Sol-Ark, EG4 Communications Hub/LifePower4 - Solar Assistant configuration

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

I wanted to share with the community how I was able to get Solar Assistant "SA" to read all my inverter data from my Sol-Ark 15K, AND also read all the individual battery data from my EG4 LifePower4 batteries so I get the best of both worlds, thorough data from "each" of my 12 batteries and all the details from my Sol-Ark while maintaining the PV Pro access also.

In my scenario, I have a Sol-Ark 15K and 12x EG4 LifePower4 batteries. In order to have closed-loop communication with the Sol-Ark and the LifewPower4 batteries, the EG4 Communications hub is required. The hub plugs into the batteries and then plugs into the Sol-Ark and makes them all appear as one giant battery to the Sol-Ark.


When connecting SA to the inverter and using the Inverter data for the battery, all you get is one giant battery in SA. Having one giant battery isn't very helpful because then I can't track the individual characteristics of my batteries like, the state of charge of each battery, which batteries are supplying current, their temperatures, voltage, and cycles.

Using two USB to ethernet cables and a splitter I connect one cable to the spitter and the PI, this gives me all the details from the inverter, then I connect the other cable from the Pi to my battery #7 in my second cabinet. In SA, I tell it to use the following settings and it works.





In SA I can now see all my LifePower4 batteries, the Communications Hub sees all the batteries, the Sol-Ark sees one giant battery, and PV Pro is still happy and working with it's dongle.


To summarize, what I have are options, and both reporting tools SA and PV Pro can run simultaneously. With SA I get the added benefits of seeing all the batteries, reports, and Home Assistant integration, and my system is fully functional with closed-loop communication.

Happy to answer any questions, I couldn't find a solution for this on the forums so I figured I would post mine and how I did it.

Cheers and enjoy!

UPDATE: Here is a diagram that shows exactly what cables are connected to what devices, and on what ports.

 

[TK1979]

now this is very cool!!! well done

 

[logjam]

I have a Sol-Ark 15K, with eFlex batteries. Although I'm currently having issues with the batteries communicating properly with the inverter via BMS, I do have SA working (splitter with RS485/Canbus). Can the Canbus be further split to feed the BMS data to the inverter, and to also feed the SA with a second Canbus ->USB cable? so I can see detailed battery info like in the first post?
i.e.:
eFlex --> Canbus -->splitter --> Inverter Canbus AND
--> SA
With another splitter at the inverter for Canbus/RS485 to SA

 

[Watts Happening]

I wanted to share with the community how I was able to get Solar Assistant to read all my inverter data from my Sol-Ark 15K, AND also read all the individual battery data from my EG4 LifePower4 batteries so I get the best of both worlds, thorough data from "each" of my 12 batteries and all the details from my Sol-Ark while maintaining the PV Pro access also.

In my scenario, I have a Sol-Ark 15K and 12x EG4 LifePower4 batteries. In order to have closed-loop communication with the Sol-Ark and the LifewPower4 batteries, the EG4 Communications hub is required. The hub plugs into the batteries and then plugs into the Sol-Ark and makes them all appear as one giant battery to the Sol-Ark.

View attachment 161171
When connecting Solar Assistant to the inverter and using the Inverter data for the battery, all you get is one giant battery in Solar Assistant also. Having one giant battery isn't very helpful because then I can't track the individual characteristics of my batteries like, the state of charge of each battery, which batteries are supplying current, their temperatures, and their cycles.

So using two USB to ethernet cables and a splitter I connect one cable to the spitter and the PI, this gives me all the details from the inverter, then I connect the other cable to my battery #7 in my second cabinet. In solar assistant, I tell it to use the following settings and it works.

View attachment 161219View attachment 161172
In solar assistant I can now see all my LifePower4 batteries, the Communications Hub sees all the batteries, the Sol-Ark sees one giant battery and PV Pro is still happy and working with the Wifi Dongle.
View attachment 161173

To summarize, what I have is options and both reporting tools Solar Assistant and PV Pro can run simulatneously, plus with Solar Assistnat I get all the added benefits of seeing all the batteries, reports, Home Assistant inegration etc and my system is fully functional with closed loop communication.

Happy to answer any questions, I couldn't find a solution for this on the forums so I figured I would post mine and how I did it.

Cheers and enjoy!

I just commissioned my Sol-Ark 15k and have been seriously considering Solar Assistant. I’m not a huge fan of the PV Pro app, just doesn’t seem very polished to me, but maybe I’m being critical.

I do however have a Pi sitting around in a bin doing nothing. What’s your take on the two, is Solar Assistant a major improvement? Happy to do it if it’s a worthwhile upgrade

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

I just commissioned my Sol-Ark 15k and have been seriously considering Solar Assistant. I’m not a huge fan of the PV Pro app, just doesn’t seem very polished to me, but maybe I’m being critical.

I do however have a Pi sitting around in a bin doing nothing. What’s your take on the two, is Solar Assistant a major improvement? Happy to do it if it’s a worthwhile upgrade

IMO Solar Assistant is essential, the PV Pro can't give me estimated run time, charge percentages per-hour, details on each battery, and it's only updated every 10 or 15 minutes. It is way too slow to closely monitor things when you need to see spikes in near real-time to only pull data every 10-15 minutes. The cost is nearly nothing for what you get and it runs on hardware that is less than $50, I don't see any reason not to use it.

 

[Watts Happening]

IMO Solar Assistant is essential, the PV Pro can't give me estimated run time, charge percentages per-hour, details on each battery, and it's only updated every 10 or 15 minutes. It is way too slow to closely monitor things when you need to see spikes in near real-time to only pull data every 10-15 minutes. The cost is nearly nothing for what you get and it runs on hardware that is less than $50, I don't see any reason not to use it.

Did you buy the rs485-USB cable from them? I’d rather Amazon it if I can get one quicker.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

I have a Sol-Ark 15K, with eFlex batteries. Although I'm currently having issues with the batteries communicating properly with the inverter via BMS, I do have SA working (splitter with RS485/Canbus). Can the Canbus be further split to feed the BMS data to the inverter, and to also feed the SA with a second Canbus ->USB cable? so I can see detailed battery info like in the first post?
i.e.:
eFlex --> Canbus -->splitter --> Inverter Canbus AND
--> SA
With another splitter at the inverter for Canbus/RS485 to SA

I don't know if you could do another full split, but that's an interesting idea, however, I think you would have trouble with two devices using the same pins, it would probably short something out.

In my scenario, I go from the PI to the mid battery, #7 which is the first one in the top of my second cabinet, then my Communications Hub connects to the #1 batter in the first cabinet, I use the splitter on the inverter and it all works. I would suggest maybe trying to connect to the batteries essentially at both ends like what I did.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

Did you buy the rs485-USB cable from them? I’d rather Amazon it if I can get one quicker.

No I used the cables that came with my Signature Solar order. Basically, it's the battery firmware update cables that came with my Communications Hub.

 

[Watts Happening]

No I used the cables that came with my Signature Solar order. Basically, it's the battery firmware update cables that came with my Communications Hub.

Gotcha, shoot I didn’t get the hub as I only have one of their batteries. I think it came with some sort of wire, I’ll have to take a look or just order one

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

@Watts Happening I believe you'll need the hub even for a single battery unless they're the EG4_LL batteries that have Sol-Ark speak built in. FYI, I read your 18K post, so glad I determined the product wasn't mature and simply went with Sol-Ark to start, my 15K is so awesome, and best of all, "it just works". Cheers

 

[JaxLax]

I'll be back here next week.
Hung the 15K on Monday. Panels and more wiring today. I've got (6) EG4LL [still waiting on the over a month late/backordered rack] and the hub.
Plus I've got a few spare 8gb Pi4s laying around [my son builds LED Christmas displays] so Solar Assistant was something I'd looked at, but hadn't given much thought to until the system is up and commissioned. But from reading around looks like I'd need Solar and Home Assistant to obtain some real control over the system output [timing of EV charging, prioritizing batteries with inclement weather over sell back, etc].

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

Hi @JaxLax , you are correct that you need Solar Assistant "SA" and Home Assistant "HA" to make changes based on automation.

I've got it working right now, basically, SA becomes mostly an interface between the inverter/batteries and MQTT messages. HA then gets configured as the role of MQTT Server/Broker which tells SA to report all the various entity data. In my installation that means over 200 entities some numbers some sensors.





Once you get all the entities updating consistently from SA to HA, then you can create automations in HA to take action when certain conditions are true.



Basically every setting that SA can pull from your inverter is available to configured.

So a nifty one for me might be to say, if it's past 5PM and my batteries are not at an SOC of =99% then start the generator and run it until SOC reaches 99%.

 

[houseofancients]

I wanted to share with the community how I was able to get Solar Assistant to read all my inverter data from my Sol-Ark 15K, AND also read all the individual battery data from my EG4 LifePower4 batteries so I get the best of both worlds, thorough data from "each" of my 12 batteries and all the details from my Sol-Ark while maintaining the PV Pro access also.

In my scenario, I have a Sol-Ark 15K and 12x EG4 LifePower4 batteries. In order to have closed-loop communication with the Sol-Ark and the LifewPower4 batteries, the EG4 Communications hub is required. The hub plugs into the batteries and then plugs into the Sol-Ark and makes them all appear as one giant battery to the Sol-Ark.

View attachment 161171
When connecting Solar Assistant to the inverter and using the Inverter data for the battery, all you get is one giant battery in Solar Assistant also. Having one giant battery isn't very helpful because then I can't track the individual characteristics of my batteries like, the state of charge of each battery, which batteries are supplying current, their temperatures, and their cycles.

So using two USB to ethernet cables and a splitter I connect one cable to the spitter and the PI, this gives me all the details from the inverter, then I connect the other cable to my battery #7 in my second cabinet. In solar assistant, I tell it to use the following settings and it works.

View attachment 161219

View attachment 161678

View attachment 161172
In solar assistant I can now see all my LifePower4 batteries, the Communications Hub sees all the batteries, the Sol-Ark sees one giant battery and PV Pro is still happy and working with the Wifi Dongle.
View attachment 161173

To summarize, what I have is options and both reporting tools Solar Assistant and PV Pro can run simulatneously, plus with Solar Assistnat I get all the added benefits of seeing all the batteries, reports, Home Assistant inegration etc and my system is fully functional with closed loop communication.

Happy to answer any questions, I couldn't find a solution for this on the forums so I figured I would post mine and how I did it.

Cheers and enjoy!

This is the same config I use with my sunsynk and seplos mason's.
Works extremely well, and will allow extra automation too in combination with home assistant ( water heater on/off , pumps on/off) based on incoming solar and SOC for instance..
Possibilities are almost endless

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

@houseofancients do you have any issues after rebooting HA with the MQTT add-on? Mine seems to not connect to SA consistently. So I've had to configure the add-on not to start with HA, and rather use an automation to start it about 2 minutes later. That part is a little wonky, I wish the MQTT piece was a little more reliable at re-establishing itself after a scheduled/unexpected restart.

 

[houseofancients]

@houseofancients do you have any issues after rebooting HA with the MQTT add-on? Mine seems to not connect to SA consistently. So I've had to configure the add-on not to start with HA, and rather use an automation to start it about 2 minutes later. That part is a little wonky, I wish the MQTT piece was a little more reliable at re-establishing itself after a scheduled/unexpected restart.

Had some issue when running stable, but last 2 beta versions fix that for me

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

@houseofancients which beta are you referring to? HA, the MQTT add-one, or the MQTT integration?

 

[houseofancients]

Sa's ..
It isn't ha that has a failed mqtt server, rather in older versions of SA, if it didn't get a response on first try, it would halt

 

[JaxLax]

Hi @JaxLax , you are correct that you need Solar Assistant "SA" and Home Assistant "HA" to make changes based on automation.

I've got it working right now, basically, SA becomes mostly an interface between the inverter/batteries and MQTT messages. HA then gets configured as the role of MQTT Server/Broker which tells SA to report all the various entity data. In my installation that means over 200 entities some numbers some sensors.

View attachment 162615

View attachment 162614

Once you get all the entities updating consistently from SA to HA, then you can create automations in HA to take action when certain conditions are true.

View attachment 162617

Basically every setting that SA can pull from your inverter is available to configured.

So a nifty one for me might be to say, if it's past 5PM and my batteries are not at an SOC of =99% then start the generator and run it until SOC reaches 99%.

Are you using a single RPi or (2) separate hardware pieces [one for HA and one for SA].
I've spent too much time in IoT and my home is hilariously dumb because of this. I just want to be able to locally connect and control everything. Just trying to keep the hardware/vampire loads to a minimum.

 

[houseofancients]

Are you using a single RPi or (2) separate hardware pieces [one for HA and one for SA].
I've spent too much time in IoT and my home is hilariously dumb because of this. I just want to be able to locally connect and control everything. Just trying to keep the hardware/vampire loads to a minimum.

2 seperate, as SA needs its own.
You could run HA on just about any pc, but a pi SBC is the smallest mini PC I have

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

@JaxLax , Solar Assistant (SA) will only run on an ARM processor, I don't know why they won't make it capable of running on X86 or even as a virtual machine, except for the possibility that they want to keep it locked down so everyone has to pay $55 for their software. However, I think they could make it more capable and instead just add a freemium model that you can pay to upgrade to a premium feature set rather than lock us out of the other hardware combinations and still keep it secure with license keys or something.

anyways... Home Assistant (HA) is running as a virtual machine on my Synology which enables me to run a camera system and my complete home automation on a single device. Ideally, I would host SA as another VM, but as aforementioned SA doesn't allow it.

So at a minimum, you need two Pi's, however HA runs much better with stronger hardware than what the Pi offers.

I run the SA on a Pi 4 directly off the 48v from the batteries using a step-down, not sure how long it will last but it's been running like a champ for weeks now. Also, I didn't want any moving parts on the Pi to fail so I have this fanless case that works great.