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  • SunPower partner site

    Is anyone else having trouble logging into the SunPower partner site (https://www.sunpowermonitor.com/partner/partner.aspx#)?

    The last 2 days it has said my ID and password are incorrect. Have not changes either, I suspect that SunPower is denying access because the site is showing exactly what MI's are failing.
    Now have no way of getting that info. SunPower is hiding data from it's user base so that they can deny service calls for malfunctioning system.

    Thanks for any assistance that can be offered. Also, how can I subscribe to this post to get emails of responses.

  • #2
    A partial answer to your question is : Yes, I am.

    Same symptoms. Can't get in my usual route through favorites.

    If, however, I Google the website, it takes my password and I get in. The site shows all the daily, hourly and historical hourly data as it has since my startup 10/17/2013.

    HOWEVER, all the 5 minute data is unavailable.

    I use the 5 minute data quite a bit even though in the last 2+ years it has become more spotty and troublesome, and sometimes the daily totals take a day/more to fill in and become complete become accurate. Sometimes they don't fill in completely. There's been dropouts all over my 5 min. data. for a couple/3 yrs. now.

    I'm not privy to what happened this time or why, but in the past, things have mostly corrected themselves in a day/2.

    I'll call my vendor on Mon. and see WTF is happening on a fix, if anything .

    I gave up trying to get much any useful info from S.P. some years ago. A bunch of script reading, uninformed Indonesian apologists working in what sounds like a boiler room call center is about all I ever got. Very unprofessional and a disappointment. Good (but overpriced) equipment. Very poor help.

    If I was to hazard a guess, based on previous experience with them, my money would be on an unforeseen screwup when attempting to simplify things based on the general unprofessionalism I've seen from them. Or/And, as you may be implying, it may be a way to hide problems. Or both/other stuff. Whatever the reasons/causes/intent, it's a crappy way to run a railroad.

    Comment


    • #3
      can you explain in detail how you get access by googling the website? Thanks

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by snifferpro View Post
        can you explain in detail how you get access by googling the website? Thanks
        1.) Get on the net.
        2.) Get to Google.
        3.) Type "sunpower monitoring" in the search box without the quotes.
        4.) Choose the result that has the internet address: "monitor.us.sunpower.com".

        Or simply use that Sunpower internet address from step 3 above.

        That puts me at the Sunpower monitoring site with the hourly output data access The 5 minute data site with all the other stuff is still locking me out. I suspect it may be unavailable moving forward. I'll call my installer this A.M.

        Comment


        • #5
          That is not the same as the PARTNER site that allows me to see per panel production. That is the standard Sunpower monitoring site. which I have always had acces to yu that is still wsorking.
          The PARTNER site requires Adobe flash player that is built in to Internet Explorer. Please click on the link in the original post to see the difference.

          Comment


          • #6
            Yes. As I wrote in my first post to this thread, I'm fully aware that what I referred you to is not the legacy partner's site. Keep it in your pants.

            Pursuant to what I wrote in a subsequent post to that first post, I spoke with my installer at some length today.

            From that source, the site you refer to as a partner's site - the one I've been using since 10/13/2013 - is no longer accessible to grunts like me.

            My installer said he doesn't know the actual reason(s) but got the song/dance from S.P. that since Adobe flash player won't be available after year end, the legacy version is being dropped and users will be SOL. Vendors and distributors will probably get new versions at some point for monitoring/troubleshooting, but end users won't get access.

            My installer believes there's a fair amount of B.S. in that story and most of the cause of the situation behind all this has something to do with all the calls to vendors (like my vendor) and also calls to S.P. from users going apechit every time they see small changes in panels' output that mostly amount to squat and don't understand what they're looking at but see small variations, think they got screwed when they see < STC output, etc. and panic.

            He also says that type of traffic/stuff has increased a lot over the last year/two - for him at least. Excluding what are, correctly or not, seen as nuisance calls may well have something to do with the changes in access.

            He told me he'll look into seeing if/what anything can be done to restore access to legacy type data for me (or other users who request it I suppose) but he said he's not optimistic of the success of such endeavors. While not saying so, he seems to have a similar opinion to mine of the worth of S.P. support.

            He promised to call me by week's end with status/answers and since we seem to have a decent working relationship, I'm cautiously optimistic he's not B.S.ing me.

            I was told that so far, I'm the only user who's called my installer wondering where the data went or WTF is going on.

            I'll post an update as soon as I hear from my installer, or by week's end if I don't hear from him.

            I'd appreciate reading about any information you or other posters turn up in this matter.

            Comment


            • #7
              Thanks for the update.
              Yesterday I sent both my installer and SunPower Tech support a months worth of data showing individual panels producing less than 50% of all the panels around them. In some cases panels reported absolutely no production.

              What prompted my use of the Partner site was a dramatic drop in production in late May. SP did acknowledge that 1 specific panel was not producing. Texh support said they sent a script to the PVS6 and the panel began to produce. Unfortunately, production continued to remain low compared to previous days and months. SP sent a tech to the site where he plugged into the PVS6 with his laptop and did see that the panel in question was not producing. He went on to the roof and lifted the panel in question to see the micro inverter. The MI was flashing red meaning it was not working properly. The tech stopped and started ALL MI's and when I checked the partner site, the panel in question was again producing.

              Not the end of the story. Watching carefully for days after that incident and using the partner site I could see random individual panels under producing between the hours of 6am to 12pm and then again during the hours of 2pm to 6pm. Hours between 12pm and 2pm NO panel under produced. When I say under produced, I mean 50% less than neighbors or 0. During June I noticed as my usage increased, my production decreased and that continues till today. Living in the desert I would have expected to see production increase even while usage increases.

              SunPower branded MI's have had issues and have been replaced on many arrays because of their failure. SP now uses Enphase MI's and there is a monitoring program for these MI's that allows the user/owner to see individual panel production.

              In my email to SP and my installer I asked what brand of MI is in my panels and if they can be retrofitted with the Enphase MI's My email was sent at 6am and as of this writing I have not heard from either SP or my installer.

              In my view, SP just wants to sell equipment and has no interest in customer support. They do not want customers to know if their panels are failing and without the partner site, users have absolutely no way of knowing whether panels are even functioning at all.

              I believe that flash player SUPPORT goes away at the end of the year. However, flash player is embedded in Internet Explorer and you can get a flash player add on for Firefox.

              I will give SP and installer a chance to digest the data I sent to see if I get a response. Failing a response I will be opening a case with the BBB.

              I know there have been individuals interested in hacking the data from the PVS6 to provide data and support claims of system failures. So far I don't think anyone has been 100% capable of getting and enumerating the data from the PVS6.

              I agree with both you and your installer that SP is non responsive to its customers. and there have been class action suits against SP.

              Thanks for your input, and I'll be watching this thread.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by snifferpro View Post
                In my view, SP just wants to sell equipment and has no interest in customer support. They do not want customers to know if their panels are failing and without the partner site, users have absolutely no way of knowing whether panels are even functioning at all.
                The customers do have ways. There is no panel monitoring here, but failures are quickly
                detected from the string inverter readings, and quickly localized with a clamp on ammeter.

                Your experience indicates to me that Micro Inverters are best avoided if practical, to eliminate
                a lot of points of failure. I have not yet seen a panel failure after years and millions of panel
                operating hours. Failures here have been a failed AC circuit breaker, a burned out MC4
                (probably took in moisture), and a burned out 6 gauge DC connection (probably daily heating
                and cooling loosened it). A couple of marginal panels at initial installation were detected and
                tracked down with simple circuit measurements.

                The plan here is keep it simple, use NO OX on MC4s, retighten connections a couple times a
                year for the first couple years of operation, and use heavy enough conductors that they do
                not substantially heat up and cool every daily cycle. Bruce Roe

                Comment


                • #9
                  I agree that with MI's, there are multiple points of failure. However, if there is only 1 inverter for all panels, when/if the inverter fails, the customer would never know that. No one monitors all customer accounts for potential problems. It is up to the homeowner to constantly monitor production to see that they are generating electricity.

                  Each system - MI's or single Inverter has it's drawbacks. If the customer is given access to per panel production it creates service calls to SP or the installer. If there is only 1 inverter and the customer is not monitoring on a daily basis they could go weeks/months before they realize their array is not doing its job.

                  I for one being a new solar subscriber have been monitoring my system since commissioned. October 2019 to May 2020 I had excellent production versus usage. When temps went above approximately 95 degrees, production decreased.

                  SP customers sorely need a monitoring program that allows them to see per panel production within certain boundries. If a panel is producing less than 50 percent of surrounding panels it is flagged as being an issue. In my case there are no trees, no shadows, individual panels are randomly creating less than 50% of panels around them. It is usally the same panels experiencing issues, but not every single day. Issue are during specific times of the day - not all day. Sometimes panels shoe NO production.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hi Snifferpro, I'm curious how you obtained the output from the individual panels. When my Sunpower system with enphase inverters was installed in Septmeber 2019, the installer showed me the montioring app, and when I asked how to see per panel output, his response was the SP line, 'customers are bothering us with nuisance calls'. OK. But now I think I've seen a dropoff since June, some of which might be high temperature related, but even on cooler sunny days, the gross energy output at equivent days/times between May and now has fallen off.

                    it bothers me that they made a big deal about the 25 year warranty, but if you have a few failures, you'll never know , for as far as I can tell no one is monitoring the system.
                    Thanks

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by jmand73 View Post
                      Hi Snifferpro, I'm curious how you obtained the output from the individual panels. When my Sunpower system with enphase inverters was installed in Septmeber 2019, the installer showed me the montioring app, and when I asked how to see per panel output, his response was the SP line, 'customers are bothering us with nuisance calls'. OK. But now I think I've seen a dropoff since June, some of which might be high temperature related, but even on cooler sunny days, the gross energy output at equivent days/times between May and now has fallen off.

                      it bothers me that they made a big deal about the 25 year warranty, but if you have a few failures, you'll never know , for as far as I can tell no one is monitoring the system.
                      Thanks
                      How much has it decreased ? Have you cleaned the array ? My output drops about 0.75 %/week from panel fouling (dirt). Your results will vary but panels do get dirty and that does decrease output.

                      Depending on location and array orientation, there is also some likely some decrease in P.O.A. irradiance from June until now as the sun retreats from the summer solstice.

                      Also know that besides about a 0.5 % decrease in array output/deg. C. increase in cell temp., there is also an initial decrease in output over about the first yr. or so of operation as the panels "burn in". that reduction may amount to ~ 3 - 5 % decrease over the first year or so. After that, expect ~ 0.3 to maybe 0.5 % decrease in output/yr. due to normal panel degradation.

                      I've had a S.P. system operating for 7 years come Oct. and my panels/system efficiency dropped ~ 3.5 % over the first year of operation.

                      However, and all that said, if micro inverter problems are partly the cause of your system output reductions, at this time, without per panel monitoring, you'll most likely not be able to determine it.

                      FWIW, and opinion only, Sunpower makes good stuff - even if way overpriced for what you get - but they've usually been long on hype, innuendo and stretching facts while being short on real information and help.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        jmand73 - I used the following site https://www.sunpowermonitor.com/partner/partner.aspx# to monitor per panel production. However, sometime in July they disabled logins to the site. The site is still up and running and you can try to get access with the same userid and password you use for the monitoring system you are currently using. SunPower says the site is being abandoned because it uses Adobe Flash Player which is losing support at the end of the year. However, the site will still run and AFP will continue to work but without support. I know for a fact that the site is still working because I just received 2 reports from the site for July.

                        If you are able to login to the site above, please let me know.

                        You are right, no one is monitoring your panels. You have no way of knowing if panels/micro inverters are failing.

                        How do you know there is a drop off of production? Which way do your panels face? Heat may be an issue but I doubt it. It been over 110 degrees for over thirty days with temps as high as 116 and production seems to be the same.

                        I was able to track panels that were under producing by 50% or more through the months of June and July.

                        I gave SunPOwer engineering a few panel serial numbers and days to check and they got back to me today through my sales manager. They said they performed firmware updates to panels, but did not say which panels, or when those firmware updates were performed.

                        As the OWNER of my system SunPower should not be making any firmware updates without my knowledge or consent.

                        The 25 year warranty is pretty much a gimmick, as you have absolutely no way to know your system is not performing to its stated max.

                        Again, if you get access to https://www.sunpowermonitor.com/partner/partner.aspx# please let me know and also let me know if you need to know how to get per panel info from the site.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I tried the 'sunpower...partner.aspx#' site, but could not get past the adobe flash player required message. I did install the latest flash, but it did not help.

                          Heres where I'm at... We have ten panels on the ridge line of a gambrell that face 110 degrees, and ten on the other side that face 290 degrees, and 4 that face 200 degrees. Our peak production is between 11 and 2, as all panels are in sunlight, and there are no trees or other obstructions. I downloaded peak power data at 5 minute intervals for dates in April, May, June July and August on days when there were minimal clouds. (I can tell by looking for minimal change in power output between adjacent 5 minute intervals. ) What I see is that the peak power is in APril and May. It starts to drop a bit in June, and more so in July and August. I need to spend some more time analyzing the data.

                          I suppose the difference is possibly attributed to temperature. July and August have been very hot, and formula I found says multiply the temperature coeffiecent , .29%/Degree F, by the difference between 68 and ambient temperature, and add 30 for the roof. So if its 98, the panel output is derated by about 10%. Also, in June the panels were covered with yellow pollen, but that is since gone, and the panels seem clean. I can't really wash them as JPM suggested, but given that the pollen did not decrease the output too much, I don't think the flim on them is a big problem.

                          Bottom line is if I factor in the first year burn in reduction, the system may be operating within spec. But not having someone watching the output for trouble is disconcerting. Is this standard practice in the industry?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            If you are running Windows on a computer, Internet Explorer has flash player built in and Internet Explorer still works. I'm running Win 10 and use IE from Win 10 to access the site. I can also use Firefox. There is an Adobe Flash player for FF that does work. Even if you run IE or FF, I doubt seriously that you will be able to login as I believe they have disabled all logins.

                            Your situation sounds very much like mine. Production during March, April, and May was great. Starting in June, production started to diminish, but using the partner site I could see that random panels/MI's were not producing as well as panels around them. The failures usually occurred during the hours of 6am to 12pm and then again from 2pm to 6 pm. We've had no rain here since some time in April. Very sunny skies. Ocassional cloudy days. If I had not had access to the partner site, I would not have been able to get engineering to look into the situation. They said they sent firmware updates to all panels, but without access to the partner site I can no longer confirm that.

                            SunPower has no interest in customer service. Their only interest is like every major corporation, and that is to produce revenue. They cannot create revenue if they have to spend time and effort investigating customer complaints.

                            There are individual efforts to hack into the PVS6 and retrieve the data on a per panel basis. Here is a youtube link"shiny tech things" that you might want to subscribe to be informed of progress on the efforts to hack the PVS6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNmY...re=em-comments

                            Here is a link on what can be extracted from the PVS6 mentioned in the youtube video - https://github.com/ginoledesma/sunpo...r_pvs_notes.md

                            I would appreciate being kept in the loop on efforts and progress you make in getting per panel insight.

                            As far as being standard in the industry. I believe the customer is responsible to monitor their own system whether itis MI's or a consolidated inverter. I am of the opinion that there is absolutely no honest business left in the country. It is all about the money. Customer be damned.

                            You can also get a little detailed info from the graphs in the standard monitoring program. You can download a daily csv that may show you when panels are failing. I used that data to compare to the per panel views I was getting and the times and decreases in production compared almost exactly.

                            if you need info on how to get the daily info, let me know.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by jmand73 View Post
                              I tried the 'sunpower...partner.aspx#' site, but could not get past the adobe flash player required message. I did install the latest flash, but it did not help.

                              Heres where I'm at... We have ten panels on the ridge line of a gambrell that face 110 degrees, and ten on the other side that face 290 degrees, and 4 that face 200 degrees. Our peak production is between 11 and 2, as all panels are in sunlight, and there are no trees or other obstructions. I downloaded peak power data at 5 minute intervals for dates in April, May, June July and August on days when there were minimal clouds. (I can tell by looking for minimal change in power output between adjacent 5 minute intervals. ) What I see is that the peak power is in APril and May. It starts to drop a bit in June, and more so in July and August. I need to spend some more time analyzing the data.

                              I suppose the difference is possibly attributed to temperature. July and August have been very hot, and formula I found says multiply the temperature coeffiecent , .29%/Degree F, by the difference between 68 and ambient temperature, and add 30 for the roof. So if its 98, the panel output is derated by about 10%. Also, in June the panels were covered with yellow pollen, but that is since gone, and the panels seem clean. I can't really wash them as JPM suggested, but given that the pollen did not decrease the output too much, I don't think the flim on them is a big problem.

                              Bottom line is if I factor in the first year burn in reduction, the system may be operating within spec. But not having someone watching the output for trouble is disconcerting. Is this standard practice in the industry?
                              1.) What's your panels' STC rating ?

                              2.) What are the array tilts ?

                              3.) Try this: Run PVWatts for each array with 10 % system losses, use the hourly output option and sum the model's outputs for the 3 arrays. Compare daily outputs (or hourly for that matter) for sunny days in the spring and summer and look for differences in outputs. What you'll get is a rough SWAG of the differences is clear day array outputs as f(temp. and changes in seasonal irradiance caused by changes in the solar incidence angle and other seasonal changes. For a good part of the U.S., the highest hourly clear sky outputs and some of the best (highest) daily clear day totals are in the spring.

                              An example only, my array's clear day and clean output peaks ~ 05/07 - 05/20 at ~ 6.89 kWh/STC kW per day. It stays at ~ 6.6 -6.7 kWh/STC kW per day until ~ 08/01 or so. That behavior is mostly because amb. temps. are a bit lower in May making cell temps lower and integrated values of P.O.A (Plane of Array) irradiance are about what they are on the other side of the summer solstice. So, the solar input is often similar, but losses are less because things are cooler. But again, your situation and numbers will be different but perhaps the patterns will have some similarity.

                              Using PVWatts in this way is a kind of a bastardization of the model's intent, but it can be informative.

                              4.)The derate in cell efficiency is per degree Celsius, not deg. Fahrenheit. Use deg. F and you'll only get more confused. I stick w/ S.I. units for solar calculations.

                              An example of temp. effects on cell efficiency: If it's 98 F ambient air temp., on a sunny and not too windy day, the amb. air temp. on my roof will probably be something like 5 - 10 F warmer than at ground level. On a sunny day, my panels run ~ 23 - 33 C (~ 40 - 60 F) warmer than the roof ambient air temp., depending mostly on P.O.A irradiance and wind velocity. Your application may produce something similar, probably not identical, but maybe not terribly far off.
                              At a 98 F ground level amb. air temp., and, say, a 3 m/sec. wind velocity with, say, 15 cm of roof to panel clearance, your cell temp. might be close to (98+7+50)F ~ = 68 - 69 C or so. If so, using -0.29%/deg. C. for the temp. coeff. of power will reduce your efficiency by ((68.5-25)*0.0029) ~ 0.12.6 or ~ 12-13 % or so. Your 10 % was maybe close, but that was coincidental.

                              4.) As I wrote, array fouling decreases my output ~ 0.75%/week if not washed or without a decent rain, but that rate seems to become asymptotic after about maybe ~ 6-8 weeks with no rain. I can't prove it, but I suspect that rate of fouling is not all that unusual. But, because array fouling is so site specific, your array will most likely foul differently - maybe more, maybe less and probably not steady or even semi predictable. Arrays in the SE U.S. for example foul quicker in spring due to pollen - some of it pretty brutal. I've been in the south a lot and seen lots of it. Also, low tilts (maybe < 10 deg. or so) will increase general fouling rates and and tend to cake things up as any rain will tend to puddle at the low sides of a panel more and not run off as quickly - or at all.

                              FWIW, I suspect fouling may be a part of the cause of your decreased output.

                              5.) What's your zip ?

                              Comment

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