Reporting and Monitoring

Spies

ggmf said:

Yeah I'd noticed that, I admire your optimism 

When talking to support I gave them a few of my 'want' ideas, it will be interesting to see if anything is implemented. We'll have to wait and see what Saturday brings.  

You managed to talk to support? You're doing well! They've never answered my emails or answered the phone to me! 

ggmf

Contact with them is a worry if we ever need anything under warranty. I had been communicating with a guy via WhatsApp, when asking a question I got sent the PDF manual for my inverter, that I have already have. I found this:  https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/support the guy that I had been communicating with is not listed here, so no idea if this list is current. Emails sent to the support address, go to China and then forwarded to a tech,  though they are very slow to answer or go unanswered. As I said earlier, it seems all very smoke and mirrors.

paul991

my geo  gave  up up  and was thinking of  replacing it im looking for  something to  monitor output consumption and export import .ive been looking at the shelly devices.i want a easy to set up and use interface has any one  got any ideas

Chris_Type_R

ccbrowning said:

Verdigris said:

Is it in the roof space?

Edit: Installer confirmed it's in the loft. ugh. Guess I'll see if I can get the wifi addon so I can at least get the data without going up there.

I installed a Growatt ShineLAN-X into a new inverter last week (I have a network switch in the loft).

If you have no monitoring, I suppose it's better than that - but I'm underwhelmed myself. 

I suspect the device must have been a return, as it already had a static IP address defined. 

When I tried to create an account I discovered the Installer Code is a mandatory field - there was a tooltip to contact support (with an email address). I fired off an email and never received a response. By specifying my installation was in Hong Kong, I was able to bypass the mandatory field and create an account and login. My earnings now show in Yen - and there doesn't appear to be a way to change this.

I much prefer Tigo monitoring - but you need all the kit to support it.

ggmf

On the reporting website front page, click on the Energy button, then choose the Plant Management tab on the displayed page, on the righthand side of the screen you should have a column named "Operating Tools", there is an edit button (indicated by the pencil icon) where you should be able to select the Currency, location etc.

Chris_Type_R

ggmf said:

On the reporting website front page, click on the Energy button, then choose the Plant Management tab on the displayed page, on the righthand side of the screen you should have a column named "Operating Tools", there is an edit button (indicated by the pencil icon) where you should be able to select the Currency, location etc.

Excellent, thank you - your directions were spot on. 

Waywardmike

Hi All, 

Being somewhat disappointed with the Growatt monitoring software I came across Solar Assistant, so the last few days have been working on getting it up and running.

I spoke to the developer and he activated a trial version for me (1 month), I bought a Pi Zero 2 W and the various cables to get it connected to my Growatt SPA AC inverter.  I had to get it connected via RS232 as the USB port is non-functional for monitoring, which meant removing the Growatt data logger.  I would have liked to of had both options, especially before committing to buying the full license for the software, but it is what it is.

I had to liaise with the Developer as they're still in the early stages of adding support for the SPA series but it has all the functionality I need for now and works great.  They were very responsive and it looks like more functionality will be added in time.

The real time monitoring updates ~4s, which is great and the logged data is every 10s on the web portal so more data than I know what to do with.  I now know that the inverter kicks in within 4s if I put a large load on, which is great to know and it's actually quicker than my smart meter display, which surprised me.

I'm going to leave it running for a couple of weeks to see how things go, but then will probably pay for the full license and not bother with the Growatt logger.

ggmf

So this evening I have bitten the bullet and installed Solar Assistant on a Raspberry Pi replacing the Growatt dongle. I had hoped to use an RS232 splitter so that I could run the dongle and the USB connection to the Pi together, but there is conflict, so it's one or the other.  I'll review the data once Solar Assistant has been running for a day or 2. 

Waywardmike

I've been running Solar Assistant for over a month now and it's far superior to the Growatt offering in terms of reporting and also there's been no server issues, at all, not even once in the month.  I ended up upgrading to the full license.

The only issues I can see so far is the lack of 'control' with SA.  I can't pause the battery or force charge/discharge, although speaking to the developer this is all planned with my inverter (SPA series), so we'll see how that goes.  I suppose I would also like it if it was a bit 'prettier', as the user interface is very utilitarian.

I didn't even consider an RS232 splitter.  Would have been great if that had worked!

ggmf

Good to hear you are happy with SA. I emailed for a trial license, no response. Having run it now for a number of hours, there are several parameters that are not being reported, or there are some weird figures for the SPH. Are you seeing everything you expected for the SPA?

I've email again with a number of questions, no response as yet. Changelog states ‘Basic Support’ for the SPH range, maybe I’m too early in the adoption of SA?