diy solar

diy solar

An Enphase Ensemble Installation

Under the new scheme, if you go to https://envoy.local/home you get an error. If you click away the error and click the "login" circled below a new screen pops up and you can enter your credentials.
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Then the browser gets a token and the commands will work normally for that session. Unfortuately, it's getting that token from https://entrez.enphaseenergy.com/ so this isn't going to work when the network is down (which of course is when you most need local access).
Not well thought out... I'll look around to see if anyone has presented any work-arounds.

Update: Someone open a GitHub bug on it: https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/51766
 
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The Encharges & Enpower were updated too, wonder if the Enpower is generator ready now? Here's my current version information:

Envoy: D7.0.68 (556bac) Software Build Date 01 Dec, 2021 2:58 AM, release_ver: 01.00.1822, release_stage: 700-GA
Enpower: 1.5.3637_rel/21.19 Updated 27/12/2021 9:51 PM
Encharge: 1.2.4384_rel/21.19 Updated 27/12/2021 9:56 PM
Microinverters:
  • 520-00082-r01-v04.27.04 - Thu Jan 21, 2021 04:38 PM EST
  • 520-00095-r01-v04.28.07 - Tue Sep 14, 2021 09:45 AM EDT
The security change causing the grief was to the Envoy. I snooped around in it this morning but didn't see a switch to revert security.
It's odd that the replacement inverters were updated, but not the originals. Guess I should ask about that.
 
Also since I have completed the enphase online training for generator support and storage, my enlighten app status page changed to this..
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Also since I have completed the enphase online training for generator support and storage, my enlighten app status page changed to this..
I didn't know they had that training up! Okay, guess I have my new year's resolution!
 
Previously power was $0.10 to $0.13/kWh depending on use (then over time it increased to ~$0.11 to $0.14). Now everything is split out, this is probably fair with net-metering as the lines do need to be maintained (although net-metering is always under attack). There's a 0.033 energy charge for consumption over 1MWh/m, an equity charge of .011197/kWh and the last element is the current FPL wholesale rate (about $0.06 to $0.07). So, despite the cost of fuel soaring and power prices being higher than ever with a 40% increase, the "cost" of power (assuming I did this right) actually went down to around 7 to 10 cents per kWh (despite everyone's bills going up with other charges).

Getting all the data month by month for the fpl rate was tedious, and the results boiled down to a $1400 savings for the year which is below expectations but not egregiously so.

Update: The governor vetoed the HB-741 bill, so we won't lose net metering for the foreseeable future.
 
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I was reviewing the data and noticed July was abnormally high for consumption, so looked at the data and found July 13th:

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So, something went severely whacko here. Fortunately, the RF data had the true meter readings for the day (a perfectly normal day). I corrected the yearly calculation and am a lot happier with the numbers. I'll open a ticket on it, see what they have to say.
 
That's just one day?

The 25 kWh produced looks right, I make about that each day in July with my 16 panels. I was curious so I looked at that day for my system. On the 13th, we did have clouds for much of the day, so my production was down to 17.2 kWh. But July 12th made 26.4 kWh, and the previous year was 28.3 kWh. I think my panels were a bit dirty from a wild fire this year. With all the recent rain, my panels are so clean now, they look like new.

The freaky part about your numbers is the battery charge. That would be fully charging my battery bank nearly 20 times. But then it shows no discharge?

Then importing 734.4 and exporting 702.2 WOW, that is almost my monthly export limit in a single day. That has got to be a data reporting error. Can you view your hourly usage from your utility? If it shows that amount of import/export something is seriously wrong.
 
That's just one day?
Yup... wasn't even a Friday the 13th. Doubt it's a cosmic ray hitting the register, if it was it'd have to be closer to 512 or 1024 (usually the battery charged is less than 1).

That has got to be a data reporting error. Can you view your hourly usage from your utility? If it shows that amount of import/export something is seriously wrong.
It's definitely wrong, as I mentioned above I have the utility meter data via my RF link to my Itron meter. For that day I imported 53.7 kWh and exported 18.
 
...something went severely whacko here [bad readings on the import/export/charge]. ... I'll open a ticket on it, see what they have to say.
They replied:
Yes, there is a spike since the meter configuration was changed. Since this cannot be deleted, it would be ideal to ignore that.
No idea what they're talking about. Possibly there was a software update pushed I and missed it? I didn't see anything relevant in my notes around that time period for anything happening.
 
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There's a mention that the local API issue (i.e., need the internet to get a security token to access local devices, so local access is toast if the internet is down) will have a work-around by the end of January by putting the Envoy in the AP mode.

I wonder if it isn't time to put in an alternative monitoring system?

Ran across a Shelby dual CT wifi port monitor, video here. $62 on Amazon. Seems great if you only need to monitor a couple of lines.

Iotawatt seems to have gone under, their web site is still active, but it's no longer available on Amazon. The Emporia Vue doesn't have local access, so it won't work. The Sense isn't really setup for something like this. The Shelby should work, but I need five CTs (L1/2 into the house, L1 from the panels, L1 from the generator, and L1 from the batteries) so that gets expensive. It would be nice to measure the SoC of the batteries, but guestimating through the current is probably the best I can do.

While I'd prefer to buy COTS, I could get an ESP-WROOM-32 (WiFi MCU with analog pins) and split core current transformers for just over $100 which is a lot cheaper than 3 Shelby's. Of course, the Shelby's are very small...so there might be advantages to putting one in the Envoy and two in the Enpower (guess I should start using the new names... the IQ system Controller).

I'll probably wait until next month, already busy with other projects and who knows, perhaps Enphase will realize that devices already encrypted, using a non-routable IPs, that are behind a firewall are secure enough and give us the option to turn it off.
 
Could you hack an Enphase system? Would you choose ensemble and Encharge again? A diy system would be much cheaper but would it be as good…?
 
Could you hack an Enphase system? Would you choose ensemble and Encharge again? A diy system would be much cheaper but would it be as good…?
I know I saved a bit of money using my Schneider XW-Pro instead of going with Enphase Ensemble, but without some more external help, it is not a seamless system. I can manually make it do whatever I want, but still needs something to automate it. The funny part is, it actually works great when the grid is down. All of my control issues are when the grid is up. They did wonders with the software to handle the AC coupling with the loss of the grid, but when it has to grid sync, it goes dumb. It really needs about 4 external C.T.s to monitor how much the AC coupled PV is making, and how much is going to or coming from the grid. Adding a Watt Node gives it the grid power reading, but the built in controls to maximize self consumption are still geared to using their CD charge controllers. There is no reason this can't be done properly in the Schneider software, but they are actively choosing not to deal with it.

If you look at my Show and Tell thread, and 400bird's thread and posts, he is controlling an XW-Pro with a Raspberry Pi with some excellent results. I am trying to do something similar with a small PLC controller, but my development has stalled a bit. I am now installing Python on a PC to learn it and may follow 400bird with the Pi control.

The All Enphase Ensemble system still has some big advantages though. The main one is having all of the gear integrated under a single UI. We are now using 3 separate systems. The Python scripts can monitor everything and sort of bring it all under one page, but I know my coding will never be as slick as the Enphase setup.

If you want a system that just works... Then the Ensemble, or a Tesla Powewall2 seem like the easy path. Of course, those do seem to have their issues as well, but you don't have to fix it yourself. Their engineers will deal with programming issues. Schneider has basically refused to help me any more. At least Enphase has always been there. Any time I have any issue at all, they respond right away. I could not be happier than I am with my Enphase solar gear. It did lock out while tying to switch o backup mode, but I got them on the phone, and they updated and reset the gear remotely and got it working in backup AC coupled mode on the Schneider inverter when a good chunk of my town was without power. And I will bet there are a hundred+ Enphase solar installs within 10 miles of me. I will bet they had a lot of calls.
 
Could you hack an Enphase system?
I can get a token and get the data locally when the grid is up, but when the internet is down that obviously won't work. It's possible to hack the firmware, but then you'd have to do it for every update (unless you lock into a rev) which seems like way too much work.

I'm not 100% sure how the token server is working from the Envoy's point of view, should probably look into that. If the Envoy is also going to the token server then it should be possible to write an intercept that occurs locally. Suppose I should check github, some CIA analyst/hacker might have Enphase and already done it ; -)
Update: It uses a Java Web Token, so that won't work.

Would you choose ensemble and Encharge again?
Oh sure, absolutely! They never advertised or said the API I was using was supported, their official solution is Enlighten. The per panel diagnostics and system simplicity/redundancy/shade-isolation are well worth it. There have been hickups along the way, but as @GXMnow says their live tech support is great (stay away from the email support) and they are fairly quick to fix problems once they're convinced they actually are problems.

When I got it, the IQ Battery (previously known as Encharge) was about the same price as Tesla's powerwall per watt...but it was LiFePO4, so a pretty good deal really at the time. Enphase seems expensive when you look at it the base costs, but it's quality gear.

...a DIY system...
You can also DIY Enphase.
 
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Just learned there's a "Manual Black Start" of the IQ battery. If the battery gets disabled due to low SoC, flipping the DC off/on triggers a startup cycle on it.
 
With the threat of added costs for solar producers from the utilities i bet we will see increased desire to go completely off grid. Two way EV chargers may be a large part of the solution. Although an EV is an energy hog and may require a grid connection for some. I wish enphase would make the generator input technology agnostic. In fact it may be that a large battery can be connected here…
I know ive had similar thoughts on here before. Guess it’s time to start reading.
Q: How would you handle additional charges from the Utility just to own grid-tied solar…even with zero export?
 
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