Now that SolarBridge monitoring is gone...

[LeeLewis]

I considered the same, looking for an open source PLC solution or something I could integrate into my own device like a Pi or similar.
Then I would use that to control my own inverters, monitoring, the whole thing that the manager did and a lot more since I could do what ever I'd like with it.

I decided that since this is not my market, it would be a waste of time other than for my own needs.
There are literally thousands of videos on youtube on building monitoring systems but I found little on PLC.

In the end, I decided it would be better to just learn more about converting most of not all of my system to DC so I could do what I wanted with it and not be held hostage by some solar company or hardware manufacturer that can mess with my hardware.

Over time, you will probably come to that conclusion. I'd be interested and have the resources to get it done (software, hardware, hosting, everything) but cannot dedicate time to it without knowing if there is such a market.

[Raymond Enriquez]

Exploring self-hosted software alternatives sounds like a prudent move. While Arduino projects and free monitoring sites offer options, finding one with the same detailed functionality as SolarBridge's Power Portal V4.0 remains crucial.

[LeeLewis]

Yes, from the GUI, it basically cleans up the configuration. That user does not have elevated access through the GUI.
Again, these managers are super old at this point and I'm not sure it's worth time and effort because it's unknown if you'll be able to re-enable any inverters and definitely not if they aren't the Pantheon II AND only of certain firmware versions.

[yanky79]

I tried to reset using the "Restore to Factory Defaults" in the Web GUI - and that seemed to only impact the Web data (like stats, Modules, design, etc.) - it did not impact the OS defaults like SSH. I think that my only hope is to try and get direct console access to re-enable user/pass to SSH; unless that login "sbtech" has elevated permissions in the Web GUI to make OS level changes.

[LeeLewis]

Ok, yes, the USB port on the board and there's another one under the regular panel. It might be covered up with a sticker or something.
They would have used USB to flash the device.

I used it to mount a USB stick to gain a little extra storage space while I was hacking away on it because there was just a few K of space left so nothing was working/running.
I also used it to back up files, along with SCP to try to have backup files but because it's such an old OS, it was really easy to mess it up anyhow.

When you say reset it, I assume you mean the config, such as what you see from the GUI.

[yanky79]

This is what I was referring to when I said hidden USB connection:

[yanky79]

Ahhh, that's what I was afraid of. I did an nmap and deep port scan, and only 80 as 23 were open. 23 is usually Telnet, but if I try to connect via telnet the output is clearly SSH (Drobear, not even OpenSSH). So I tried SSH and only option is Private Key. PureSolar (or some other installer locked it up. I am not sure how to reset it back to standard config. I tried it from within the Web, by using Restore to Default but that seems to only remove all the modules and stored data.

[LeeLewis]

I'm not sure what you mean by hidden USB? What is that?
If you nmap the device, you'll see port 22 is open, that's how I got in.

[yanky79]

Did you just use the hidden USB host port with RS232 and putty?

[LeeLewis]

The PLC is the manager itself, it sends and receives data from the inverters, and anything over PLC that it might have been made to work with.
There is no root access from the GUI as far as I could tell but I didn't need it anyhow once I got into the embedded system.

[yanky79]

What PLC were you using? The web interface with admin login has no ability to do anything other than restore to default (helpful when disk space is 1 or 2%). Did the sbtech login give you additional functionality?

[LeeLewis]

The firmware/software on the inverters respond to commands over the PLC network in this case, sent from the manager.
That said, it wasn't that straight forward because it depended on the firmware versions the inverters, and some programming options otherwise they did not respond.

However, the point is, in many cases, inverters were/are being changed out when the problem is in fact a software one, not a hardware one.
This means lots of money is being wasted junking these in the solar industry or being made by dealers changing out 'bad' ones replaced as faulty by the manufacturer then reselling them to other customers. All of this nonsense is on the consumers back because we are paying for it.

[yanky79]

I hear ya. I am just trying to get the damn thing to produce. I saw you said you sent a command from a Linux shell and was able to restart the microinverters producing; and I was hopeful. I am just really confused how the behavior is aligned to firmware - just nuts.

[LeeLewis]

I'm not sure how I helped but I'm glad I did. It's been a very costly and frustrating experience. First, nothing was ever mentioned about grid tied so that was an interesting thing to learn about. Second, the way the support ended, leaving me with a completely useless $50K solar system was almost enough to start litigation and I would have if I had not gotten so busy with other things and kind of forgot about this for a while.

Now, I'm just going to convert part of it to DC, maybe half to hybrid, I'm not sure. Out of a 42 panel system that should provide 10.2K, I'm using around 5K of it and the rest, I don't care to fight which is the part that's going DC.

If you come across others that were screwed over by this company, keep me in mind. I'd be interested in communicating with at least a handful of left hanging customers.

[yanky79]

Yes, there's some problems alright. I suggest you stop putting money into the solar companies pockets. Learn what you can about going hybrid or better, DC if you have the budget for batteries. Get rid of the grid tied stuff and the never ending support calls from companies that want to suck every dollar they can from you no matter if you end up with something useful or not.

Hire one company or pro to help you with it and be done with it.

I'm not sure what else to add. This just brings up all the frustration I went through .

Sorry to stir up the old frustrations. I guess the good news is that I am getting though the 12 stages must faster because I can build on your experiences that you shared here. :-/