Solarassistant and EG4 6500

[debron55]

Ok - I have an install of Solarassistant.io monitoring my EG4 6500 and EG4 batteries. For many months things were fine. THe SolarAssistant was originally monitoring my growatt solution. I upgraded the solar environment to EG4 kit. Solarassistant was running on raspberry pi 4 with latest updates etc. USB connections to the 6500 inverters and a usb connection to a victron smartshunt. BUT periodically the SOLAR measurement and the Load measurement would lock. IE it would not fluctuate with the normal ebb and flow of the envrionment. It is quite obvious when this happens. I can correct by rebooting the PI I can also correct by going into the configuration screen and pressing the disconnect / connect button. Measurements then normalize and work. For a while. I'll include a couple of snips of what that looks like. I thought well maybe the USB is bad. Replaced USB cables with cable ordered from Solarassistant. Also used cable from Signature solar. same sort of failure pattern. I also tried connecting stuff through a powered USB hub. No joy. Same sort of thing. I have tried both the "Computer" outputs from the 6500 master unit alone as well as the USB-micro connection. same failure pattern - works a while then locks at whatever it was at until connect/disconnect reboot etc. I then said well maybe it's the pi. and replaced it with a completely new Orangepi and have same issue. Unplugging the inverter from the usb to the pi(s) does not remedy. I have to either reboot the pi or do the disconnect/connect dance. Any troubleshooting advise or any other folks seeing similar sorts of effects? I would also add that going into the USB settings and doing a CYCLE USB has no effect (which I find odd as heck) only the Disconnect / connect (or full pi reboot) does.

 

[Skypower]

I think you’ve done about everything. Try loading up a new “high endurance” memory card and try a different power supply. I know it’s frustrating. I bought this 5V 10 amp DC-DC converter from Amazon and love it. It runs the pie & hub 1 amp fuse input and 3 amp to each device.

 

[debron55]

thanks for your thoughts - I have tried multiple AC power supplies with the unit - all within specs... ALl having the same failure mode seems to me not to be power. could be glitchy SD card for sure - BUT when I built out the new OrangePI I used a new SDCard with it and it started glitching within a day... Named brand class 10 cards (for what that's worth of course). Just by way of back grouond I do a fair bit of Raspberry PI stuff with my 3d printing so I am aware of the problems with them using sd cards as scratch disks etc... I believe tomorrow I'll hook the unit up to the laptop and run the pc software for a day to see if I catch any glitches in that tool... may just be a faulty inverter that glitches out that comm path periodically... Though it is strange that it wrecks the USB Micro and the RJ45 "Computer" port.or at least seems to since neither can consistently carry a signal. so I still have a bit of hope. of course if that's the issue you know how screwed I'll be getting some support for that

 

[Skypower]

It seems you have swapped out every single component and cable related to the Pi. If you are using the Victon shunt,can you remove the cable to it and try emulation with the SA. Same thing goes if you are connecting to the Eg4 batteries for data. Try moving the Pi or the cable routing, perhaps a powerful RF or induction field in proximity.?How are you getting data from it. Wi-Fi or network connection. Change up like you have been doing. Perhaps it’s time to send an email to SA to troubleshoot. I thought it was only me that had this kinda snipe hunt at almost every turn. My symptoms were different but my solved with a Cat8 and not use the Wi-Fi that and a bad port in the power hub.
Hum, Wrecks the micro usb and RJ45 “computer port? While having the Pi connected and un interrupted power, have you tried to turn off the inverter with the round button and does it hang and not completely power off and fault?( inverter’s logic circuit back fed through the Pi?). Just grasping at anything here.

 

[debron55]

It seems you have swapped out every single component and cable related to the Pi. If you are using the Victon shunt,can you remove the cable to it and try emulation with the SA. Same thing goes if you are connecting to the Eg4 batteries for data. Try moving the Pi or the cable routing, perhaps a powerful RF or induction field in proximity.?How are you getting data from it. Wi-Fi or network connection. Change up like you have been doing. Perhaps it’s time to send an email to SA to troubleshoot. I thought it was only me that had this kinda snipe hunt at almost every turn. My symptoms were different but my solved with a Cat8 and not use the Wi-Fi that and a bad port in the power hub.
Hum, Wrecks the micro usb and RJ45 “computer port? While having the Pi connected and un interrupted power, have you tried to turn off the inverter with the round button and does it hang and not completely power off and fault?( inverter’s logic circuit back fed through the Pi?). Just grasping at anything here.

those are some good points. I am using the WIFI on the pi's (both raspberry and Orange) so I will give that a shot going hardwired. Easy enough I have ethernet right there. I emailed SA a couple of times and they have not responded. It's a bummer because their tool does everything I want it to do and have been so amazingly happy with them for so long. The inverter behaves perfectly - it, at least in so far as the principal functions of inverting etc are behaving as expected. It just seems like the communication related to Solar and Load glitch. But in the inverter menus the info is there it's just not coming through to the solarassistant. like it glitches and never resolves / resets until it's toggled. BUT... the data from the victron smartshunt is always fine. as in it's always giving info and flutters as expected. I am thinking about swapping the control screen from unit a to unit b of the 6500. THey should be interchangable.. IE they do not, as I understand it, hold any of the settings for the device they are the mechanism to change and monitor "stuff" buttons and plugs etc. I may also - next time this happens actually unplug the removable control box and plug it back in.. see if that causes the communication pathways to open back up... I mean it wouldn't be the "Fix" but would potentially be a data point. I have removed the smartshunt connection and used the emulated through bms to monitor batteries as well just to take another component out of the mix and it works well enough until it glitches then I lose that info as well... basically it feels liks - simply the 6500 communication to the pi flakes out and stays flaked out until I connect/disconnect in the pi software. Unplugging the usb and plugging it back in does not clear the fault... which is why I feel like this is less on the 6500 side of things and more in the inner workings of the pi... though again the pi's worked fine for me for a while.. though... the 6500's haven't been in heavy use for a long time. Most of my positive experience was with the Growatt to solarassistant. The 6500 to solarassistant has been problematic for a while - as you can tell I've been trying stuff for the last couple of months... sorta in disbelief... nothing like being let down by tech.. and intermittent issues are the worst. I'd rather have it just break and then fire the parts cannon at it

 

[Skypower]

It’s never fun being just out of reach of perfection. And did anyone hear that new cus word I just created? Good luck, sounds like you’ve got a plan.

 

[Adam De Lay]

those are some good points. I am using the WIFI on the pi's (both raspberry and Orange) so I will give that a shot going hardwired. Easy enough I have ethernet right there. I emailed SA a couple of times and they have not responded. It's a bummer because their tool does everything I want it to do and have been so amazingly happy with them for so long. The inverter behaves perfectly - it, at least in so far as the principal functions of inverting etc are behaving as expected. It just seems like the communication related to Solar and Load glitch. But in the inverter menus the info is there it's just not coming through to the solarassistant. like it glitches and never resolves / resets until it's toggled. BUT... the data from the victron smartshunt is always fine. as in it's always giving info and flutters as expected. I am thinking about swapping the control screen from unit a to unit b of the 6500. THey should be interchangable.. IE they do not, as I understand it, hold any of the settings for the device they are the mechanism to change and monitor "stuff" buttons and plugs etc. I may also - next time this happens actually unplug the removable control box and plug it back in.. see if that causes the communication pathways to open back up... I mean it wouldn't be the "Fix" but would potentially be a data point. I have removed the smartshunt connection and used the emulated through bms to monitor batteries as well just to take another component out of the mix and it works well enough until it glitches then I lose that info as well... basically it feels liks - simply the 6500 communication to the pi flakes out and stays flaked out until I connect/disconnect in the pi software. Unplugging the usb and plugging it back in does not clear the fault... which is why I feel like this is less on the 6500 side of things and more in the inner workings of the pi... though again the pi's worked fine for me for a while.. though... the 6500's haven't been in heavy use for a long time. Most of my positive experience was with the Growatt to solarassistant. The 6500 to solarassistant has been problematic for a while - as you can tell I've been trying stuff for the last couple of months... sorta in disbelief... nothing like being let down by tech.. and intermittent issues are the worst. I'd rather have it just break and then fire the parts cannon at it

So when you notice the problem, does it seem to be one inverter locks up or both? Since the smartshunt data still comes across, the PI is processing data still.

Just curious if it looks to be a specific PV string on a specific inverter?

Also, what firmware are you running on your inverters?

 

[debron55]

Just to close out this thread - or give some additional info - There was one thing I had not done and really hadn't thought it was a potential issue - i had not disconnected power from the Victron Smart shunt and essentially rebooted it. I had unplugged it from usb and various flavors of that but I had not just completely rebooted it. I subsequently have and thus far - for the last 5 days or so have not had the flatlining issue. So finger crossed that's the resolution. I'm kinda embarrassed I didn't try that before - I'm in IT and have you tried rebooting I have said to users probably 1000 times in my career... oh well..

 

[Adam De Lay]

Just to close out this thread - or give some additional info - There was one thing I had not done and really hadn't thought it was a potential issue - i had not disconnected power from the Victron Smart shunt and essentially rebooted it. I had unplugged it from usb and various flavors of that but I had not just completely rebooted it. I subsequently have and thus far - for the last 5 days or so have not had the flatlining issue. So finger crossed that's the resolution. I'm kinda embarrassed I didn't try that before - I'm in IT and have you tried rebooting I have said to users probably 1000 times in my career... oh well..

Thanks for sharing. I wouldn’t think the smart shunt would have anything to do with your PV sticking. Solar assistant, just displays the information from the battery connection. However, we all know in IT, gremlins can connect multiple systems together. Glad everything’s working for you.

 

[Skypower]

Just to close out this thread - or give some additional info - There was one thing I had not done and really hadn't thought it was a potential issue - i had not disconnected power from the Victron Smart shunt and essentially rebooted it. I had unplugged it from usb and various flavors of that but I had not just completely rebooted it. I subsequently have and thus far - for the last 5 days or so have not had the flatlining issue. So finger crossed that's the resolution. I'm kinda embarrassed I didn't try that before - I'm in IT and have you tried rebooting I have said to users probably 1000 times in my career... oh well..

Who’d a thunk you’d have to reboot the shunt. That would have been low on my list too. Good to know.