[RE-wrenches] Communications using the Conext Gateway

Sun Sep 15 14:45:27 EDT 2019

Howie, I share much of your frustration.

I have dozens of clients using the Combox / Insight platform. The comboxes are generally solid, but insight has not been reliable for at least a year. All sorts of randomly scrambled and contradictory data from insight - wastes the installers time when we don't have reliable data.

The gateway / Insight2 looks promising, but the software has a long way to go. Reliability issues are one, but I find the layout and overall design and ability to view and extract performance data is poor.

So we have two communications options for this platform, neither are fully reliable at this time.

Challenging.

Kevin

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Howie Michaelson
Sent: September-15-19 9:45 AM
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Communications using the Conext Gateway

Sandra,
Thank you very much for getting back to me.  I really want to use Schneider equipment, but the tech support delays alone are incredibly infuriating!  Good to know that you are working on it, and I understand the slow training issue.
On the other hand, this is an incredibly unfair and unwise way to treat your installer base!  I have wasted all told probably a week of my time waiting on the phone and trying solutions that tech support has offered or suggested without the needed information about the current state of various devices.  And to release equipment onto us that hasn't been vetted enough is costly to us, and degrades my confidence in all the equipment, not to mention my clients confidence and satisfaction with me.  Schneider is obviously not the first company to experience these type of challenges, but I thought they had learned from others, including their Xantrex predecessor - now I'm not so sure. I look forward to a significant improvement in tech support.  I would think Schneider has the resources to make this happen quickly.
Best,
Howie

On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 11:55 AM Sandra Herrera <Sandra.Herrera at se.com<mailto:Sandra.Herrera at se.com>> wrote:
Howie,
I am sorry to hear about the issues with Insight2 as well as communications with our technical support department.
We have identified connectivity issues between some gateways and Insight2, in some cases:

  1.  The Gateway stops sending data to Insight2 after firmware update
  2.  If the time setting on Gateway is different than time on Isight2, this will cause the no communication issue
  3.  Customer network connectivity, this one usually shows an intermittent connection
We are working on a new framework application that should resolve most of the problems, and this will be a firmware update for Gateway 1.05 as well as the server update, scheduled this month.

As far as technical support, we are still experiencing growing pains since the move from Costa Mesa, California to Denver. However, we are hiring two new technicians for the team in Denver, which will reduce the hold time. Unfortunately, the learning curve for a technical support representative is steep, and it usually takes several months for a new hire to get to a level of knowledge.
I will reach out to you directly with specific troubleshooting steps to identify the communication issues for the system.

Regards

Sandra Herrera
Sandra.herrera at se.com<mailto:Sandra.herrera at se.com>

From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>> On Behalf Of Howie Michaelson
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2019 8:07 PM
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>>
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Communications using the Conext Gateway

[External email: Use caution with links and attachments]

________________________________

I have a net metered battery backup Dual stack XW Pro with a Conext Gateway. The Gateway is communicating on the Xanbus netwark and I'm able to read and write to the inverters through the gateway as long as I'm connected to it through the local area network.
I was also able to register the Gateway on the Insight2 website which has retained some of the iniial data. However, shortly thereafter the gateway seems to have stopped communicating with the insight server, or at least the server has stopped showing the gateway as connected.  I know there is internet access because everything else on the LAN has connectivity.
Schneider support not only has been having ridiculously impossible wait times, but when I do get through to them, they are of no help with this issue.  I've made my way to tier 3 support, but that has not helped in this matter.
Does anyone know if there is a trick or some reason why the gateway would stop communicating out to the Insight2 server.  I've updated all the firmware of the schneider products.  This has allowed me to actually have the gateway start working properly, based on the most recent firmware update this past week.
I've really been happy with the XW+ inverters as well as this relatively new communication and remote programming capability that the gateway promises. I would like to continue to use them, however, the difficulty of getting to Tech Support, no less someone that can actually help is starting to affect my decision process.  Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks, Howie
Howie Michaelson
Sun Catcher
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™

Solar Electric Systems Sales & Service
802-272-0004

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>

Change listserver email address & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>

Check out or update participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches_lists.re-wrenches.org/attachments/20190915/95a24b42/attachment.htm>