[RE-wrenches] Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO

Sun May 18 05:11:46 PDT 2025

That's not a bad idea. But it is one more thing to potentially go wrong and
have to maintain.

I just discovered something else with a parallel AIO and SA setup. Really
it's more of an inverter issue. The inverters have wildly inaccurate SOC
values if you are doing open loop. You have to divide the battery aH
setting by the number of inverters you have for accurate numbers, at least
on the firmware I have. I noticed on this triple setup that when the
batteries were depleted about 80% (20% SOC), that the inverters reported a
SOC of 73%. Each inverter only sees the aH that they consume individually
and deduct that from 100%.

If you are using the inverter values for SOC in SA, you need to set the aH
in the inverters to the proportional share of the battery capacity.

This is something I believe Midnite needs to fix unless it has already been
addressed in a firmware upgrade.

Jason Szumlanski
Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208

On Fri, May 16, 2025, 9:53 AM Jay via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Hi Jason
>
> How about you install a 12v battery charged from the inverter to power the
> device which would give you back up on backup.
>
>
>
>
> On May 16, 2025, at 12:58 AM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> 
> But the upside is it doesn't rely on the cloud, so historical data is
> stored locally, even in the event of a system shutdown (if you power the Pi
> device from the battery DC bus). That doesn't do much good if the battery
> BMS turns off, of course, but it's nice to continue logging data even if
> there is no Internet connection.
>
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
> NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
> Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
> Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208
>
> On Fri, May 16, 2025, 12:48 AM Brett Stigile via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Overall I like Solar Assistant as well.  Be aware it is not cloud based.
>>  Sure it stores locally on the Pi, that’s great.  But, if the internet is
>> down you are blind.  Not supper helpful for remote sites if you can’t look
>> through the data a see if there was a potential issue or if the internet is
>> just down.
>>
>>
>> Brett Stigile
>> Owner/Renewable Energy Electrician
>> 503-317-7950
>> brett at oregonsunwrangler.com
>>
>> Oregon Sun Wrangler LLC
>> CCB: 240661
>> License No: 66LRT
>> NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification
>> #PV 100414-008123
>>
>> > On May 15, 2025, at 1:05 PM, re-wrenches-request at lists.re-wrenches.org
>> wrote:
>> >
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>> > Today's Topics:
>> >
>> >   1. Re: EG4 Praise (Maverick Brown)
>> >   2. Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO (Jason Szumlanski)
>> >   3. Re: Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO (William Bryce)
>> >   4. Re: Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO (Kirpal Khalsa)
>> >
>> >
>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Message: 1
>> > Date: Thu, 15 May 2025 08:14:41 -0500
>> > From: Maverick Brown <maverick at mavericksolar.com>
>> > To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] EG4 Praise
>> > Message-ID: <A830425D-80E1-4E8E-A23E-023873895B16 at mavericksolar.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>> >
>> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> > URL: <
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250515/1d46c98a/attachment-0001.htm
>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> > Message: 2
>> > Date: Thu, 15 May 2025 11:37:53 -0400
>> > From: Jason Szumlanski <jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com>
>> > To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>> > Subject: [RE-wrenches] Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO
>> > Message-ID:
>> >    <CAE438R-L9F0ka3QyPans-cYtQc3PDmvLK5uR6K5-Oz=WKpey3Q at mail.gmail.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> >
>> > I just got Solar Assistant up and running with my triple AIO site. It
>> was
>> > surprisingly easy. I think I am in data heaven. This is everything I had
>> > hoped for from the Midnite Pro app. It consolidates all three inverters'
>> > instant and historical data while providing real time individual
>> inverter
>> > data as well. I'm not sure if I can get the historical data per
>> inverter,
>> > but that is available through the Midnite app anyway, and has little
>> > usefulness in a multi-inverter environment.
>> >
>> > If anyone needs tips on how to get this done, feel free to contact me
>> off
>> > list.
>> >
>> > The short answer is I purchased a preloaded Solar Assistant Pi device
>> > directly from Solar Assistant, and three USB to RS-485 dongles from
>> Amazon.
>> > I got the Pi device with the DC power supply and connected it directly
>> to
>> > my battery bus so it stays on even if the inverters shut down.
>> >
>> > Jason Szumlanski
>> > Florida Solar Design Group
>> > -------------- next part --------------
>> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
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>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> > Message: 3
>> > Date: Thu, 15 May 2025 12:20:45 -0400
>> > From: William Bryce <wlbryce at pineridgeproducts.com>
>> > To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO
>> > Message-ID:
>> >    <CAEQmjP4UqH9GCFGHt4MkEVtY71FbfOfh4o7gCaBUQbRj67Omog at mail.gmail.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> >
>> > I highly recommend using SA with ALL Asian inverters. This will remove
>> the
>> > chance of a SolArk screen of death bricking and locking you out of your
>> > inverter, and also remove any chance of data or setting manipulation
>> from
>> > others.
>> >
>> > With SA, ALL the data is served and stored on the RPie computer locally.
>> >
>> > On the MNS AIO, you can run the Dongle and the SA at the same time.
>> >
>> >> On Thu, May 15, 2025 at 11:38?AM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
>> >> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I just got Solar Assistant up and running with my triple AIO site. It
>> was
>> >> surprisingly easy. I think I am in data heaven. This is everything I
>> had
>> >> hoped for from the Midnite Pro app. It consolidates all three
>> inverters'
>> >> instant and historical data while providing real time individual
>> inverter
>> >> data as well. I'm not sure if I can get the historical data per
>> inverter,
>> >> but that is available through the Midnite app anyway, and has little
>> >> usefulness in a multi-inverter environment.
>> >>
>> >> If anyone needs tips on how to get this done, feel free to contact me
>> off
>> >> list.
>> >>
>> >> The short answer is I purchased a preloaded Solar Assistant Pi device
>> >> directly from Solar Assistant, and three USB to RS-485 dongles from
>> Amazon.
>> >> I got the Pi device with the DC power supply and connected it directly
>> to
>> >> my battery bus so it stays on even if the inverters shut down.
>> >>
>> >> Jason Szumlanski
>> >> Florida Solar Design Group
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> > Message: 4
>> > Date: Thu, 15 May 2025 09:50:38 -0700
>> > From: Kirpal Khalsa <kirpal at oregonsolarworks.com>
>> > To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Solar Assistant and Midnite AIO
>> > Message-ID:
>> >    <CAOE7iVGgp1Vxyz-82jpD1LzyW7EUMDNsw-6iBS-KnHjNk4thMg at mail.gmail.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> >
>> > Does the Solar Assistant work with Outback gear?
>> >
>> > Kirpal
>> >
>> > On Thu, May 15, 2025, 9:21?AM William Bryce via RE-wrenches <
>> > re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I highly recommend using SA with ALL Asian inverters. This will remove
>> the
>> >> chance of a SolArk screen of death bricking and locking you out of your
>> >> inverter, and also remove any chance of data or setting manipulation
>> from
>> >> others.
>> >>
>> >> With SA, ALL the data is served and stored on the RPie computer
>> locally.
>> >>
>> >> On the MNS AIO, you can run the Dongle and the SA at the same time.
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, May 15, 2025 at 11:38?AM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
>> >> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I just got Solar Assistant up and running with my triple AIO site. It
>> was
>> >>> surprisingly easy. I think I am in data heaven. This is everything I
>> had
>> >>> hoped for from the Midnite Pro app. It consolidates all three
>> inverters'
>> >>> instant and historical data while providing real time individual
>> inverter
>> >>> data as well. I'm not sure if I can get the historical data per
>> inverter,
>> >>> but that is available through the Midnite app anyway, and has little
>> >>> usefulness in a multi-inverter environment.
>> >>>
>> >>> If anyone needs tips on how to get this done, feel free to contact me
>> off
>> >>> list.
>> >>>
>> >>> The short answer is I purchased a preloaded Solar Assistant Pi device
>> >>> directly from Solar Assistant, and three USB to RS-485 dongles from
>> Amazon.
>> >>> I got the Pi device with the DC power supply and connected it
>> directly to
>> >>> my battery bus so it stays on even if the inverters shut down.
>> >>>
>> >>> Jason Szumlanski
>> >>> Florida Solar Design Group
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>>
>
>
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