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

Fri Dec 18 14:32:11 EST 2020

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 xxxxxx Sunny WebBox serial number: xxxxxxxxx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2020-11-20 15:10 SI5048UH:xxxxxxxxxx

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-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Tump
Sent: December-18-20 6:32 AM
To: william at millersolar.com; RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
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 <william at millersolar.com<mailto:william at 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<http://www.millersolar.com/>
CA Lic. 773985

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