Solar Assistant Dashboard doesn't make sense

[JAS]

As the title says, my SA dashboard doesn't make sense to me...


MPP Solar 1012LV-MS
Victon SmartShunt

Nighttime (No Solar Input)... If I have a 116W load and I'm charging the battery at 110W, shouldn't I be pulling more like 226W from the Grid (Not 131W)?

 

[timselectric]

Yes
Do you have any other charging source connected?

 

[42OhmsPA]

Following.
I went back and looked at my stats from
earlier when I was charging from the grid with my SRNE and they don't add up either.
Maybe a bug in SA.
What version are you on? I'm running the beta from 11-13.

Edit - SA is just reporting data it pulls from the inverter / AIO.

 

[JAS]

Yes
Do you have any other charging source connected?

No, I do not.

 

[JAS]

What version are you on? I'm running the beta from 11-13.

Mine just says: 2023-08-16

 

[ChrisG]

Following.
I went back and looked at my stats from
earlier when I was charging from the grid with my SRNE and they don't add up either.
Maybe a bug in SA.
What version are you on? I'm running the beta from 11-13.

I’m on the same beta with Growatt, numbers are matching-ish.

 

[timselectric]

Maybe a bug in SA.

Solar Assistant just reports the information it receives.

No, I do not.

Then, I would say that the MPP is reporting inaccurate information.
You should be able to confirm that. By comparing the screen information with a clamp meter.

 

[JAS]

I have SA set for 15W of standby usage from the Inverter. The Grid reading is exactly 15W higher than the load. In my case, it is as if the Grid reading is not taking in to account the watts needed for charging the battery???

 

[JAS]

You should be able to confirm that. By comparing the screen information with a clamp meter.

Yeah, I'll have to break into the panel to put a clamp meter on it (both in and out)

 

[JAS]

Solar Assistant just reports the information it receives.

Yeah, I'm betting a bug in the MPP unit's readings

 

[timselectric]

Yeah, I'm betting a bug in the MPP unit's readings

A lot of units don't openly report their own consumption.
I would guess that this is part of the inconsistent information.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

I have literally the same inverter as OP, also using a Victron BMV shunt.

I get the same behavior- the Grid field doesn't count battery charging. I suspect this is just a side effect of how the inverter reports this stuff to Solar Assistant.

That said, I don't see a reason Solar Assistant couldn't just account for that quirk and do the math.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Solar Assistant just reports the information it receives.

True and I knew that / should have remembered that.

Then, I would say that the MPP is reporting inaccurate information.

It appears the SRNE is as well.

You should be able to confirm that. By comparing the screen information with a clamp meter.

I'll have do do that as well next time I charge from the grid, hopefully not anytime soon...

 

[shopman]

Solar Assistant just reports the information it receives.

That's not totally true. While Solar Assistant does indeed only work with the data that it's given, it also performs calculations based on that data and sometimes those calculations are wrong. I've reported two "calculation" issues to Solar Assistant in the past year and they corrected the faulty programming. Anyone experiencing an issue should report it to Solar Assistant so they can address it and continue to improve an already excellent product.

 

[Kenny_]

Yep.... I've been seeing issues for weeks now....almost since first install of SA. I thought the Dashboard values seemed to add up properly for the first week or so I had it running but went to hell after I added additional batteries to my setup (far from certain that was the reason cause I even disconnected them and went back to previous battery configuration and still had the discrepancy in dashboard values).

For now I'm living with it and hoping that once I get a few full cycles on that batteries it will correct itself or if there is a bug in SA it will be corrected in a future update.

 

[Kenny_]

That's not totally true. While Solar Assistant does indeed only work with the data that it's given, it also performs calculations based on that data and sometimes those calculations are wrong. I've reported two "calculation" issues to Solar Assistant in the past year and they corrected the faulty programming. Anyone experiencing an issue should report it to Solar Assistant so they can address it and continue to improve an already excellent product.

I have and they gave me the same story about just reporting inverter values which I don't believe.

 

[shopman]

I have and they gave me the same story about just reporting inverter values which I don't believe.

I had a similar experience until I made screen shots and wrote a letter detailing exactly what I thought was going on, taking the time to clearly and precisely describe the issue. I never got a written reply but the problems were addressed in the next beta release. I sent them a letter after that thanking them for making the corrections.

 

[timselectric]

That's not totally true. While Solar Assistant does indeed only work with the data that it's given, it also performs calculations based on that data and sometimes those calculations are wrong. I've reported two "calculation" issues to Solar Assistant in the past year and they corrected the faulty programming. Anyone experiencing an issue should report it to Solar Assistant so they can address it and continue to improve an already excellent product.

While it does perform calculations for certain things.
Load, battery, and grid wattage is just reported as received.

 

[shopman]

While it does perform calculations for certain things.
Load, battery, and grid wattage is just reported as received.

lol Grid wattage was one of the issues i reported. Solar Assistant was always reporting a 45 watt draw from the grid when in reality the grid wasn't even connected to the inverter. It was a coding problem that was fixed by the next release.

 

[timselectric]

lol Grid wattage was one of the issues i reported. Solar Assistant was always reporting a 45 watt draw from the grid when in reality the grid wasn't even connected to the inverter. It was a coding problem that was fixed by the next release.

I guess that Solar Assistant was misreading the information from your particular model inverter. I'm glad that it was corrected.