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

[Regulator]

Possibly I'm mis-understanding, or because my panels aren't Tesla (Panasonic). Maybe what my SolarEdge app shows me is different?

In my SolarEdge Monitoring phone app, I can click between power and panels. If I go to Panels, I can see my physical layout and certain details of each panel - see photos. This is the 2nd row, 4th panel from left.

 

[BrettS]

Possibly I'm mis-understanding, or because my panels aren't Tesla (Panasonic). Maybe what my SolarEdge app shows me is different?

In my SolarEdge Monitoring phone app, I can click between power and panels. If I go to Panels, I can see my physical layout and certain details of each panel - see photos. This is the 2nd row, 4th panel from left.

No, that’s exactly what we are hoping to see by using the SolarEdge app.

The point of this thread is that even though Tesla commonly uses SolarEdge inverters they don’t normally give the customer access to the SolarEdge app at all. By default with a Tesla solar install you only have access to the Tesla app which doesn’t show any panel level details.

Additionally, because Tesla doesn’t normally provide access to the SolarEdge app, it would appear that Tesla also doesn’t normally create the physical panel map in the SolarEdge system. (At least they didn’t in my case). So while I could request access to the SolarEdge app from Tesla, once I logged into the app I could see my panel level details, but the panels were just shown in a line in random order. It was not possible to visibly identify where in the system a panel was just by looking at the screen.

I believe that most (or even all) non-Tesla solar installers give their customers access to the SolarEdge app and also create the physical panel map for them. Your installer certainly did, at least. What you already have is what we are working to try to get

 

[JDG-T3AWD]

Be careful. When I connected an ethernet cable to the Solar Edge inverter I could not get back the Zigbee configuration so the Tesla app didn't work and therefore they cannot monitor the system. There was a suggestion this voided Tesla's warranty. I called Tesla and they came in and reloaded the PROM to get it going. Now I see the SolarEdge app works without fooling around reconfiguring the inverter. To get the panel layout I called Solar Edge and they arranged it for me last February (I think Tesla gave them permission).

 

[MacInfoSys]

No, that’s exactly what we are hoping to see by using the SolarEdge app.

The point of this thread is that even though Tesla commonly uses SolarEdge inverters they don’t normally give the customer access to the SolarEdge app at all. By default with a Tesla solar install you only have access to the Tesla app which doesn’t show any panel level details.

Additionally, because Tesla doesn’t normally provide access to the SolarEdge app, it would appear that Tesla also doesn’t normally create the physical panel map in the SolarEdge system. (At least they didn’t in my case). So while I could request access to the SolarEdge app from Tesla, once I logged into the app I could see my panel level details, but the panels were just shown in a line in random order. It was not possible to visibly identify where in the system a panel was just by looking at the screen.

I believe that most (or even all) non-Tesla solar installers give their customers access to the SolarEdge app and also create the physical panel map for them. Your installer certainly did, at least. What you already have is what we are working to try to get

this is some great information. I am still in the Permit stages for my Telsa solar installation. I am confused about one item after reading all of this info. If I make the requests for the map and layout info and access to solar edge app access, why do I still need to physically attach an ethernet cable to my inverter when Tesla already has the zigbee bridge installed and is giving internet connectivity to the system in order to show it's panel details within the Tesla app.

 

[BrettS]

this is some great information. I am still in the Permit stages for my Telsa solar installation. I am confused about one item after reading all of this info. If I make the requests for the map and layout info and access to solar edge app access, why do I still need to physically attach an ethernet cable to my inverter when Tesla already has the zigbee bridge installed and is giving internet connectivity to the system in order to show it's panel details within the Tesla app.

Because the Tesla zigbee bridge is a black box that does funky things and no one really knows for sure what it does. Whatever it does it provides the inverter data to Tesla, so the Tesla app can see your solar production in a solar only install. (If you have a power wall install then your solar production data is reported to Tesla by the TEG).

At one point Tesla was apparently forwarding the data that they received from the inverters to solaredge, so you could use the solaredge app to see your production data and panel data, however a few months ago it seems that they simply stopped doing this. People who had been using the solaredge app just stopped seeing current data in the solaredge app and new installs that were done after that point (such as mine) had no data at all that was reported to the solaredge app.

Because the Tesla zigbee gateway no longer allows the inverters to report their data to solaredge we need to connect an Ethernet cable to the inverters instead.

 

[MacInfoSys]

Because the Tesla zigbee bridge is a black box that does funky things and no one really knows for sure what it does. Whatever it does it provides the inverter data to Tesla, so the Tesla app can see your solar production in a solar only install. (If you have a power wall install then your solar production data is reported to Tesla by the TEG).

At one point Tesla was apparently forwarding the data that they received from the inverters to solaredge, so you could use the solaredge app to see your production data and panel data, however a few months ago it seems that they simply stopped doing this. People who had been using the solaredge app just stopped seeing current data in the solaredge app and new installs that were done after that point (such as mine) had no data at all that was reported to the solaredge app.

Because the Tesla zigbee gateway no longer allows the inverters to report their data to solaredge we need to connect an Ethernet cable to the inverters instead.

Ahh. Bummer. So its either one or the other while the connection is either Tesla-Z or Ethernet and it sounds like either a physically connect / disconnect would have to be done or some sort of automated device put in place to cycle the connection from what I am reading from earlier..... I dont have an ethernet cable avail to the location where the inverters are being installed (outside of my house by my electrical panel) so I would really have to take the route of an ethernet wifi bridge as an option but then I would need to somehow cycle it's connectivity in order to allow tesla to have access in addition to solaredge. Or are people jsut bypassing Tesla connectivity all together and just going the solaredge route only since it's details are a lot more involved ?

 

[buckweet1980]

I just had tesla out for a service call, and I asked them if they had the optimizer map.. They gave me a copy of it, but I don't see how this correlates to the optimizer serial numbers..

Does this make sense to any of you?

 

[BrettS]

I just had tesla out for a service call, and I asked them if they had the optimizer map.. They gave me a copy of it, but I don't see how this correlates to the optimizer serial numbers..

Does this make sense to any of you?

I think that’s only half the map. I think that on the other side of that sheet or maybe on a different sheet they would put the stickers from the optimizers with their serial numbers into a bunch of numbered boxes. I’m guessing that the numbers on your map correspond to the numbered box that the optimizer serial number sticker is in. But without that part what you have is pretty useless.

 

[pdx_m3s]

I think that’s only half the map. I think that on the other side of that sheet or maybe on a different sheet they would put the stickers from the optimizers with their serial numbers into a bunch of numbered boxes. I’m guessing that the numbers on your map correspond to the numbered box that the optimizer serial number sticker is in. But without that part what you have is pretty useless.

Yep exactly. There’s a separate page that will have numbered squares with a sticker from each optimizer in the square. The numbered square corresponds to the panel number layout that you have.

 

[buckweet1980]

Ok, so I'm glad I'm not crazy

I just text the guy that sent this to me, hopefully he can get that information to me.

 

[isjka]

Just as an FYI, I had my install yesterday and received the codes and the layout. I was told I could set up a solaredge account for monitoring without any issues but if I choose the installer account, which Tesla told me was ok, I would lose the ability to see usage on the Tesla app itself. It sounds like they are more open to having end users monitor their usage via the solaredge app even though they technically don't support it.

 

[buckweet1980]

The guy got back to me, and there is a matrix that has the QR codes.. Unfortunately what he has access to isn't a very high resolution image of it so I can't make out the serial numbers..

I guess I need to contact customer service to see if they'd share it with me.


The guys here said this is information that the customers can have.

 

[pdx_m3s]

The guy got back to me, and there is a matrix that has the QR codes.. Unfortunately what he has access to isn't a very high resolution image of it so I can't make out the serial numbers..

I guess I need to contact customer service to see if they'd share it with me.


The guys here said this is information that the customers can have.

I'd ask him to send an "original" quality photo via email. Text message down-samples images.

 

[charlesj]

The guy got back to me, and there is a matrix that has the QR codes.. Unfortunately what he has access to isn't a very high resolution image of it so I can't make out the serial numbers..

I guess I need to contact customer service to see if they'd share it with me.


The guys here said this is information that the customers can have.

Can you read it with a magnifier? Or at least some correlation to the map you have? You could always draw your own map with panels and add the numbers.

 

[buckweet1980]

I asked if he could email it, and he said it wasn't in focus from his source either.. So who knows. He's probably just being lazy

 

[BrettS]

I asked if he could email it, and he said it wasn't in focus from his source either.. So who knows. He's probably just being lazy

Well, worst case you can always do what I did and duct tape your phone to a pool pole and stick it under your panels to get the numbers off of the optimizers

 

[pdx_m3s]

I asked if he could email it, and he said it wasn't in focus from his source either.. So who knows. He's probably just being lazy

That document exists somewhere within the mothership. Unearthing it is another story. Good luck.

 

[k-mal_808]

I asked if he could email it, and he said it wasn't in focus from his source either.. So who knows. He's probably just being lazy

If the QR codes are still scannable you can use the SiteMapper app and scan the QR codes. You'd need to print the image the installer sent you and then scan the QR from within the SiteMapper app. That's how I'm doing my layout. Although my image resolution wasn't an issue. Worth a try at least.

 

[buckweet1980]

If the QR codes are still scannable you can use the SiteMapper app and scan the QR codes. You'd need to print the image the installer sent you and then scan the QR from within the SiteMapper app. That's how I'm doing my layout. Although my image resolution wasn't an issue. Worth a try at least.

I wish.. the photo is blurry as heck...

 

[isjka]

That document exists somewhere within the mothership. Unearthing it is another story. Good luck.

After I bought lunch for the crew and provided them with drinks, I made sure they didn't leave without me snapping a picture of the codes and layout. They knew from the beginning of the project I wanted that data. If you didn't pay, could you hold back payment?