Mine was connected for days before I got control of it.
DOING THE FOLLOWING MAY VOID YOUR WARRANTY
First thing is to connect to http://[cca ip address]/cgi-bin/shell
Username: Tigo
Password: $olar
I had to try several browsers before that worked.
Then you should be able to ssh into it using...
Success!
I finally got permission to open the battery. Lots of screws to remove the "Front" which is just a cover. The exposes the actual structural, sealed cover:
Next, I removed that. The battery terminals measured about 52V, so the battery was definitely not dead.
So then I looked at...
I'm using SA with HA via MQTT.
I've implemented several features.
Since my inverter is offline, I set up an automation in HA to be my alerting system for grid down (and up). I get notifications on the HA app on my phone.
I check for power usage during "Peak" TOU hours. Generally, I should...
Your gatekeeping is cute.
I have 15+ years in the robotics industry designing all sorts of complex electro-mechanical systems. I have a Masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from CMU. I understand how all these systems work. I've rewired my house, I've worked on 200+VDC...
Thanks to everyone who helped!
I did a test by turning off the service disconnect at night. The lights had the barest flicker, but nothing in the house noticed or turned off. After a few minutes, I turned the service disconnect back on, and shortly afterwards, the 15k connected back to the...
Its not practical or cost-effective for me to build my own.
First, it certainly wouldn't pass inspection. Since I'm grid tied with a hard-ass AHJ, that's a non-starter.
But even if it wasn't, the amount of time and energy I would have to spend to get that right, wouldn't be worth the cost. I...
If the LF guys want to sell more units, they need to make it as simple as Sol-Ark/EG4.
With the HF stuff, I buy one thing and it gives me (for better or worse):
A "200A" ATS (the quotes are a separate topic)
19.5k on 3 MPPTs
275A 48V Battery
120A Output
I tried looking at the LF guys. I...
I just had a Tigo system installed last week. It is on my list of things to do to examine this RS485 stream, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. My plan was just to use an RS485<->USB adapter and log some of the data (should show up as a serial port). There are a few SW tools around that...
I'm not sure if I can post the link here, but this discussion over on powerforum.co.za has a lot of discussion on doing this (for Deye inverters, but hypothetically the RS485 is the same).
Either you have to pipe the RS485 directly into whatever you are running HA on, or use an ESPHome. I'm...
My installer said his distributor could get them for my project this spring. So I told him to risk buy them immediately. That caused the availability to magically disappear.
These appear to be vaporware despite the fact that they should just be a rebadged OEM part. My guess is that they are...
I successfully followed the instructions on the phtovoltaikforum to gain access to the Tigo and its underlying file system. This lets you enable access to lots of extra data:
Next, I need to figure out what to do with it...
There are some examples on the forum to push it to InfluxDB, but I...
I was having this problem in winter where I never hit 100%. Some people just manually do it every so often. You really don't lose much (just the inefficiency of the double conversion).
Recently, I switch to my power company's Time Of Use billing option. Now, electricity is 1/2 price from...
Yeah, we should potentially rename that thread since the answer was "No, we haven't figured out how to get the data from the TAP, but you CAN get it from the CCA" 😂
Awesome thank you.
I'm an electrical engineer who has worked in prototype robotics for over 15 years, so I'm plenty comfortable opening it and looking for issues with connectors. I just need EG4 to ok it first so I'm not blamed for the damage. I reached out to CurrentConnected last night (they...
Not sure who you are referring to.
If me, I'm not suggesting they have to go in the same enclosure. I'm just saying if they want to sell more parts and compete with the AIO guys, they need to offer a configurator that outputs a shopping list.
I'll have to check mine when I get home. I'm sure that's the command I ran, but I can poke around a bit. I can also see if I can pull some version info.
That was a suggestion from the German forum to ideally prevent unwanted firmware updates... but not sure if it actually will do that.
I...
Any SOC measurement will be off if you never hit 100% or a true idle. A shunt may be more accurate, but fundamentally anything that is just coulomb counting will get off eventually.
Yeah, I ended up doing it the way I suggested at first as I highly doubted the capacitors were on the outside of the breakers.
Everything off.
Connections made.
Breakers on.
Battery "turned on" (button)
Power up Sol-Ark
This worked, no damage, no trips.
Thanks!
I saw similar code on the German forum. I tried to figure out what they were trimming and why they were padding the end with a bunch of zeros and gave up when it seemed like I couldn't pass the data directly into InfluxDB that was running inside HA.
I did figure out the attributes...
Thank you very much for the link.
I think it is very interesting that their examples all references panel differences rather than orientation or shading differences (which would be one of the main points of using optimizers in the first place), but of course shading or orientation can cause the...
No, I started using Solar Assistant, and it works really well, so I haven't bothered to bypass it yet. The other investigation I haven't done is just to snoop on the serial comms.
System has been up and running for less than a month, so I'm still dialing it in 😉
The 35% was based on a conservative estimate of running the house load through the night, and it almost isn't enough. It definitely won't be if the AC has to run much into the evening. Clearly I need more...
I'm getting a 15k installed soon and will be following up with batteries.
I currently have a 120V generator that I have wired to supply both legs of the house (ie: 240V devices see 0V, everything else sees 120V -- don't do this if you don't know what you're doing and if you have any shared...
Thanks for mentioning the doc (https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/App-Note-Time-of-Use-Application-Guide-1.pdf).
Sell: "Allow the inverter to discharge the battery and push battery power back to the Grid breaker or the grid at the rate of the Power(W) setting until Batt setting...
Oh, I thought only RS232 allowed write access.
In that case, its just slightly more complicated from a wiring standpoint since I need to break out the CAN connection.
I guess the only other thing I liked about the RS232 was that so long as SA worked, I didn't have to worry about big brother...
[Got buried on the General Discussion page but I wasn't sure if it was a "Battery" or "Inverter" question. I'll try here]
Hi Everyone,
I will be self-adding two PowerPro batteries to my new-ish Sol-Ark 15k system that currently has no batteries. I have enough professional experience with HV...
To be clear, the only reason I "expect" to be compensated at retail rates is because it is PA law.
But that aside, I think its a bit odd that you think its "unfair" to think that the power flowing out of my house and into my neighbor's house should be worth the same as the power that flows...
Hardware Platform: Tigo CCA2
Firmware Version: 3.7.4-ct
Mgate Version G8.59\rJul 6 2020\r16:51:51\rGW-H158.4.3S0.12\r
I have to go to https://[cca ip address]/cgi-bin/shell if the unit has rebooted to re-enable ssh access.
You're right. I used "which". It was in /usr/sbin
You actually want...
Hi Everyone,
I will be self-adding two PowerPro batteries to my new-ish Sol-Ark 15k system that currently has no batteries. I have enough professional experience with HV DC batteries (200V+) to know it is important to get the order of operations right.
Before connecting anything, I will set...
Thanks for that clarification. I just wish I knew what the threshold was.
Also with TOU rates, it is possible for me to generate net 0 kWh, but still have a sizeable credit.
Hello Everyone,
I have a couple TOU questions as they pertain to energy storage and solar and could make a big difference in my ROI.
My utility (Penn Power) apparently has opt-in TOU rates:
https://www.firstenergycorp.com/help/pa-time-of-use-pricing.html
Super Off Peak: 0.5331x (11PM - 6AM...
Great. It would take 3 of them to match the same PV input and battery as the big AIO.
But its not clear how putting those between my 200A disconnect and my 200A panel works. In the manual, they just show them somehow connected to "grid" and "load". Can I use a combiner box with fusing? Do...
Apologies if I missed it, but I don't see in the product description what the V2 unit comes with in terms of DC output cables. I see the Degson connectors on the unit, but presumably it comes with cables too?
oof. That was both easier and harder than I expected.
I just installed InfluxDB into HA. This makes it easy to pass data from HA to InfluxDB, but makes it harder to get data directly into the InfluxDB instance.
With the help of ChatGPT, I created a bash script to parse /mnt/ffs/data/daqs and...
?♂️
Clearly the electricity that enters my home is worth the retail rate. So the electricity that exists my home is also worth that. I suppose they are missing out on the profit they would get due to the difference between wholesale and retail?
I thought the whole point of TOU was that they...
Well, I messed up and didn't sufficiently isolate my CCA from the internet and the firmware got updated to 3.7.8. My IPTables update still works, but my scripts aren't running to push to HA.
No one has posted the updated ssh password yet, so I'm stuck there for now.
Circling back around to...
Yes, I was worried about this, but the site seems to indicate that you can use TOU and Net Metering together:
This further expanded on in the FAQ (that for some reason requires you to log in so I will screen shot it):
I have not connected it to my other PowerPros yet. I was turning it on to see the SoC and charge it with the Chargeverter if necessary to match the SoC of the other batteries.
The CV is definitely putting out voltage.
Here is the voltage measured at the end of the charger cables:
I then...
I've briefly looked into SRECs. These seem to be a different category to Net Metering.
My understanding is that these are more like credits from the state to encourage renewable energy generation. PA has super low rates for SRECs, so I'm not expecting to get much for my SRECs.
Net metering...
Sorry, just a bit bitter following a project originally announced in 2023(?) still not out, especially considering that they announced release dates, and then kept moving them.
I'm all for only releasing a product when it is ready. But continuously shifting release dates sucks.
I'm sure they...
I currently debating batteries to pair with my upcoming Sol-Ark 15k. As much as I like the Pytes stuff, I'm struggling with the fact that the PowerPro seems to be almost double the energy density (volume, not weight) of the various Pytes enclosures.
According this article, the "Sol-Ark" optimizers are branded versions of the enteligent units: https://solarmagazine.com/2023/09/sol-ark-selects-enteligent-rsd-with-optimization-for-0900-80v/
And no, those don't appear to be available for sale, either because they need to be customized for the...
Really?
In fact, they seem to have actually disappeared from Sol-Ark's website.
This link:
Not longer appears on the "Products" page (but can be found on archive.org)
And the URL of the "Learn More" link (https://www.sol-ark.com/optimizers/) just redirects to the main product page.
I think my biggest concern is this piece of text in the agreement with Penn Power:
So... if I push too much power back to the grid (and importantly, they won't tell me what "too much" is), then they can shut off my power.
In PA (at least in my area), there is a separate charge for distribution vs generation. So if my total rate is $0.13/kWh, $0.09 of that could be generation, the rest is distribution. So the "retail" rate that they power company has to pay out at the end of the year is only generation, not...
Oh, I don't speak any German, I use the translation built into Chrome.
How to do it largely depends on what FW version you are running. The old methods of access included getting ssh access to the device, but have been blocked by forced FW updates. I incompletely blocked my device from...
The goal would be not charge the batteries from PV during Peak times. The idea being that it is better to charge the batteries during "Super-Off-Peak" (I don't name these things), and every joule generated by PV during all other times should be sold back rather than put into the batteries.
The...
Hi @Will Prowse
How much space do you have between the batteries? Setting aside UL, the manual says:
It is highly recommended to install the battery with at least 12-inch clearance on each side of the battery (back and front sides excluded) to easily access the side panel.
But it looks like...
As much as I appreciate you resurrecting a nearly 4 week old thread to lecture me on business margins, its all besides the point.
PA law gives the rules for how the power companies have to compensate for net metering, whether you or I think they are fair or not.
My question on this thread was...
I just muscled a 350lb (edited to add) Outdoor PowerPro into my basement. Got it mounted, wires routed, then pushed the power button to see the SOC and compare to my other batteries.
Nothing. Screen doesn't turn on, no SOC lights, nothing. Flipped the breaker, no voltage.
What do I do? I...
I've read dozens of threads on this, and am still confused.
I've had my system running for about 9 months and based on all that data am ready to switch of to our utility's TOU billing (opt-in).
I've got the 15k sitting between my meter and my main panel, batteries hooked to the 15k running...
Ok, but since they don't actually list the version numbers on their firmware downloads, how do I get that firmware?
I just downloaded the firmware zip from EG4's website and it is titled "PowerPro Heater logic change.hex" and it appears to be dated 2024-02-27.
Ah. They have a completely...
I guess I could probably run the influxdb on the same Pi 4B as I am running HA? Otherwise, I have a Windows box that mostly just runs Plex.
I have data from Solar Assistant piped into the HA Energy dashboard. (Someday I'll probably replace SA with direct monitoring of Sol-Ark using RS485).
I...
Thanks, understood. I knew the current flowing between them would be a product of the voltage difference and the internal resistance, I just don't have a good number for the internal resistance, especially as one of them starts taking charging current from the other.
The batteries have a...
This still seems to be missing some details.
I'm not super familiar with this chip, but from my brief reading, this is my understanding:
The CH340 is a USB to UART (and RS232?) series of chips.
It seems like in order to use the CH340 with RS232 levels, you still need to use an RS232 driver like...
I currently have two EG4 PowerPro batteries (each connected to one input on the inverter). I'm going to be adding two more (one paralleled to each one). Given how flat the voltage curve is for LFP, approximately how close in SOC do they need to be before I make the connection? Anyone have...
Still waiting on EG4.
I was asked to provide a video showing the screen not functioning and 0V on the bus bars with the breaker on and off.
Almost a week later, still waiting for next steps from them.
I'm doing this now in Western PA. Charge batteries during Super Off Peak (50% of cost), then use them through the day. Half price bill... sort of. I get billed for consumption and distribution separately. The TOU only affects consumption, so its more like 33% reduction, not 50%.
However...
Huh. Very interesting.
He presents optimizers as simply smart bypasses.
But I think most are actually MPPT trackers -- ie: DC-DC converters that are trying to maximize power output of the panel.
Hypothetically, although all the panels in the string need to have the same input and output...
I would definitely be interested.... if I could regain ssh access. I messed up my isolation on my old router and got bumped to 3.7.9.
Also, it seems like if the device doesn't push to the cloud every so often, it fills up some sort of internal storage and stops reporting new data. Have you...
Thanks, that's the conclusion I have come to. I was hoping for a way to sell excess solar (as in excess above load) before charging the batteries, but that doesn't seem to be an option.
What I might do is create a time slot right at the end of peak where I do dump the batteries to the grid...
Is there any concern that the wires on the chargeverter are not rated for the current that the batteries can put out? I was figuring I'd have to put a fuse in between the wires coming from the PowerPro and the wires coming from the chargeverter.
The EG4 Powerpro batteries appear to have feet on the bottom:
...but it looks like it is meant to be hung on the wall.
Has anyone ever just rested it on these feet and then strapped it across the front to prevent tipping? Seems much easier on my back than lifting it into a bracket (never mind...
I looked for this answer and was surprised I couldn't find it.
I have a Sol-Ark 15k between my meter and main panel. I have 28kWh of batteries connected to it.
I haven't yet switched to TOU billing, so I just have it configured to try and zero out grid use, and charge the batteries with any...
Thanks @robby
I guess I'm surprised that the capacitors are on the "battery" side of the Sol-Ark battery breaker (and I definitely want those connected to the battery before I turn the battery one so that it soft-starts into them... right?)
Yeah, that was my concern. It isn't clear what threshold they use to determine "excessive" generation.
That said, it seems pretty clear that the PA law specifies that excess generation each month is credited to the next month, and then at the end of the year, the utility must compensate...
Does not appear to be a reset button.
The output is 0V. I hooked it to a Chargeverter, but no current (no voltage).
This one referenced a BMS reset button. Don't know where that is. Not referenced in the manual. I've looked around, but don't see it (and this example was the Indoor...
Thanks! I can try that tomorrow when the sun is out (currently PV is less than load already today).
To be clear, I don't want the batteries to drain to the grid for #3. If I check "Gen Charge"/"Sell", will it only sell the PV, or will it sell the batteries?