Installer forcing SolarEdge cellular connection on me

[ButchDeal]

Which inverter do you guys have? My inverter is SE11400H-US and wifi is not listed.

The setapp versions have a wifi but need an add on antenna to connect to WiFi.

[nwdiver]

Which inverter do you guys have? My inverter is SE11400H-US and wifi is not listed.

The new one with no display screen and 'setapp' commissioning.

[JSchnee21]

Hi Butch, are you sure?

The initial screen less H-series with SetApp could not be connected to residential Wifi. One could only use "device local" lower power Wifi to configure the inverter through SetApp -- like a smart home appliance (e.g. Blink Camera, TP-Link smart outlet, EcoBee, etc.)

I did a quick google search earlier today about a Wifi kit / Antenna for the H-Series. I saw two different solutions and sets of documents from SE. But upon deeper inspection, the documents still seemed to be for foreign countries only.

I've emailed Solar Edge support for clarification.

-Jonathan

[sunpoweredev]

It is an add on device and an extra line item on the orders.
most order from distributors not SolarEdge direct.

I would assume it is just the default for the installer. many have had poor results with the zigbee and are not knowlegable enough to deal with ethernet directly and/or third party gateway devices.

Yeah they probably do it for all installs as a default, seems every customer of this company has the cellular. I would've felt better (less bad) if they just buried it and not show it on the paperwork. Very much dislike the idea of being forced to buy something I won't use. I offered to pay the difference to get the consumption monitoring instead of the cellular and they still refused to remove it.

The new one with no display screen and 'setapp' commissioning.

Oh I see. I think I prefer to have the display and basic controls on the inverter.

[ButchDeal]

Hi Butch, are you sure?

The initial screen less H-series with SetApp could not be connected to residential Wifi. One could only use "device local" lower power Wifi to configure the inverter through SetApp -- like a smart home appliance (e.g. Blink Camera, TP-Link smart outlet, EcoBee, etc.)

I did a quick google search earlier today about a Wifi kit / Antenna for the H-Series. I saw two different solutions and sets of documents from SE. But upon deeper inspection, the documents still seemed to be for foreign countries only.

I've emailed Solar Edge support for clarification.

-Jonathan

You need the antenna to connect to the wifi to connect it to a remote wifi.

The original A series has a wifi adapter and antenna but that is only valid in EU not the US.
There is a zigbee cit as well but that is not WiFi.


I have been told that the setapp versions will be capable of wifi in the US with an antenna kit to be released at some future date and firmware upgrade.

[JSchnee21]

Per my SE Support Ticket today:

From: SolarEdge Support <support@solaredge.us>
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2019 2:51 PM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: [CASE:1411352] Wifi Kit for USA Inverters?

Hello Jonathan,

Thank you for contacting SolarEdge Support, we're happy to look into this with you.

At this time, there is no Wi-Fi module for North America. The Wi-Fi for SetApp enabled Inverters is local only wireless, rather than for connecting to a customer's home router.

Thank you,
Wyatt James Brafford
Technical Support - Tier 1
(510) 498-3200

Correct, so maybe Wifi in the future, but not today.

[sunpoweredev]

Thanks to ButchDeal for pointing out that the screenless version has the same exact model number. Search result for SE11400H-US almost always shows the one having the screen, and I assumed that's what I'm getting. I asked my installer about it and told him my preference for the one with the screen. Below is my reply. I'll see what I end up with.

I have no idea how these inverters work, but my thinking is that if it has a microprocessor running some kind of software, there's always a chance of it locking up like a computer. Without the display and relying only on the wifi to connect to the phone app, in the event of a lockup it'll probably take the wifi with it and you can't see what the status is.

"I'll make the request to our distributer to give us the inverter with the screen. We usually get whichever inverter they have in stock the day before we are ready.

Those with the screens are being phased out just a heads up, however Soleredge does have an option on their app where you can see what would be on the screen on your phone. Hope that helps."

[ericy]

I would assume it is just the default for the installer. many have had poor results with the zigbee and are not knowlegable enough to deal with ethernet directly and/or third party gateway devices.

Your average homeowner sees the router as an appliance and knows nothing about what it does. If their internet goes down, they call their ISP and have them send out a truck, but if the router is acting weird (or the router is too far from the inverter), they might not notice the monitoring is failing.

We have Zigbee - our installer said that the things can be tricky to get paired up and communicating properly. And the previous owner of the house used to go to Florida for the winter and disconnected the WiFi for the duration - the history for our house has nothing for Jan/Feb until this year even though the system was installed in 2014.

[ButchDeal]

We have Zigbee - our installer said that the things can be tricky to get paired up and communicating properly. And the previous owner of the house used to go to Florida for the winter and disconnected the WiFi for the duration - the history for our house has nothing for Jan/Feb until this year even though the system was installed in 2014.

It will cash about 20 to 30 days and upload as soon as it reconnects

[frankge]

If you have the knowledge pass on the "accessories" like consumption meters and wifi. I have a cellular that I quickly found unusable and went with a ethernet bridge, actually very easy to set up and very reliable, like 30 bucks.Left the cellular card and antenna alone, had no interest in running after my installer to remove and credit. I can see if an installer was monitoring their customer base where the 4-hour update and history was all that was needed. Likewise the consumption meter I did for like $50.00 - a bit more complex but like I said if you can do it do it yourself and not get beat over the head with a 500 dollar addon. Just my opinion... (I find it ridiculous that in this day and age that something this high-tech does not support internal wifi!)

[ericy]

Would installing a cellular connection allow them to avoid installing a revenue-grade meter (needed for SRECs)?

[ButchDeal]

Would installing a cellular connection allow them to avoid installing a revenue-grade meter (needed for SRECs)?

No but they could install the inverter with a built in revenue grade meter and either cellular or ethernet connection to avoid an external revenue grade meter.

[frankge]

BTW - I find the SolarEdge monitoring service much less reliable than my wifi

[macaddict]

Per my SE Support Ticket today:

From: SolarEdge Support <support@solaredge.us>
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2019 2:51 PM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: [CASE:1411352] Wifi Kit for USA Inverters?

Hello Jonathan,

Thank you for contacting SolarEdge Support, we're happy to look into this with you.

At this time, there is no Wi-Fi module for North America. The Wi-Fi for SetApp enabled Inverters is local only wireless, rather than for connecting to a customer's home router.

Thank you,
Wyatt James Brafford
Technical Support - Tier 1
(510) 498-3200

Correct, so maybe Wifi in the future, but not today.

Interesting, I joined one of the sales webcasts and they said that they could be used to join home Wi-Fi networks. I guess that's the difference between a sales person and a technical person...

[JSchnee21]

Well, here's hoping (-: (for Wifi connectivity sooner rather than later). I find the web based SE monitoring portal slow and not terribly reliable. The iOS app seems to work much better. Often data logging and API reporting can be significantly delayed as well (on the SE servers).