[RE-wrenches] SMA without WiFi

Dave Tedeyan dave at sungineersolar.com
Tue Nov 1 15:59:56 PDT 2022


Jeremy,

My vendor sent me the attached tech note. I tried the long range Vonets
device on a recent project with two inverters. They were easy to set up
with a laptop. And install is easy, since it is meant to get power from the
USB port in the inverter.

The initial install went well. Then the system was shut off for a few days
until we got inspected and PTO. When it was turned back on, they no longer
worked. One would just not even turn on anymore. The issue was the USB port
in the inverter. If I swapped the Vonets devices the issue stayed with the
inverter, and they both powered on just fine in the other inverter. I
called tech support and the tech I talked to said you are not supposed to
use the USB port to power anything and was not even aware of this tech
note. So I avoided the issue by wiring the two inverters together. But Then
the other device was being very flaky. I had previously installed a
wireless access point on the outside of the house, so the WiFi signal was
good, but maybe not so great behind the array and inside the inverter.

I then finally installed a box with an outlet and one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-WiFi-Range-Extender/dp/B08DHCC8BN/
This is meant to be a range extender, but it also has a lan port. I ran a
cable to both inverters and comms have been great since.

I'd be curious to know if anyone else has had luck with the Vonets devices
being powered off USB? I may try again on an upcoming project where the
wifi will be coming from the back of the array rather than the front.

Cheers,
Dave

On Tue, Nov 1, 2022, 6:42 PM William Miller via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Jeremy:
>
> If the device you want to connect to does not have Wifi capability then
> you don’t need an extender, you need a station device. The unit will
> receive via wifi and convert to a wired Ethernet cable.
>
> I recommend the Ubiquiti nano-stations.
>
> https://store.ui.com/collections/operator-airmax-devices/products/2-4-ghz-loco
>
> You have to know a bit about wifi networking to set one up. There are
> tutorials out there to coach you. Contact me off-line if you want more
> information on setting one up.
>
> William
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 1, 2022 at 3:25 PM Jeremy Rodriguez via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone recommend the best Wi-Fi repeater to use with the new Sunny
>> boys’ that do not have Wi-Fi capability?
>> Mr. Mahon?
>>
>>
>> Jeremy Rodriguez
>> Solar Installation / Design
>> All Solar, Inc.
>> 1453 M St.
>> Penrose Colorado 81240
>>
>> Sent by Jeremy's iPhone. Sorry for typos and shorthand.
>> _______________________________________________
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>
>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org
>>
>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the
>> other:
>> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>> List rules & etiquette:
>> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>> Check out or update participant bios:
>> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
>> --
>
> William Miller
> Miller Solar.com
> 895-438-5600
> www.millersolar.com
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the
> other:
> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out or update participant bios:
> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20221101/d179d6d4/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SMA - Tech Note - Sunny Boy US-41 - 3rd Party WiFi Options_v1.6 (1).pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 427541 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20221101/d179d6d4/attachment-0001.pdf>


More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list