy]

That is potentially an option too, but I suspect that your solar was not installed by Tesla. When Tesla installs a solaredge inverter they use a special tesla zigbee gateway. I believe that it would be possible to use the official solaredge zigbee gateway instead of running ethernet to the inverters to allow them to talk directly to solaredge, but one would need to spend money to get the solaredge gateway and possibly need an installer account to configure the inverters to talk to the gateway. I think there was a forum member who was looking to go that route, but I’m not sure if they ever did.

You are correct that I have a non-Tesla install.

There is literally NO configuration needed to use the Zigbee. You simply plug in the card and antenna into its slot on the inverter. You turn on the base station and wait 3-5 minutes for them to pair. You are done.

SolarEdge can talk to your inverters as soon as they pair.

 

[willow_hiller]

You are correct that I have a non-Tesla install.

There is literally NO configuration needed to use the Zigbee. You simply plug in the card and antenna into its slot on the inverter. You turn on the base station and wait 3-5 minutes for them to pair. You are done.

SolarEdge can talk to your inverters as soon as they pair.

If I had a bit of cash to burn, I would be tempted to buy a second hand SolarEdge Zigbee Gateway just to see whether the Zigbee receiver module in the inverter is capable of accepting two gateway nodes (Tesla and SolarEdge simultaneously). The inverter documentation says they're set up to allow mesh networking (so Zigbee signals can be passed from inverter to inverter to gateway) so it wouldn't be surprising if the Zigbee chips are just configured to send their data to any compatible device within range.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Good info in this thread.

I would like to check on individual panel performance from time to time with a SolarEdge installer account. But I would also like to keep Tesla app functionality for easy net monitoring.

In order to have both, is it possible to just plug in the inverter via Ethernet only when I want to check on panel performance, and then keep it unplugged to have the Tesla app keep working?

 

[BrettS]

You are correct that I have a non-Tesla install.

There is literally NO configuration needed to use the Zigbee. You simply plug in the card and antenna into its slot on the inverter. You turn on the base station and wait 3-5 minutes for them to pair. You are done.

SolarEdge can talk to your inverters as soon as they pair.

Tesla installs the zigbee module and antenna into the inverter so it can pair with the Tesla zigbee gateway. I don’t know if you turn off the tesla zigbee gateway and turn on the official solaredge one if the inverter will find the SolarEdge gateway on it’s own or if it will continue looking for the Tesla one. It’s possible that it will just find the SolarEdge gateway with no configuration necessary.

 

[BrettS]

If I had a bit of cash to burn, I would be tempted to buy a second hand SolarEdge Zigbee Gateway just to see whether the Zigbee receiver module in the inverter is capable of accepting two gateway nodes (Tesla and SolarEdge simultaneously). The inverter documentation says they're set up to allow mesh networking (so Zigbee signals can be passed from inverter to inverter to gateway) so it wouldn't be surprising if the Zigbee chips are just configured to send their data to any compatible device within range.

I don’t believe that it would work this way. This is just speculation, so don’t rely on this, but I believe that it would be more accurate to see the zigbee gateway more like a wifi router. The inverter speaks directly to SolarEdge over the internet and the gateway is the path that it uses to get to the internet. It’s not like the inverter passes it’s data to the gateway and then the gateway processes that data and sends it on or anything like that.

So having two gateways would be like trying to have two wifi routers. Your laptop could connect to either one to get access to the internet, but it couldn’t connect to both and send all of it’s internet requests out of both routers at the same time.

 

[BrettS]

Good info in this thread.

I would like to check on individual panel performance from time to time with a SolarEdge installer account. But I would also like to keep Tesla app functionality for easy net monitoring.

In order to have both, is it possible to just plug in the inverter via Ethernet only when I want to check on panel performance, and then keep it unplugged to have the Tesla app keep working?

I believe that this may be possible with some limitations. You can select the connection type in the inverters (whether they use zigbee or ethernet or RS484 for their monitoring connection), however, you can also set the connection type to “automatic”

From my experience, Tesla normally leaves them set to “automatic” and with the connection type set to “automatic” ethernet seems to have priority. So if your inverter doesn’t have an ethernet connection, but does have a zigbee connection then it will use the zigbee gateway for it’s connection. If you plug in an ethernet cable, then ethernet will take priority and it will start using ethernet. If you then remove the ethernet connection, but the zigbee connection is still there then it will fall back to zigbee.

The inverter only sends it’s data to solaredge every 15 minutes. (And I believe the timer starts from when the inverter is turned on, so it’s not necessarily at :00, :15, :30 and :45. But if you connect the inverter to ethernet and then leave it connected for more than 15 minutes then that should give it enough time to transmit data to solaredge. You can then disconnect the ethernet cable and it should start talking to tesla again.

In fact, in another post I speculated that you could possibly get an ethernet hub and connect your inverter’s ethernet connection to that hub. Then plug the hub into smart switch or a smart outlet that would be programmed to periodically turn on the hub for, say, 20 minutes every few hours, then turn the hub off again. That way the inverters would be connected to tesla through the zigbee inverter most of the time so the tesla app would work, but every few hours when the hub got power they would have an ethernet connection and be able to upload data to solaredge as well to keep that app reasonably up to date.

 

[pdx_m3s]

I believe that this may be possible with some limitations. You can select the connection type in the inverters (whether they use zigbee or ethernet or RS484 for their monitoring connection), however, you can also set the connection type to “automatic”

From my experience, Tesla normally leaves them set to “automatic” and with the connection type set to “automatic” ethernet seems to have priority. So if your inverter doesn’t have an ethernet connection, but does have a zigbee connection then it will use the zigbee gateway for it’s connection. If you plug in an ethernet cable, then ethernet will take priority and it will start using ethernet. If you then remove the ethernet connection, but the zigbee connection is still there then it will fall back to zigbee.

The inverter only sends it’s data to solaredge every 15 minutes. (And I believe the timer starts from when the inverter is turned on, so it’s not necessarily at :00, :15, :30 and :45. But if you connect the inverter to ethernet and then leave it connected for more than 15 minutes then that should give it enough time to transmit data to solaredge. You can then disconnect the ethernet cable and it should start talking to tesla again.

In fact, in another post I speculated that you could possibly get an ethernet hub and connect your inverter’s ethernet connection to that hub. Then plug the hub into smart switch or a smart outlet that would be programmed to periodically turn on the hub for, say, 20 minutes every few hours, then turn the hub off again. That way the inverters would be connected to tesla through the zigbee inverter most of the time so the tesla app would work, but every few hours when the hub got power they would have an ethernet connection and be able to upload data to solaredge as well to keep that app reasonably up to date.

Great. Thanks Brett. How can I check to see if the connection setting is set to "automatic"? My SE-10k inverter does not have an LCD screen.

 

[BrettS]

Great. Thanks Brett. How can I check to see if the connection setting is set to "automatic"? My SE-10k inverter does not have an LCD screen.

So unfortunately this is a little easier said than done. I just spent a little time playing with one of my inverters to see what the best way to find this info was and here is what I discovered.

If you have a monitoring account you can sign into the mySolarEdge app with that account and in the menu there is an “inverter communication” option there. You can select that option and it will ask you to scan the QR code on the inverter and then push the switch to “P” mode so it can connect directly to the inverter. Once it connects it will tell you how the inverter is currently connecting. Unfortunately this won’t tell you if it’s set to auto, it will just say that it’s currently connecting through zigbee or currently connecting through ethernet. You can, however, indirectly use this to figure out if your inverter is set to auto. If you check it now it should show zigbee. If you then plug in an ethernet cable and then check again it should show ethernet. If it still says zigbee then it’s probably configured for zigbee instead of auto.

If you don’t have a monitoring account yet, then you can download the solaredge SetApp app. When you start the app it will ask for your installer account login information, but there is also a button on the bottom that says “View Only? Start Here”. You can click on that as it doesn’t require an account at all. It will go through the same thing as above where you scan the QR code and then push the switch to “P” and it will connect to the inverter. Once it connects it will also show how the inverter is currently connected. Again, this won’t show whether it’s configured as auto or not, but you could use the same procedure as above to determine if it’s set to auto.

Alternately, I have discovered that there is a bit of a back door into the inverter’s configuration settings. You can use either of the above methods to connect to the inverter. When you go through the scan QR code and push the switch to P thing it will make an adhoc wifi connection to the inverter. Once that is done, leave the solaredge app open, but switch to a web browser on your phone and connect directly to the inverter’s adhoc wifi IP address. In my case that’s 172.16.0.1, and I believe it would be the same for all inverters. This allows you access to see (and modify) most of the inverter’s settings. It will load the inverter’s commissioning screen:

Click on “monitoring communication” and it will load this screen:

And from there it will show the connection type and whether it was auto selected or not. In my case it is showing ethernet and auto selected. If yours is not showing auto selected you can click “change connection type” at the bottom and after you click through the warning you get this screen:

And from there select Auto Select.

Finally, the last way to do this would be to sign up for an installer account on SolarEdge’s web site. Don’t put in your inverter serial number when it asks because your inverter is already registered to tesla. But once you get your installer account you can log in to the SetApp app with that and then go through the same menu options as shown above within the SetApp app.

 

[pdx_m3s]

So unfortunately this is a little easier said than done. I just spent a little time playing with one of my inverters to see what the best way to find this info was and here is what I discovered.

If you have a monitoring account you can sign into the mySolarEdge app with that account and in the menu there is an “inverter communication” option there. You can select that option and it will ask you to scan the QR code on the inverter and then push the switch to “P” mode so it can connect directly to the inverter. Once it connects it will tell you how the inverter is currently connecting. Unfortunately this won’t tell you if it’s set to auto, it will just say that it’s currently connecting through zigbee or currently connecting through ethernet. You can, however, indirectly use this to figure out if your inverter is set to auto. If you check it now it should show zigbee. If you then plug in an ethernet cable and then check again it should show ethernet. If it still says zigbee then it’s probably configured for zigbee instead of auto.

If you don’t have a monitoring account yet, then you can download the solaredge SetApp app. When you start the app it will ask for your installer account login information, but there is also a button on the bottom that says “View Only? Start Here”. You can click on that as it doesn’t require an account at all. It will go through the same thing as above where you scan the QR code and then push the switch to “P” and it will connect to the inverter. Once it connects it will also show how the inverter is currently connected. Again, this won’t show whether it’s configured as auto or not, but you could use the same procedure as above to determine if it’s set to auto.

Alternately, I have discovered that there is a bit of a back door into the inverter’s configuration settings. You can use either of the above methods to connect to the inverter. When you go through the scan QR code and push the switch to P thing it will make an adhoc wifi connection to the inverter. Once that is done, leave the solaredge app open, but switch to a web browser on your phone and connect directly to the inverter’s adhoc wifi IP address. In my case that’s 172.16.0.1, and I believe it would be the same for all inverters. This allows you access to see (and modify) most of the inverter’s settings. It will load the inverter’s commissioning screen:

View attachment 592814

Click on “monitoring communication” and it will load this screen:

View attachment 592815

And from there it will show the connection type and whether it was auto selected or not. In my case it is showing ethernet and auto selected. If yours is not showing auto selected you can click “change connection type” at the bottom and after you click through the warning you get this screen:

View attachment 592816

And from there select Auto Select.

Finally, the last way to do this would be to sign up for an installer account on SolarEdge’s web site. Don’t put in your inverter serial number when it asks because your inverter is already registered to tesla. But once you get your installer account you can log in to the SetApp app with that and then go through the same menu options as shown above within the SetApp app.

Wow this is awesome and super helpful. Thank you! Can’t wait to turn my system on and let the fun begin.