Getting Data from Solis Inverter

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99

Short answer. No.

You should appreciate that I can touch-type, but that ability far exceeds my technical skills! Verbosity over techno-speak any day. Anyway, here is a more detailed answer to your question.

So, as a preamble
I have abandoned my Solis Inverter Data Logging Stick. It only worked for 10 minutes every 3 hours, and my newer sticks will simply not register/work with my inverter, so I have turned the data stick off. Honestly - no withdrawal symptoms and using HA/Modbus to poll every 20 seconds works just fine for me.

I only used this tSH-735 box so as to be able to run two ‘masters’ on the Modbus - both my HA and the stick. Turning off the stick I have also been able to turn off the tSH-735, and re-wiring to simply use an ethernet to RS485 adaptor.

To answer your questions.
The box can be powered POE. I tested on my (house) POE switch. In the garage, I used a 5v adaptor (which worked) and then bought a 12v adaptor but noticed no real difference.

This device is a serial device - it is just a tri-port RS485 unit. It does have one special mode where one port is for the Modbus slave (bus) and the other two ports are for two individual Modbus masters, but all slave/masters must be RS485 serial.

It can manage conversion between different baud rates (tested) and between Modbus ASCI and Modbus RTU, but it does not do Modbus TCP.

The ethernet port is ONLY for accessing the inbuilt web server for programming. There is no facility to use the ethernet port for data. Modbus has to get to and through this device as ‘serial’, hence your HA master must present on a serial line as either Modbus ASCI or Modbus RTU.

I used an Ethernet to RS485 adaptor (Modbus TCP from HA to Modbus RTU) so my HA spoke Modbus over TPC, which appeared as Modbus over serial (RTU), which was then connected to the tSH-735, which managed this through to the inverter.

As far as I know, this is almost the only tri-port unit that will support two masters on a Modbus bus, and therefore as a ‘serial only’ unit it has to be connected to a computer serial port, or partnered with either a serial-USB or serial-Ethernet adaptor.

I can certainly confirm that it all worked with HA (Modbus TCP) → Ethernet/RS485(Modbus aware) adaptor → tSH-735 → inverter RS485 port

100

@Biscuit

Many thanks for taking time time to provide such a detailed response.

If you decide you want to part ways with your tsh-735, please let me know - I would like to tinker.

101

Have confirmed working, information extraction via @wills106 version of solax integration - thanks very much. Thanks to Dad - @tba80 for the loan of his serial adapter.

@Biscuit where in the uk did your source your tsh-735 from? I note there are several vendors but always wary of purchasing from internet sellers without recommendations.

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102

Glad people are finding the Integration useful.

Hopefully I can add more functionality to the Integration soon, so you gain extra control over the Inverter.

103

I make a point of never recommending anything (from past experience of recommendations failing to live up to expectation).

I am happy to pass on details of where I purchased my unit from (with the usual caveat emptor)

https://www.measurementsystems.co.uk/tsh-735—serial-port-sharer-3-x-rs485-poe

No, it is not cheap, shipping is extra, and (unless you have POE) it needs a power supply too. Just easier to do away with the data logging stick!

104

SOLIS 5G here, UK based.

I’m successfully retrieving data from the solis using a Raspberry Pi Zero with an adapter and MQTT to communicate the information.

105

Hi

I am able to get the mqtt data into the broker but I don’t know how to turn that into sensors…have you figured this out yet?

106

Just to add to this very useful information pool:
I have a Solis Hybrid 6kW inverter which was supposed to be supplied with a LAN stick, but came with WiFi.
The installer helped me get the Android app running on my phone.
The WiFi stick seemed unstable, despite good signal levels at the inverter location, so I asked them to provide me with the LAN stick originally requested. They did, I also asked to keep the WiFi stick as a backup.
The LAN stick was even less reliable than the WiFi, so thinking it must be faulty (I had not at that time found this forum), I asked them to replace it. They did.
That one also seemed unstable so - being an IT.firmware guy by trade - I decided to take the plunge and “update its firmware”, using an image from the Solis support forum pages. This totally bricked the LAN stick. I did not dare ask the installer for a third sample, so I have asked Solis Support to tell me how to un-brick my LAN stick - the ticket has been sitting ‘unassigned’ for ten days.
Meanwhile at some point, the WiFi stick had a hissy fit and stopped working, and was not associating with my wifi network.
I noticed that if i used the setup button, it was transmitting on an SSSID which had faulty characters in it - suggestive of memory corruption.
So I tried the factory reset button inside, and now the UI has reverted to some ancient looking orange themed page - I’m guessing this is some kind of ‘limp home’ factory image.
This UI does not even have a firmware upgrade option.
It is, however, reasonably reliably getting my data to Solis, so I’m loath to disturb it any further

My longer term plan is to passively tap the RS485 data (I know enough about modbus that I regard that as a doddle)

Questions for this Forum:

  1. Any suggestions for reviving the dead LAN stick? It is the hardware described above legended ME-22X007-V31
    The stick comprises an I2C interface chip connecting to the WiFi/Ethernet chip for initial programming
  2. Any suggestions for pimping the WiFi stick given that its UI doesn’t offer a ‘firmware update’ button, and firmware for WiFi sticks does not seem to be available from the Solis website?
  3. Whilst I know the stick only updates the cloud once every five or ten minutes (it seems to vary), how frequently does the stick poll the MODBUS registers on the inverter - does it only do that once every five minutes, or is it more frequent
107

These data logging sticks and the Solis Cloud offering are ‘badge engineered’ and made and supported by Solarman. I have searched to see if Solarman support older LAN sticks with updates but without success; you may be more adept at finding a suitable update. Support may be available to ‘professional’ users.

Yes, I have an older LAN stick which is just that - LAN. I also have a newer stick which pretends to be WiFi in the setup pages. I assume that the evolution has been from separate hardware, to combined LAN/WiFi, and now to WiFi only. I don’t expect that there are many professional solar farms with lots of inverters in a field using LAN data sticks.

Both Solis and Solarman operate worldwide across different markets, and I believe that hardware and firmware does not match outside the region for which it was sold, ergo never trust firmware posted on a forum, or grey imports. This may be causing issues when many different hardware and firmware (and protocol) settings are expected to work with just one global Cloud based standard.

My LAN stick originally updated like clockwork every 5 minutes (give a second or two). I have discontinued trying to use Solis Cloud and my LAN sticks as it became too unreliable, and I also cannot register my newer stick with the inverter/cloud. When it did work, I had the stick connected to the inverter via a tri-port serial box (allowing me to run the dual Modbus master stick and also my HA together). The box config pages allowed me to monitor Tx/Rx traffic on the ports. I was expecting the data stick to regularly poll the inverter, but my impression was that the stick-inverter communication was only once every five minutes. I really did not pay much attention at the time, but was puzzled by how little traffic (frequency and quantity) there appeared to be between stick and inverter.

The Solis Modbus protocol suggests reading no more than 100 bytes / 50 registers in one go, with an interval of at least 300ms between. To read all the inverter status and key holding registers as (eight) sequential 50-register blocks should therefore take no more than three to four seconds. I am currently directly polling (in Node-RED) my inverter at 20 second intervals with a manageable level of timeout errors. I suspect that reading too frequently could impact the inverter operation.

108

Thanks for those insights, Geoff. Once my new-ish system is fully handed over to me (I’m still haggling with the installer on a couple of minor points), I will use an RS485 to LAN converter (I think have a Moxa unit hanging around somewhere I could use) and start sniffing the traffic. I should be able to connect that in parallel with the WiFi stick as I don’t plan on writing anything to the inverter - all to well aware of possible nasty consequences! And yes, I know I mustn’t double-terminate the RS485.
Once I know what’s going on, I’ll probably go the same way as you and ditch the Cloud - although it’ll be quite a bit of work to replicate the nice graphs and long time data storage they offer.
Top of my ‘wish list’ is a simple display of battery SOC, easily visible to me and other people in the house, and HA should be a good way to go about that.

109

Hi all

I’ve got this working with just a new DLS-LAN stick (Serial number 1920xxxxxx) and the inbuilt modbus integration in HA. Details are here:

This is for a hybrid inverter. The registers would need updating for other types.

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110

FWIW, my bricked LAN stick has the following attributes:
The LAN stick serial number is 1918451071
another label on the board reads 55-0059-002
The board version reads ME-22X007-V31
It comes up at the LAN link level, but sends no packets, not even a DHCP discovery.
Its architecture seems to have an 8051 variant acting as an on-board programmer, presenting an I2C interface on the internal programming connector.
Solis have so far ‘not assigned’ my ticket for the last 16 days. Not impressive.

111

I’ve also had a nightmare - my installer came and finished up the battery install, came with an S3 Wi-Fi stick. I wasn’t really interested since my above setup works better for me but I disconnected my RS485 so he could install the Wi-Fi stick. It worked and I browsed the solis cloud app for a couple of days before deciding to switch back to my old setup. Except one big issue, he’d tightened the Wi-Fi stick so much that it’s completely stuck into the inverter port. I managed to get the screw thread loose (after much trying) but it seems the green port underneath is rotating with it so I still can’t remove the stick.
I’m now worried the entire port is dead as the Wi-Fi stick isn’t even powered now. To say I’m annoyed is an understatement.

Figuring out my next moves, it might involve a Dremel and some delicate cutting.

112

All good now, with a bit of surgery. If someone is interested in my setup:

First, as the above photo shows: Protoss PW21-H (£20 from Aliexpress) - it’s DIN mounted so shares the meter DIN rail and is powered by the same 240v AC supply as the meter. It is connected to Solis inverter via the Comm port. It’s been absolutely bulletproof and once configured (which takes 5 mins), I haven’t touched it.

I use nodered to poll modbus TCP every 10 seconds. I have about 50 or so registers that I read in sequential groups then deserialise into their respective values. They are sent to MQTT and my nodered flow also generates and sends HA MQTT Autodiscover messages so you don’t have to do anything in Home Assistant to see your Solis inverter. I prefer this decoupled setup so I can restart HA to my hearts content without nodered skipping a beat. I have attached the flow below if anyone is interested. There might still be some bugs as I’ve only played with it for the last few days. With a little digging you’ll see it’s quite easy to extend with extra sensors and registers for any of the Solis registers found here (thanks to whoever found this!):

I’ve exposed a force charge switch which will configure the inverter to go into charge mode which means I can trigger it to charge whenever my electric is cheap - it does this by setting the timed charge time to 24 hrs and enabling timed charge mode (if it isn’t already enabled)- when switching off, it defaults the timed charge times back to my tariffs offpeak period of 2330-0530. I can also stop it from discharging with another switch (sets the battery discharge amps to 1A, the lowest you can set it - so ~50W).

image
image1284×2778 245 KB

Thank you to all those who posted above and in other threads I’ve come across, in particular to @Biscuit who was the main inspiration behind this setup. It’s been a journey but it’s been fun and now I have a far better inverter than I thought I had!

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113

In case it helps someone… I have 3 Solis inverters, and get the hourly power from each using ModBus / ESPHome and use that in HA Energy. Only one ESP8266 + ModBus board required.

  1. I found the plastic bit (after removing the threaded piece) of a bulk standard 7 pin DIN socket was the perfect fit to the inverter data connection. I 3D printed a screw on cover - but this is not necessary. No need to spend money on the genuine connector :slight_smile:
  2. I used a WeMos D1 mini
  3. And a cheap RS485 adaptor XY-017 3.3v 5v 12v RS485 to TTL RS485 SP3485 RS-485 Breakout for Arduino RPI | eBay
    image
    image960×720 68.5 KB

R0 on the adaptor needs to be populated with a 0ohm resistor (a blob of solder) - this connects in the in-built 120ohm resistor across A and B. I also connected the ‘ground’ contact (Chinese characters) on the ModBus end of the adaptor to the ‘ground’ pins on the inverter data socket (but not to the ground or common on the ESP8266).

substitutions:
  device_name: "ESP8266 ModBus"

esphome:
  name: esp8266-modbus

globals:
   - id: my_global_int
     type: int
     restore_value: no
     initial_value: '0'

esp8266:
  board: d1_mini

# Enable logging
logger:
  level: VERBOSE #makes uart stream available in esphome logstream
  baud_rate: 0 #disable logging over uart

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

ota:
  password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Esp8266-Modbus Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

captive_portal:

uart:
  id: uart_modbus
  tx_pin: TX
  rx_pin: RX
  baud_rate: 9600

time:
- platform: homeassistant
  id: hatime
  timezone: Etc/GMT+0 

modbus:
  id: modbus1
  uart_id: uart_modbus

modbus_controller:
  - id: modbus1_01
    address: 0x0001
    modbus_id: modbus1
    update_interval: 10s
    setup_priority: -10
    
  - id: modbus1_02
    address: 0x0002
    modbus_id: modbus1
    update_interval: 10s
    setup_priority: -9   
    
  - id: modbus1_03
    address: 0x0003
    modbus_id: modbus1
    update_interval: 10s
    setup_priority: -8    

sensor:
  - platform: wifi_signal
    name: "${device_name} WiFi Signal Sensor"
    update_interval: 60s

  - platform: modbus_controller
    modbus_controller_id: modbus1_01
    id: today_power_p1
    name: "${device_name} Phase 1 Power Generated Today"
    address: 3014
    unit_of_measurement: "Wh"
    register_type: read
    value_type: U_WORD
    filters:
      - multiply: 100 
    state_class: total_increasing
    device_class: energy  

  - platform: modbus_controller
    modbus_controller_id: modbus1_02
    id: today_power_p2
    name: "${device_name} Phase 2 Power Generated Today"
    address: 3014
    unit_of_measurement: "Wh"
    register_type: read
    value_type: U_WORD
    filters:
      - multiply: 100
    state_class: total_increasing
    device_class: energy          

  - platform: modbus_controller
    modbus_controller_id: modbus1_03
    id: today_power_p3
    name: "${device_name} Phase 3 Power Generated Today"
    address: 3014
    unit_of_measurement: "Wh"
    register_type: read
    value_type: U_WORD
    filters:
      - multiply: 100    
    state_class: total_increasing
    device_class: energy
114

My first post on this excellent and very informative site … so please go easy on me :slightly_smiling_face:

Thought I’d share plans for my next project, which is to be able to control/access my Solis RHI inverter while not interfering (I hope) with the SolisCloud data access in any way, and to do this in a very low cost manner. On this thread I can see solutions using RS-485 multiplexers to solve the issue of multiple MODBUS masters, but I plan a different approach which I haven’t come across … although that’s not say it hasn’t been tried, since I may have missed it in the forums.

I have a Solis RHI inverter with WiFi data logging stick and like many people I also want some basic local control of the inverter. The only thing I plan to control (from an ESP32) is whether the “Time of day” charge/discharge setting is RUN or STOP based on the Octopus Agile import/export prices.

My plan is to hack the WiFi stick to add an M5Stamp-Pico (an ESP32 from M5Stack) in between UART TXD and RXD signals that run from the WiFi sticks microcontroller (whatever it is) and the RS-485 driver (SP3485 chip). I’ll use one of the ESP32s UARTs to connect to the WiFi sticks microcontroller and another of the ESP32s UARTs to connect to the RS-485 driver on the 3.3v logic side. I only need to cut two traces on the PCB (or lift pins 1 and 4 on the RS-485 driver) and solder on 4 wires to the ESP32 two UART pins.

Here’s a picture of the RS-485 driver chip on the WiFi stick I have. It looks like it’s simple for me to do the mods to insert ESP32 where I need it.

image
image1920×2560 343 KB

Initially I plan to just forward the UART0_RXD to UART1_TXD and UART1_RXD to UART0_TXD so actually everything should continue to work as standard … it’s just that all the data is now going via the ESP32.

My next plan is to then send MODBUS commands to the inverter during the time when the WiFi sticks microcontroller isn’t using the RS-485 so there is no risk of a data clash. I’m expecting the WiFi stick microcontroller to only poll the inverter around every 5 minutes. I’ll have the ESP32 monitor the traffic on the WiFi stick microcontroller side to detect when it’s completed its 5 minute poll, then I should have a safe period to send various commands to inverter before next 5 minute poll, when I’ll switch back to simple data forwarding. If there’s a risk of the WiFi stick microcontroller sending a command at random times, then I can just buffer the command and forward it when at a safe time.

The total cost of this should just be the M5Stamp-Pico which is £6.00 … unless I destroy my WiFi stick of course :unamused: … or worst still, I brick my inverter :weary:

If anyones interested I’ll update the thread with my progress and share my Arduino code.

Hoping my M5Stamp-Pico arrives this week, then I can get started.

115

Just realised that I’ll also need to cut track to pins 2 (receiver enable) and 3 (driver enable) on the SP3485 since ESP32 will need to control the SP3485 direction, so I’ll have a couple more wires to the ESP32 GPIOs for this. I might just take SP3485 off the board and solder it back on at an angle with only pins 5, 6, 7, and 8 soldered, since this makes it extremely simple to then solder on my wires to the ESP32.

As you might have guessed, I’m much more of a hardware engineer than a software engineer (although my embedded firmware is not too shabby), so making mods to boards is no problem for me. I would say that if you’re not confident doing such mods than please don’t … I’d hate to be (even indirectly) responsible for someone breaking their WiFi stick or even worse their inverter !!

116

Hi All,

Does anybody have issues with the SolaX modbus integration showing on Node-RED?

I am trying to set up an automation to charge the batteries from grid during the Octopus agile low rates.
Although the entities appear fine, the integration is nowhere to be found under the “Domain” in the “call service” node.

I have tried a couple off the shelf troubleshooting like removing and installing the integration again to no avail…

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

117

Hi everyone,

Anyone tried out the new S1-W4G-ST loggers at all? Perhaps it now allows TCP through a Port like you could for the S2-WL-ST.

If so it would be awesome to be able to send Modbus commands from HA with the latest loggers :slightly_smiling_face:

Here’s hoping!
C

118

Can I confirm with you that this is with a S2-WL-ST wifi stick?