EG4 Electronics: Empowering Energy Independence and Protecting Your Privacy

[sunsurfer]

FWIW, EG4 previously released a joint statement with their manufacturer (don't recall the name off the top of my head but it was in this forum) in response to the Deye/Solark debacle that they committed to never remotely disable a customer's inverter.

A promise from an unknown "China" company selling rebranded budget electronics?
Good enough for me....lol

 

[wpns]

A promise from an unknown "China" company selling rebranded budget electronics?
Good enough for me....lol

EG4 is a texas company selling rebranded Luxpower inverters.

 

[timselectric]

Where do I sign up for this "spa" treatment?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

EG4 is a texas company selling rebranded Luxpower inverters.

since someone took offense to my reply to this post and had it deleted even though we have spoken about solar powered sex toys in this thread, I will reword it to avoid any political connotations which was the excuse that was used.

Prove that James is not paid off like a figure in the mainstream news in coke and women of loose morals

this was a joke as indicated by the two smiley faces posted along with the original post some of you need to get a life and stop wearing your chosen party on your sleeve. if this post offends you then my advice is to grow up none of you are children supposedly so stop acting like a child.

this goes to all parties involved get over yourselves.

 

[sunsurfer]

EG4 is a texas company selling rebranded Luxpower inverters.

Yes, but we have a promise from the "China" company. Its a big deal and they will make the same promise if its sold in AZ or any other state. Maybe not CA though do to some issues with lead or something.

 

[Quattrohead]

Does anyone that actually owns one of these units think that this declaration is a bad idea or is it only the doubters ?

 

[wpns]

Does anyone that actually owns one of these units think that this declaration is a bad idea or is it only the doubters ?

I've got the EG4 ESS, and it's a good positive sign, though the actual response should depend on your tolerance for risk. I set the 'don't muck with my settings' configuration bit because it was easy, but I don't believe it gives me absolute immunity from unanticipated settings. Someday I'll get the system stable enough to disconnect the Internet, though figuring out the kill switch, implementing it, documenting it so I (or my heirs) can turn it on and off at will is a non-trivial task, and also fraught with danger.

 

[timselectric]

Does anyone that actually owns one of these units think that this declaration is a bad idea or is it only the doubters ?

It's never a bad thing. It's up to the individual to decide if the statement has any merit.

 

[rhino]

Does anyone that actually owns one of these units think that this declaration is a bad idea or is it only the doubters ?

I have an EG4 18kPV as part of my system (the other being Victron) and I have never created an account on the EG4 remote monitoring site. It still isn't clear to me from what was stated if this is only on the website where this is configured or locally on the screen directly on the front of the EG4 18kPV. Can you confirm if this is only a setting on the website @EG4TechSolutionsTeam ?

 

[seneysolar]

It's never a bad thing. It's up to the individual to decide if the statement has any merit.

Exactly, this is an issue of trust. If you dont trust the people who build your equipment you have a problem.

Getting a product from China essentially washes it from all liability. You will never be able to hold the oem responsible for anything. It doesn't matter if it burns your house down or they decide to hack it. You have no recourse.

Your only hope is they wish to continue to do business and they dont risk messing that up.

 

[timselectric]

Exactly, this is an issue of trust. If you dont trust the people who build your equipment you have a problem.

I don't trust anyone. It's not a problem, it's just a fact of life in these times.

 

[EG4TechSolutionsTeam]

I have an EG4 18kPV as part of my system (the other being Victron) and I have never created an account on the EG4 remote monitoring site. It still isn't clear to me from what was stated if this is only on the website where this is configured or locally on the screen directly on the front of the EG4 18kPV. Can you confirm if this is only a setting on the website @EG4TechSolutionsTeam ?

This would be on the website under the user account.

 

[peufeu]

It's a nice initiative by EG4 and I like it.

Solis has a similar checkbox to give permission to tech support to mess with the inverter and update firmware.

It's a nice extra layer of safety against human error and bugs, but it is not security: the manufacturer's software, running on their servers, can decide to honor the setting of the checkbox... or not... and there's nothing you the user can do about it.

But does it matter? IMO, not really. If anything has remote access for maintenance, then it's simply not possible to ensure the manufacturer is unable to brick it. It's not even possible to know if the manufacturer has put in a kill switch or not. I mean, unless everything is open source, but that's not gonna happen. The only way I can think of would be to put it in contract, but this would be unenforceable anyway as you'd have to prove the manufacturer bricked it. In Deye's case it's easy because they were dumb enough to display a big red screen saying "hey look we did it lmao", but they may as well have simply flipped a random bit in the flash and caused the software to crash. Hey sorry that's corruption from bad flash, bye. So it would have to be part of the warranty, in order to cover all cases, but then the non-bricking guarantee would expire with the warranty too.

So if it's not possible to have remote maintenance protected from the manufacturer bricking it on purpose... it's no use asking them to implement it!

So... meh... I'm just not using the dongle

 

[rhino]

It's a nice extra layer of safety against human error and bugs, but it is not security: the manufacturer's software, running on their servers, can decide to honor the setting of the checkbox... or not... and there's nothing you the user can do about it.

That is why Victron's remote access is configured on the device side (along with several other security features) if you decide to connect it to the internet. Not sure why this can't be done with the EG4 as well with a firmware update. That would at least give the appearance of implementing the more secure solution.

 

[EG4TechSolutionsTeam]

Thanks for providing this option... the next important one... securing Bluetooth. Currently anyone in range can connect to BT without dongle PIN and change parameters that can overload / cause fire or at minimum disable the device (eg: if you have security cameras powered by system....). very dangerous. You could physical secure the system by requiring a pairing process with the Wifi dongle by pressing the button. (in the context of EG4 6000XP off-grid inverter).

What firmware version is the Wi-Fi dongle? This can be found under the configuration tab.

 

[kevinforestdude]

What firmware version is the Wi-Fi dongle? This can be found under the configuration tab.

View attachment 262308

I had 2.0.6, but since upgraded to 2.0.7. E-WIFI dongle, brand new inverter. I made an account and all that to give it a fair shake.

its actually having the green blinking light of doom, not connecting to the web portal regardless using home wifi / hostspot from my phone. Not sure why.

That is fine by me. I can connect to the access point hosted by the dongle, changed dongle params (123123 to unlock then set AP password/encryption), now the wifi is secure at least. I'll use open-source software to interact with port 8000. No need for web portal.

As long as walking around the property, I can use the official app "local connect" to check on things / change parameters... then connect remotely via VPN to raspberry pi / server on-site, which can use port 8000 to query SoC/Solar Charge Rate/etc. That's what most people would want for a secure system. I am grateful the official app offers "local connect" without an account. EG4 / LuxPower can go bankrupt / stop supporting this device at any time, and my investment will last forever.

 

[Treeroy]

At EG4 Electronics, we're committed to giving you complete control over your energy future.

I love this line to start with. It helps me get right to my request . Can we PLEASE get a "User Defined" Battery setting so the inverter wouldn't freak out if you try to set the max charge voltage of anything below 50v?

I'm running a custom Li-ion pack and the max voltage I have set on the bms is 49.5 (12s). The inverter will charge to around 90%, then start throwing w28 codes even on the slightest "spike" (even 400 watts). It acts just fine up until then.

I could be completely wrong, but I feel like there's some conflict where solar is limited because the battery is getting close to full. So, it tries to power the home with the available solar. However, with solar limited it can't always get what it needs and throws the w28 code. I could be very wrong.

I know i know, my voltage range is low for what it wants as a max. But I can charge with a Victron controller and the inverter behaves just fine. Its ONLY when its charging and ONLY when its 90% or more. I have use Luxpower and CAN, same story. I have tried lead acid mode but again, the lowest setting is 50v for full. The inverter is advertised as having a voltage range i'm very much right in. A user defined battery setting would correct this. Heck, just a firmware update where the max charge voltage for LA could be set to 49 would be nice. Or just something that lets the inverter be ok with seeing something under 50v as 100%

I feel like a fully user defined battery should have parameters anywhere from the 38.4-60v that the unit is advertised to operate in. Setting charge parameters would be nice too for Lithium. I know we rely on the BMS to tell the inverter what to do. But having the inverter also have a control for example setting the inverter to only charge to 80%. This would give an extra layer of protection to the batteries instead of relying on just the bms.

 

[Farm Boy]

Thanks EG4/SS I love my 18kpv.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

redundent

 

[Daniel Beardsley]

> However, with solar limited it can't always get what it needs and throws the w28 code. I could be very wrong.

For what it’s worth, I’m seeing the same behavior but I know there’s enough solar. I’ll be using 3kw of solar to charge the batteries and it’ll trigger a w28 even when the load only goes from 300w to 600w. It happens more often when the batteries are near full, but I also have had it happen in the middle of the charge cycle.

I have several better descriptions of this in the EG4 support forums.

 

[Farm Boy]

Having a convenience app sure isn't worth any major take over, so I have disconnected for now being it's working just fine.

 

[Farm Boy]

I disconnected mine for a while till I started to miss the phone app which is very nice to check sense system is not in such an easy place to get to.
I went into settings and disabled unit from unauthorized changes per instructions, it was easy to do. I'm not going to worry, life go's on.

 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

I see a number of items in this whole thread that are disconcerting:

- have to open an online account, login, and then set the setting to "reject remote support", yet, all your data is still being sent
- agreed with it should be set locally somehow. no wifi/dongle needed before, during, after setup (no online provisioning of any kind)

I've had to handle this in research (who requires this stuff, and who doesn't), and purchasing (if it requires online activity to install or run, don't buy it).

But, for those who like sharing all their data to the cloud (to get something back in an app), losing privacy and/or introducing more error chances, letting remote folks in or keeping them out, perhaps it's a good thing ...

IMHO, just give me a local computer program, access to the comm channel & protocols, and no need to ever go online ... and the ability to do f/w, settings changes or backup, etc. Otherwise, something is being harvested. It will never be good for security ...

 

[EPicTony]

Anyone using Solar Assistant can ditch the wifi dongle and use a rs485 to usb converter ($15) for comms to the inverter. There is a separate thread on this topic. No wi-fi needed and you have access to everything you need over a secure rs485 hardwired connection. I'm doing it and it works great !
Cheers !

 

[Bill_A (aka Scat)]

The end-user must set the remote tech support option to "Accept" whenever they want a technician to make remote changes. Once troubleshooting is complete, they would need to change it to "Reject" to prevent any further changes from being made by the remote technician.

View attachment 257369

How about putting a option: Allow temporary connecttion from Tech Support user name
then when the tech disconnects it stays what the user has set as default.
and set as default out of the box: Rejectected