Getting Data from Solis Inverter

I have the S6-GR1P3.6K and a Wi-Fi data logging stick. I can use their cloud app and view basic data.

The dongle is S3-wifi-ST. Yes the interval 5 mins ok, wondering if there is more to glean from it.

The cloud has the data from the stick and this can be accessed by an API. The data there is updated every 5 mins.

The inverter has all the data, and with a working approach, can provide data on a more frequent basis.

Modes of access into the stick include scraping the status page (limit info), listening to the server A/B, and accessing the internal server via Modbus.

This is the latest WiFi dongle. I don’t have any experience with this. However, as a first step access into the stick settings page will be required.

It may well be that the S3-WiFi-ST does not have a settings page.

Thanks @Biscuit the installer fella must have changed the default creds. I suppose I could ask them to see what that is.

I am happy to use some python or other alternative hacks, but dont fancy messing with the RS232 wired option if I dont have to.

Thought I’d report back given I have everything working now on my hybrid Solis inverter (no battery or data stick of any kind yet):

The box was installed by my solar installers, they had centred the energy meter with some spacers which I removed to add the PW11 Wi-Fi to modbus bridge in. It’s the high voltage one meaning it doesn’t need a separate DC power supply, just wired into the same 6A circuit powering the meter. (The meter installed there by the way has a CT clamp on my home’s grid connection and uses some CAN or modbus protocol to deliver that measurement (grid export/import) to the Solis inverter)

I configured the PW11 - note, DHCP wasn’t working reliably on my network and every hour the PW11 kept getting assigned a different IP address, so I configured a static one - and away we went.

(Ignore the kW scale, I’ve just changed it to kW but this is displaying an older day that was measured in W)

HA is now querying the addresses I need successfully - I might move it to NodeRED once I start writing to the registers (I’ve done this for my underfloor heating Modbus TCP) but we’ll see when the battery arrives.

Thanks all for the help @Biscuit and others.

admin: your wifi password

the one which goes with your ssid.

But dont get excited. You still cant access server b.

Tony

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@sticilface I would be very interested to see your node-red flows please, I’ve just purchased one of these bridges and am about to start down this rabbit hole.

edit: nevermind, I found your comment with the flow.

Thanks

This was just posted on a different thread on GitHub, and has worked for me:

I am now setup to get the inverter data via modbus either by TCP ethernet or serial. I have tried several integrations but keep failing. Solarman since the recent outage, and TCP or serial since the modbus registers seem to be at odds with my UK inverter.

I have asked solis for the correct RS485_MODBUS Communication Protocol for my UK inverter.

Is anyone able to confirm that I will need a protocol relevant to my 3.6K inverter in the UK? or am I, as usual, missing some trees in a very dark wood?

On a positive note my solar array performs as expected in decent weather, I am signed up with Octopus, I charge my battery cheaply every night and my electricity bills are now negligible.

Tony

Hi Tony
Can I ask which Solis Inverter family are you using?

I am currently trying to get RS485 Modbus working on an S6 GR1P 3.6k and so far, after a huge number of hours of investigation I am seeing some really weird comms problems which appear to relate to an input hardware quirk, or logic levels or critical bias resistor values or my inverter has a fault!

My S6 comms works happily with a Mk3 Wifi Stick to Solis Cloud, but using a direct 485 connection to either an Arduino data acquisition system or to a laptop ( with a USB-RS485 adapter and running Radzio Modbus Master Simulator etc) fails to respond unless I fiddle around with pull up and down resistors. The same comms ‘masters’ devices happily connect to a Solis 4G mini and OB115 power meter. I have a lot of experience of using Modbus on Solis 4Gs and they are bomb proof! Currently I can simply move the comms connector to a Solis 4G and it replies to a request (function 04 Input Read, Register 35000, 1 reg location, Slave address 01, 9600B 8 bit 1 stop No Parity) - this is the very first command issued from a Wifi Stick).

I am making some progress BUT I am concluding that either the S6 has a very peculiar / non standard comms input issue, or a HW/SW bug, or my particular Inverter has a fault. Scope signal waveforms are very different and look wrong compared to when connected to a 4G. I have a ticket with Solis support but response is slow. So far I ve only found evidence of people having comms problems on the S6.

It would be really good to know:-

HAS ANYONE GOT A DIRECT RS485 MODBUS CONNECTION WORKING ON A SOLIS S6?

Are you able to scope signals on A and B both differentially and also wrt the S6 0V? At power up with no other connections I see 3.3V on the A line wrt the 0V pin and 0V on B (appears to be Hi Z floating around ground). The differential waveforms may look like they meet the RS485 +200 and -200mV logic thresholds but when measured single ended relative to the S6 0V it can look like inputs are becoming clamped or distorted.

Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve

Mines a 3.6k hybrid inverter.

I have followed a lot of advice from @Biscuit here and elsewhere and will be rewiring my inverter to modbus/ethernet connector with a terminating resistor.

Unlike you I know little about modbus, but will persist until I have a stable link between my inverter and home assistant.

Tony

This did it for me. Old wifi stick, no modification. Scan interval 60 sec by default.
Now I have both, Web and local solution. Coming days I will test if I get data when there is no solis - cloud connection.

Solved ?

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Hi All.

I have 5KW Solis Hybrid. LAN stick also.

I’ve been trying to integrate with Victor’s VRM via their colour controller.

Far better data insight and free!

I put a T I to the cantus cable to the batteries and this worked. By Victron clearly shows all the needed data of the batteries. (Pylontech)

Where I’m falling down is my AC side. I don’t really want to spend hundreds on additional sensors.

I was hoping I could get the victron to fetch data via modbus. Apparently works with standard solar, but not apparent with the hybrid. Has anyone had any luck with this integration?

It’s almost like MODBUS is not working on the stick.

On version 2022xxx firmware. The first firmware they sent bricked my stick. Which solis sent me a free replacement.

Any tricks appreciated.

Hi @honikos, can you share your configuration for that integration please? I’ve got the same setup (40… WiFi stick) and tried setting up that integration but all sensors kept showing Unavailable.

I also tried the Omnik integration with HTML scraping which also works reasonably well, except the total production is reported in whole kWhs only.

I feel your frustration. I have a Solis S6-GR1P(2.5-6)K inverter and tried the Solarman integration in Hacs. But it failed so far, even with a custum library.
Anyways, I wanted to share this issue with you for doc: SN 40..... and old WIFI Stick works also. Solis Inverter RHI-3P K-HVES-5G · Issue #121 · StephanJoubert/home_assistant_solarman · GitHub
were Honikos sen me some pointers. Maybe it’s of any use for you. I didn’t have time to figure it out yet. But seems he has it working.

same here, unavailable, did you get any further?

I gave an instruction on GitHub:

I hope it works for you.

Maybe this small python script is the door opener (enables the wifi - logger to give answers from the modbus requests) ?

I have posted this on the modbus thread but its worth posting it here for information.

SOLIS RHI-3.6K-48ES-5G 3.6KW HYBRID SOLAR INVERTER

Mostly working via serial in the UK with homeassistant-solax-modbus.

Credit to Wills106

@Biscuit Geoff. Thanks for all the informative contributions to this thread. I am looking to bring the output of my inverter in to HASS and am looking to procure the necessary equipment.

the tSH-735 box, I note it is able to be powered VIA POE, a win for me as I have spare capacity in my network rack. Does this device have the facility to send MODBUS over TCP?

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

@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.