Tesla App and SolarEdge Inverter

[daniel]

Okay. So it works, but the icons don't mean anything. Even the triangle with the exclamation point means nothing?

Maui does get storms. But the direction hurricanes most commonly come from means they hit the Big Island first and get kind of busted apart. Most power outages here are unrelated to weather.

 

[woferry]

I suspect it was just an attempt at a word-free (graphical) way of saying "when there's a weather alert the powerwall will charge", or something like that. I guess being at the bottom of the screen they felt they had some extra space to play with. Between the words under the Storm Watch toggle and the (newer) Learn More link, it seems pretty pointless now. Of course there's a lot more detail if you follow the Learn More link.

 

[daniel]

I suspect it was just an attempt at a word-free (graphical) way of saying "when there's a weather alert the powerwall will charge", or something like that. I guess being at the bottom of the screen they felt they had some extra space to play with. Between the words under the Storm Watch toggle and the (newer) Learn More link, it seems pretty pointless now. Of course there's a lot more detail if you follow the Learn More link.

I didn't see a "Learn More" link, so I checked, and there was an update to the app. I updated, and now have the link.

Thanks.

 

[miimura]

The Power Flow screen will actually say "Storm Watch" when it's active. Like this. I scraped this image from the FB group.

You can see that in this image, the 2 PW system is charging from the grid at approximately 3.3kW each.

 

[daniel]

Thanks for that.

 

[mfan]

I'm a newbie on this board and has a Tesla PV system on order. From reading this thread, it appears the SolarEdge inverters are uploading PV power generation data to a central server that can be accessed on their website. How do the inverters do that? Do they connect thru the PV owners' home wifi? Does that mean Tesla has to install the inverter where there's sufficient wifi signal strength, or does the homeowner has to add an extender if the inverter is too far from the wifi router?

 

[SoCal Dave]

I'm a newbie on this board and has a Tesla PV system on order. From reading this thread, it appears the SolarEdge inverters are uploading PV power generation data to a central server that can be accessed on their website. How do the inverters do that? Do they connect thru the PV owners' home wifi? Does that mean Tesla has to install the inverter where there's sufficient wifi signal strength, or does the homeowner has to add an extender if the inverter is too far from the wifi router?

For a basic solar install without Powerwalls, Tesla will give you a Tesla Gateway to install. It just has a power adapter and an ethernet cable to connect to your home network. I ended up having to move it to my garage as I wasn't getting reliable readings with it being near my home router 50' away.

 

[mfan]

Thanks SoCal Dave! That may be a problem because my wifi router is far from my electrical panel where Tesla plans to install the inverter. The wifi signal is very weak there. I'll have to make a request to locate the inverter in the garage or attic (my router is on the 2nd floor).

 

[daniel]

I believe you can get a device to extend the range of your home wi-fi network. I presume Tesla would not do this for you. You would have to do it yourself or have your ISP do it. Do some research. I know nothing about it except that I think such gadgets exist.

Both my Tesla gateway and my Solar Edge inverter have wi-fi devices that connect to my home wi-fi network, which in my case is close enough to both. The Tesla app and the Solar Edge app connect to their respective services, and both are also accessible via the web browser on my desktop computer. My installer (not Tesla) set everything up for me.

 

[mfan]

Thanks Daniel! I can't imaging I'm the only one with this wifi signal strength problem. If Tesla refuses to install the inverter in the attic or garage, I would think they'll have a different solution to make sure the system is connected to wifi (and charge me for whatever they need to do so). I'll wait and see what they say about my request...

 

[SoCal Dave]

They aren't going to install the inverter in the attic. Unlikely in the garage as well as that is a Rapid Shutdown issue.

A repeater is an inexpensive solution that you can easily do. It also makes wifi work better in your house.

 

[darhall993]

I'm a newbie on this board and has a Tesla PV system on order. From reading this thread, it appears the SolarEdge inverters are uploading PV power generation data to a central server that can be accessed on their website. How do the inverters do that? Do they connect thru the PV owners' home wifi? Does that mean Tesla has to install the inverter where there's sufficient wifi signal strength, or does the homeowner has to add an extender if the inverter is too far from the wifi router?

I have my SolarEdge connected via Ethernet, which was in my case was very easy to do as the Inverter sits about 20 feet from my Equipment room and Electrical panel. Its sounds like you may have some challenges with wi-fi, can you run an ethernet cable or use powerline ethernet adapter?

 

[mfan]

A repeater is an inexpensive solution that you can easily do. It also makes wifi work better in your house.

Yes, I may have to do that or spend more to upgrade to a mesh system... Thanks all!

 

[reddy]

My SolarEdge inverterS came with the Zigbee communications card and antenna. It’s about 100 feet from my house. They include a small base station that plugs into Ethernet at the house, and the Zigbee automatically finds both inverters and connects them to the internet. Very slick system. SolarEdge can access the system and update firmware, and I can see my production on the SolarEdge site.

 

[mfan]

My SolarEdge inverterS came with the Zigbee communications card and antenna. It’s about 100 feet from my house. They include a small base station that plugs into Ethernet at the house, and the Zigbee automatically finds both inverters and connects them to the internet. Very slick system. SolarEdge can access the system and update firmware, and I can see my production on the SolarEdge site.

Oh, that's cool! Did Tesla installed your system? Did they connect and activate your inverters on the SolarEdge site?

 

[K3Man]

I’m not @reddy, but Tesla installed our system the same way- using Zigbee instead of WiFi or hardwired Ethernet. What they didn’t do was offer any instruction on how to connect to the SolarEdge site and to this day (a year later), I haven’t felt a need to.

 

[reddy]

I’m not @reddy, but Tesla installed our system the same way- using Zigbee instead of WiFi or hardwired Ethernet. What they didn’t do was offer any instruction on how to connect to the SolarEdge site and to this day (a year later), I haven’t felt a need to.

The reporting on solar production is , IMO, far superior on the Solar Edge site compared to what I get from Tesla with my Powerwalls.

About 90% of the trend graphs available on the Solar Edge don't exist with the Tesla app, and the ability to drill down into the inverter specs and diagnose individual panels is really useful. I had my installer replace 1 bad panel under warranty in a 30 panel array. I doubt I would have even noticed the problem with my Tesla app. I would have simply thought I had a 3.3 % degradation in panel performance. On the Solar Edge app it stood out like a huge sore.

You can look at a public copy of my SolarEdge installation by clicking HERE.

 

[gregmcd]

Thanks SoCal Dave! That may be a problem because my wifi router is far from my electrical panel where Tesla plans to install the inverter. The wifi signal is very weak there. I'll have to make a request to locate the inverter in the garage or attic (my router is on the 2nd floor).

I recently received PTO for my 48-panel, 2 powerwall system in VA. I had the same question about data flow. What i have observed on my network:

Tesla gateway - little black box, connected via Ethernet to my router

Tesla Energy Gateway - nexus for the powerwalls, grid power, solar inverters (2 in my case), and house breaker box, connected over WiFi (installer needed my WiFi password for it, I have logged into the TEG and see where to change network information if ever necessary).

I see no IP address assigned to my inverters by my router. Either this means they are somehow routing through the TEG (which also has a Private WiFi interface even after installation, I think) or they are connecting over a cellular network. Any body with concrete information?

 

[Dypkny845]

I have a 14.9kw system 42 panels. Just got access to the solar edge app but kind of confused. I have 2 inverters but only shows 1 on the layout (so I'm assuming TESLA only registered 1 inverter with Solaredge and not both). Also, TESLA did not complete my layout on the app they kept it default. Another thing I'm wondering is if I have 42 panels why does it only show 21 on the graph? When I click on the very first panel on the graph it just says "string" any idea what that means and why?

 

[BrettS]

I have a 14.9kw system 42 panels. Just got access to the solar edge app but kind of confused. I have 2 inverters but only shows 1 on the layout (so I'm assuming TESLA only registered 1 inverter with Solaredge and not both).

It would appear that only one of your inverters is associated with your solaredge site. I’m not sure if this is something Solaredge can fix if you call them with your two inverter serial numbers or if it’s something tesla would have to fix.

Also, TESLA did not complete my layout on the app they kept it default.

That is normal. I don’t believe that tesla ever does the physical layout mapping.

Another thing I'm wondering is if I have 42 panels why does it only show 21 on the graph?

Because the other 21 are attached to the other inverter that doesn’t show up on your account

When I click on the very first panel on the graph it just says "string" any idea what that means and why?

That’s not a panel, that’s the totals for the whole string of 21 panels that are attached to that inverter.