SolarEdge Zigbee gateway not connecting

[dannieboiz]

My Inverter displays no Zigbee today. usually when this happens it would come back after awhile. I got fed up and ran an Ethernet cable directly into the Invertor. This permanently solves my problem but then I have a $300 unit that's covered for the next 25 year under warranty not doing anything which is kind of annoying. LOL

[cebury]

I feel for you, Sensi had the same problem and now I'm in the same boat. I'm about to hard wire it directly myself, depends on if the installer will do it. It's coming back after waking up from night mode and so far no data has been lost. So technically it's still working, until it doesn't.....

Does anyone know the size of the onboard memory for communication logging data? My installer said "30 days caching" but I'm sure that's an estimate and differs based on how many modules are installed, etc.

[sensij]

I'm not sure of the actual memory size, but can say that the inverter's internal memory was enough to retroactively populate exactly 3 weeks (21 days) of data into the portal when the gateway was reconnected after an extended outage. This was on a 17 panel array.

[dannieboiz]

I'm not sure of the actual memory size, but can say that the inverter's internal memory was enough to retroactively populate exactly 3 weeks (21 days) of data into the portal when the gateway was reconnected after an extended outage. This was on a 17 panel array.

from Solar Edge "An inverter stores about 2 weeks’ worth of data (specific time depends on the size of the system) in a FIFO method, i.e. new data deletes older data. Therefore if more than several weeks have gone by between system installation and connection to the internet, historical data will not be available."

On the same note, my monitoring portal didn't update all day today. My ethernet connection is pingable and shows to be good. I wonder if I have to contact the installer to make any changes to read from the Ethernet vs the Zigbee gateway.

[sensij]

When you installed the ethernet a couple weeks ago, did you shut down the Zigbee gateway?

[dannieboiz]

No I left it plugged in.

[ericf1]

I had frequent problems with my SE Zigbee gateway for the first few months I had it. For the past 8 months, zero problems. The only difference? It was right next to my wifi router. I moved it a few feet away and wall mounted it. It's probably a good practice to keep it away from any other 2.4ghz device, or any other source of rf interference.

[dannieboiz]

Some of you may already know this, i was messing around with the invertor interface and discovered that you have to manually set which interface you want it to communicate on. Set mine to LAN and it immediately update.

[Gstachura]

Loss of signal and communication seems to be a very common problem with the Zigbee. I too removed mine, ran a Cat 6 line directly to my router, reconfigured the communication set up to LAN and viola, no more communication issues. Gateway unit and Zigbee for sale on eBay now!

[dannieboiz]

How far was yours away from the receiver?

Mine is no more than 10ft above the transmitter. We shouldn't have pay for the product only to find out that it doesn't work as advertise and sell it for a lost. SE should be taking these products back and refund the customers.

[ericf1]

My gateway is about 35' from the inverter, with 1 interior and 1 exterior wall. For now, I'm running fine, but If my problems ever return, I'll be running a Cat 6 cable. Unfortunately, Zigbee operates in a very crowded range of the spectrum, and it's only getting worse. Phones, routers, alarm systems, "smart" TV's, light bulbs, thermostats, and other wireless devices are just getting more common.

It's not really SE's fault, as it's really offered as an alternative to hard wiring. It makes it more convenient/easier for the installer, but the installer should know it's limitations and advise the customer. My installer had no idea how it worked and installed it less that a foot from a wifi router. In installations where Cat 6 is viable, they should probably use cable.

Moving the gateway, and/or adjusting the antennas (at inverter and gateway) may improve performance.

[sensij]

I don't really think it is a Zigbee problem... other Zigbee devices work reliably with much more range than SolarEdge. Rainforest Automation only has control over one end of the connection (the other end is in the meter), and still only very rarely misses a data transmission at 8 sec intervals. SolarEdge's implementation is especially clumsy about recovering from an error... why do you need to wait for the overnight "reboot", or manually cycle power to re-establish? If spectrum noise were the problem, why can it reconnect immediately on power cycle? Yeah, they deserve some credit for even offering a wireless solution, but really, it is sub-par compared to most other wireless devices out there, and in my opinion, only appropriate to use for those who don't really care, or as a last resort.

[Gstachura]

How far was yours away from the receiver?

Mine is no more than 10ft above the transmitter. We shouldn't have pay for the product only to find out that it doesn't work as advertise and sell it for a lost. SE should be taking these products back and refund the customers.

Mine was on the other side of the garage wall, no more than a foot away from the inverter.

[dannieboiz]

*sniff sniff* do I smell a class action law suit over the horizon?

[ButchDeal]

A lot of times the issue is with the way it was installed. antena wire not secured or connected, upgrade sim left in inverter etc.