What is this antenna sticking out of my electrical panel ?

[squashmeister]

Hi Folks,

New to this forum and Tesla solar. I just had a 14kW system installed last week. I noticed there is now an antenna sticking out of the bottom of my electrical panel. Could you educate me on what this is for ? I presume it is for some sort of energy monitoring, but the installation crew never mentioned it.

 

[zƬesla]

Wi-Fi?

 

[squashmeister]

Wi-Fi?

I already have wifi setup for the Tesla inverters. this is likely some other monitoring device that also needs wifi. Want to understand what purpose that device serves. I have reached out to my Tesla project advisor. Will update this post if I get an answer from them.

 

[zƬesla]

If it's the electric meter, then it could be used by the utility for remote meter reading

 

[jboy210]

My guess is it goes to a monitor that transmits data on energy going to and from the grid. If you open up the box and take a picture I am sure someone can tell its purpose

 

[DesertSilver]

Yeah that should be the Neurio energy monitoring device.

 

[trautmane2]

I'm guessing it is the wi-fi antenna for your neurio that allows it to communicate grid usage data to your Tesla inverter.
Here's a digram:

Tesla Inverter + Neurio

Hello everyone! I tried searching through the forums first but could not find anything that seemed to directly relate to what I was looking for. If this has already been discussed I am very sorry.... Hopefully my first post doesn't get buried, but I was hoping to find out some information...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[squashmeister]

Thank you for the responses. it does seem like its a Neurio device.

 

[SMAlset]

Now we have an antenna installed on our SolarEdge inverter and know a neurio was installed on our system last year. Our antenna is white on that unit (hanging down on left side).

 

[charlesj]

I have a similar antenna attached to the solar CT in a sub panel and when it didn't work well inside the metal box, it was extended by coax and into wall cavity so signal can reach Gateway. Now it works.

So, it is a CT sensor antenna.
Wi-Fi is most likely the two knob looking bump on top of Gateway. one transmit, one receive like a wi-fi 1x1.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

have you seen any strange vehicles hanging around at all hours, think CIA?!?!

 

[charlesj]

have you seen any strange vehicles hanging around at all hours, think CIA?!?!

How did you know, did you ask them?

 

[mjness]

Now we have an antenna installed on our SolarEdge inverter and know a neurio was installed on our system last year. Our antenna is white on that unit (hanging down on left side).

View attachment 656522

That antenna, I believe, is for the little black box Neo Gateway, that transmits the inverter data to SolarEdge or Tesla. We just got a similar PV+PW about a month ago with the same inverter.

 

[wwu123]

I guess it's more flexible for these third-party devices to have Wi-fi, e..g. if you buy your own Neurio kit and set it up to your home wi-fi router. Still, it's funny to see wi-fi being used to just talk between two devices a few feet apart on presumably a fixed, hidden SSID, as I thought that's what Bluetooth, Z-wave and Zigbee were optimized for. I think low power consumption was a big factor in some of those other protocols, and here in the panel there's plenty of access to power. But are they not also furthering the overcrowding the 2.4 GHz spectrum, or maybe they have the antenna power pretty low for just a few feet of range?

For example, why did my Smart meter maker choose to use Zigbee and not Wi-fi to communicate realtime consumption with my consumer Eagle monitoring device, with 20+ feet of range and both ends have direct access to AC power?

 

[jboy210]

have you seen any strange vehicles hanging around at all hours, think CIA?!?!

Hey, my home Wifi ID is "CIAVan22"