[RE-wrenches] Remote Alert and Bootstrapping on Sunny Island AC Coupled System

[William Miller]

Friends:



Thanks for the many replies.  Here is what I have learned, paired with the
questions.



1.   Is it normal for the display screens on the Sunny Islands to go blank
after shutting off due to low battery voltage?  *Apparently this is a
feature, not a bug--the display is supposed to go blank.  There is a
fault-clearing procedure that requires you remove all input power for 15
minutes and it worked here.  The system was responding as designed--it was
not “bricked”.*



2.   Is there an up-to-date option for remote monitoring that will send an
email if certain error conditions occur?  *No one is telling me any new SMA
remote access system is much different from the old system of
port-forwarding the web-box and then going blind trying to navigate the
interface.  There is a remote-alert for some new SMA inverters, but not
Sunny Island, which needs it the most.  I don’t think SMA can hold a candle
to OpticsRE in this area.  This alone is a deal-killer for me spec’ing
Sunny Island in the future.*

3.   What would you do with a 6k AH battery bank with a voltage too low to
start a battery inverter or solar charge controller?  *My first reaction
was the same as those that suggested AC-coupled off-grid architecture is
fundamentally flawed due to this predicament.  In thinking about it
further, the same is actually true for DC coupled systems: if battery
voltage gets low enough, many PV charge controllers are not able to startup
and charge a battery bank.  There is a warehouse-style, 48 volt forklift
charger next door I could have for the asking, but it was not needed for
this outage and I doubt it will be needed in the future.*



Thanks again.  The wrenches list rocks!



William Miller

Miller Solar

17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422

805-438-5600

www.millersolar.com

CA Lic. 773985
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Alert and Bootstrapping on Sunny Island AC Coupled System

[Tump]

I have long been a supporter & installer of the SMA SI product line, but their 
support and availability has led me to find other products. Outback Schneider 
products like Victron with their smart phone interface and their "Virtual 
remote monitoring” sunsets the SMA product line. Thats not to say that Victron 
is the easiest to set up but it does offer other advantages.
> On Dec 17, 2020, at 11:04 PM, William Miller  wrote:
> 
> Friends:
>  
> Thanks for the many replies.  Here is what I have learned, paired with the 
> questions.
>  
> 1.   Is it normal for the display screens on the Sunny Islands to go blank 
> after shutting off due to low battery voltage?  Apparently this is a feature, 
> not a bug--the display is supposed to go blank.  There is a fault-clearing 
> procedure that requires you remove all input power for 15 minutes and it 
> worked here.  The system was responding as designed--it was not “bricked”.
>  
> 2.   Is there an up-to-date option for remote monitoring that will send an 
> email if certain error conditions occur?  No one is telling me any new SMA 
> remote access system is much different from the old system of port-forwarding 
> the web-box and then going blind trying to navigate the interface.  There is 
> a remote-alert for some new SMA inverters, but not Sunny Island, which needs 
> it the most.  I don’t think SMA can hold a candle to OpticsRE in this area.  
> This alone is a deal-killer for me spec’ing Sunny Island in the future.
> 3.   What would you do with a 6k AH battery bank with a voltage too low to 
> start a battery inverter or solar charge controller?  My first reaction was 
> the same as those that suggested AC-coupled off-grid architecture is 
> fundamentally flawed due to this predicament.  In thinking about it further, 
> the same is actually true for DC coupled systems: if battery voltage gets low 
> enough, many PV charge controllers are not able to startup and charge a 
> battery bank.  There is a warehouse-style, 48 volt forklift charger next door 
> I could have for the asking, but it was not needed for this outage and I 
> doubt it will be needed in the future.
>  
> Thanks again.  The wrenches list rocks!
>  
> William Miller
> Miller Solar
> 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
> 805-438-5600
> www.millersolar.com 
> CA Lic. 773985
>  
>  
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> mailto:t...@swnl.net%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::mailto:t...@swnl.net>  
>  www.SWNL.net 
> http://www.swnl.net/%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::http://www.swnl.net/>
> Solarwinds Northernlights   
>Serving Mid Coast Maine & Northern California
>  207-832-7574   Cl. 610-517-8401  
> 
>   Blair "TUMP" May
>  MAINE'S CHARTER 
>   NABCEP"Certified PV Installer" 
>
>     MAINE'S CHARTER 
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> 


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Re: [RE-wrenches] sol_ark lithium battery closed loop com

[Jerry Shafer]

Agree

On Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 3:18 AM Jay  wrote:

> Hats off to sol- ark.
>
> Outback, Schneider, magnum, etc should take note and get a move on with
> this integration
>
> Jay
> Peltz power.
>
>
> On Dec 17, 2020, at 3:56 PM, Chris Sparadeo 
> wrote:
>
> 
> Fortress eFlex
> Blue Planet Blue Ion 2.0
> Simpliphi Amplipi
> Discover AES
> Storz Power
>
> All batteries that I believe have closed loop capabilities with the Sol
> Ark
>
> On Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 5:48 PM MiJo Nels 
> wrote:
>
>> Fortress batteries will also soon have this topology ..
>>
>> Joe Nelson
>>
>> Project Manager C-46/C-10
>> Sustainable Energy Group Inc., A California Corporation
>>
>> CSL# 868816
>> www.SustainableEnergyGroup.com
>> 530-273-4422 (Office)
>>
>> 530-217-8385 (Cell)
>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>>
>> --
>> *From:* RE-wrenches  on
>> behalf of Vic Guillot 
>> *Sent:* Thursday, December 17, 2020 1:27:00 PM
>> *To:* RE-wrenches 
>> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] sol_ark lithium battery closed loop com
>>
>> Sol Ark uses the new Simpliphi batteries which communicate with their
>> inverters.
>> Vic Guillot
>>
>> Vic Guillot
>> Sol Sierra, Inc.
>> 209.795.3554 office
>> 209.768.3560 mobile/text
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 1:21 PM Jerry Shafer 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Wrenches
>> Blue planet are integrated with sol ark
>> Jerry
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 1:02 PM jay  wrote:
>>
>> HI All,
>>
>> Can anyone tell me and also point me to any data/manuals  etc that show
>> if and which lithium battery the Sol-Ark 8/12 inverter directly
>> communicates with?
>>
>> I can’t find anything on their site but someone was just asking me about
>> it.  And they said yes it could but he didn’t have any data or how to do
>> it, instructions etc.
>>
>>
>> thanks in advance
>>
>> jay
>>
>> peltz power
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>> --
> Chris Sparadeo
>
>
> C_802-369-4458
> H_802-728-3059
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Alert and Bootstrapping on Sunny Island AC Coupled System

[Kevin Pegg]

Question: Is there an up-to-date option for remote monitoring that will send an 
email if certain error conditions occur?

The old webbox can be programmed to email you error notifications, as they 
occur. Need to program the webbox with an email server to use. Sunnyportal does 
as well, but there is an unpredictable lag time there.

There are two major issues, however, and I am baffled why they would program 
like this.

First, the emails are encoded in Base64 format, so you need to manually convert 
that to readable text. Ok, fine.
Second, once that is done, you get an error code like this:


Sunny WebBox event report for xx Sunny WebBox serial number: x

--

2020-11-20 15:10 SI5048UH:xx

Warning: Warning / 7xx SYS

--

created on:: 2020-11-20 15:10

This is an automatically generated e-mail. Please do not reply.

I cannot fathom why they would go to this extent, but to not display the entire 
error code. I want to know if it's a 710, 720, etc. 7xx is near useless. Though 
can get a general idea if being bombarded with errors that something is wrong.

As best as I can tell the only way to get the full error code is to pull data 
from the SD card on the Sunny Island.

Kevin


From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf 
Of Tump
Sent: December-18-20 6:32 AM
To: will...@millersolar.com; RE-wrenches 
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Alert and Bootstrapping on Sunny Island AC 
Coupled System

I have long been a supporter & installer of the SMA SI product line, but their 
support and availability has led me to find other products. Outback Schneider 
products like Victron with their smart phone interface and their "Virtual 
remote monitoring” sunsets the SMA product line. Thats not to say that Victron 
is the easiest to set up but it does offer other advantages.
On Dec 17, 2020, at 11:04 PM, William Miller 
mailto:will...@millersolar.com>> wrote:

Friends:

Thanks for the many replies.  Here is what I have learned, paired with the 
questions.

1.   Is it normal for the display screens on the Sunny Islands to go blank 
after shutting off due to low battery voltage?  Apparently this is a feature, 
not a bug--the display is supposed to go blank.  There is a fault-clearing 
procedure that requires you remove all input power for 15 minutes and it worked 
here.  The system was responding as designed--it was not “bricked”.

2.   Is there an up-to-date option for remote monitoring that will send an 
email if certain error conditions occur?  No one is telling me any new SMA 
remote access system is much different from the old system of port-forwarding 
the web-box and then going blind trying to navigate the interface.  There is a 
remote-alert for some new SMA inverters, but not Sunny Island, which needs it 
the most.  I don’t think SMA can hold a candle to OpticsRE in this area.  This 
alone is a deal-killer for me spec’ing Sunny Island in the future.
3.   What would you do with a 6k AH battery bank with a voltage too low to 
start a battery inverter or solar charge controller?  My first reaction was the 
same as those that suggested AC-coupled off-grid architecture is fundamentally 
flawed due to this predicament.  In thinking about it further, the same is 
actually true for DC coupled systems: if battery voltage gets low enough, many 
PV charge controllers are not able to startup and charge a battery bank.  There 
is a warehouse-style, 48 volt forklift charger next door I could have for the 
asking, but it was not needed for this outage and I doubt it will be needed in 
the future.

Thanks again.  The wrenches list rocks!

William Miller
Miller Solar
17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
805-438-5600
www.millersolar.com
CA Lic. 773985


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t...@swnl.netmailto:t...@swnl.net%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::mailto:t...@swnl.net>
   
www.SWNL.nethttp://www.swnl.net/%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::http://www.swnl.net/>
Solarwinds Northernlights
   Serving Mid Coast Maine & Northern California
 207-832-7574   Cl. 610-517-8401
  Blair "TUMP" May