What Would I need to Implement to move Solis to NOT Sending data back to China ?

[MSRConf]

I have a Solis 3.6kw RHI-3.6K-48ES-5G, that is connected to ye'olde Internet and is 'configurable' by the Manufacturer, looking at the recent posts about Inverters being bricked on mass, Im wondering what I would need to buy / build, to have all the data from the inverter and perhaps some level of control via my phone, I have seen solutions mentioned like Home Assistant, Solar Assistant, Raspberry PI, etc, before I go down a rabbit hole and start researching, is there a standard config / approach and if so what are the buckets of costs associated ?

 

[rpdom]

You'd need to remove the datalogger stick and connect something that will connect to the datalogger port. There is no unit you can get that just plugs in directly, so you need to do a bit of work involving soldering connectors and things.

Basically you need to get the RS485/Modbus data to a computer (Raspberry Pi is good) running Home Assistant or Solar Assistant. There are some units that will do RS485/Modbus to Ethernet or WiFi. I used the ethernet one. Actually I used two because I'm still allowing Solis access.

For the inverter end I needed 1 x Waveshare RS 485 to Ethernet module (about £35 on Amazon), an ethernet cable from the inverter to my router, a 12V DC 1A power supply (under £10), a passive PoE splitter pair to feed power up the ethernet cable as I have no power sockets in my loft (I think they were under £10 on ebay), a plug to connect to the Inverter (about £10 on ebay) and some odd bits of wire.

Configuration of the Waveshare unit took a while to figure out, but now it's up and running fine. There's a Home Assistant plugin that supports the Solis inverter this way.

Don't ask me about the HA end, as I like to tinker and do my own code, but I have direct control of my inverter from my PC.

There's some poeple on the Solis Solar Inverter Owners group on facebook who use this method with HA, so they can help. Also search that group for details and wiring diagrams.

 

[marionw]

It appears (although I cannot confirm) that the pins are as follows:
1: +5V
2: GND
3: DATA+
4: DATA-

GitHub - incub77/solis2mqtt: Modbus RTU / RS485 to MQTT bridge for Solis Mini solar inverter.

Modbus RTU / RS485 to MQTT bridge for Solis Mini solar inverter. - incub77/solis2mqtt

github.com

Pins 3&4 are an RS485 bus so an RS485 to USB converter would work. You just need a connector (or take apart the datalogger, or get a second datalogger that you can take apart).

M

Post in thread 'Help with Pace BMS Comms'

Dec 29, 2023

First, do you have the pinout of each RS485 port.
The EG4 Lifepower4 batteries for example use pins 1&2 as an RS485 bus as well as pins 7&8 as a second RS485 bus in the same RJ45 jack.
I purchased a RS485 to USB Converter:
RS485-USB-Converter

Using a spare cat5 cable, just cut off the RJ45 connector on one end, remove about 3 inches of the outer insulation then you can connect the correct pair of wires to the RS485 to USB Converter and plug the RJ45 connector on the other end to the correct port on the battery.
Look at the RJ45 connector on the cable (With my tired old eye I use a...

• marionw

• 

M

Post in thread 'query on SRNE reset times.'

Feb 6, 2024

I use a spare ethernet patch cable, cut the RJ45 connector off one end, strip two to three inches of the outer insulation and select the pair of wires I need depending on which pins of the Inverter or BMS I need to use.

For a normal cable pins 1 & 2 are the orange/white and orange. Pins 7 & 8 are the brown/white and brown. I even at times use several of the wire pairs in the same cable.

Holding the RJ45 connector with the pins up and facing you (the latch/lock is facing away from you) pin 1 will be on the left and pin 8 on the right.

I use these as you can never tell which two pins in a...

• marionw

• 

 

[rpdom]

It appears (although I cannot confirm) that the pins are as follows:
1: +5V
2: GND
3: DATA+
4: DATA-

Yes, that's correct and you are right that a USB RS485 adaptor will work too. I decided on the Ethernet method as any computer on my network can now talk to the inverter. I can do development on my laptop, then transfer programs to a Raspberry Pi to run automatically.

 

[SeaGal]

Check out @peufeu's Grugbus project.

I use a modified version of his python code to extract all my Solis RHI & EH1P data.

Details in this thread...

P

Post in thread 'Solis S5: Various issues'

Jan 24, 2023

Code published

GitHub - peufeu2/GrugBus: Convenient MODBUS abstraction on top of pymodbus to control Solis inverters

Convenient MODBUS abstraction on top of pymodbus to control Solis inverters - peufeu2/GrugBus

github.com

• peufeu

 

[MSRConf]

Excellent stuff - thanks to all who replied, I'll now start to read up a little more based on your comments.

 

[Johntheripper]

I have a Solis 3.6kw RHI-3.6K-48ES-5G, that is connected to ye'olde Internet and is 'configurable' by the Manufacturer, looking at the recent posts about Inverters being bricked on mass, Im wondering what I would need to buy / build, to have all the data from the inverter and perhaps some level of control via my phone, I have seen solutions mentioned like Home Assistant, Solar Assistant, Raspberry PI, etc, before I go down a rabbit hole and start researching, is there a standard config / approach and if so what are the buckets of costs associated ?

Wouldnt it work if you simply create a new wifi hor your home. Leave one hotspot with the old ssid for solis inverter to connect to but leave the old ssid without internet. Just a local wifi network. This way its not internet connected but you can still connect to it via web browser and ip address of the inverter by connecting a computer to that same local network.

 

[SeaGal]

Wouldnt it work if you simply create a new wifi hor your home. Leave one hotspot with the old ssid for solis inverter to connect to but leave the old ssid without internet. Just a local wifi network. This way its not internet connected but you can still connect to it via web browser and ip address of the inverter by connecting a computer to that same local network.

No. The Solis has no web server or IP Address or any Ethernet connection itself. It only communicates via Modbus RTU over RS485.

 

[rpdom]

No. The Solis has no web server or IP Address or any Ethernet connection itself. It only communicates via Modbus RTU over RS485.

Actually the datalogger has a minimal webserver, mostly used for setup, but it can display some basic information about the inverter. Some dataloggers can also supply MQTT data.

 

[SeaGal]

Actually the datalogger has a minimal webserver, mostly used for setup, but it can display some basic information about the inverter. Some dataloggers can also supply MQTT data.

But I thought the point was they don't want the datalogger in the first place. As you suggested... to remove it in post #2