Hi everyone,

I recently had a Sunsynk 8.8Kw installed (few days ago). This is a second hand unit to which I also received a SolarMan wifi data logger. I understand the unit to be about 8 months old and assume that the logger got sold initially with the unit.

I downloaded the SolarMan Smart App and the Installer helped me set up my profile. I am able to remotely view the state of my system which is great.

I was hoping to be able to remotely change settings, eg when loadshedding is announced etc to change that batteries are charged at a specific time and then de-activate that remotely as well when needed.

However, I don't seem to be able to do this remotely. I did see on other threads that some people with a SolarMan wifi data logger do now have the option (seemingly after an update earlier in the year) to update their Sunsynk remotely. I only seem to be able to view.

Would anyone know whether this is 1) as a result of me perhaps having an older SolarMan logger preventing this functionality 2) or could it be my profile and how it's set up (ie, should the installer change me to a different kind of user or need to make me eg administrator) or 3) could it be software related (Sunsynk inverter or the SolarMan wifi logger software?) - or perhaps something else?

I would appreciate guidance and recommendations on how to troubleshoot and solve?

Hi , you have to email Sunsynk support and give them your Solarman login username and password , they will then allow remote control of the plant. They are kinda iffy about this for some reason and dont seem to want to give this authority to users who are not installers or seem to know what they are talking about as i guess you could change some settings and mess up stuff if you dont know what you are doing . That being said with the new logger you can do remote control so there is no real reason to deny a user this function. 

Edit* Remember to change your password afterwards for safety.

Edited August 3, 20223 yr by Nexuss

1 hour ago, Nexuss said:

Hi , you have to email Sunsynk support and give them your Solarman login username and password , they will then allow remote control of the plant. They are kinda iffy about this for some reason and dont seem to want to give this authority to users who are not installers or seem to know what they are talking about as i guess you could change some settings and mess up stuff if you dont know what you are doing . That being said with the new logger you can do remote control so there is no real reason to deny a user this function. 

Edit* Remember to change your password afterwards for safety.

Ok, thank you - let me try that and see. In your second last sentence you refer to a new logger that can do remote control. I want to make sure I understood you - do you mean that on newer hardware version loggers this is available by default and that I perhaps have an older hardware version? I am trying to understand whether this is a hardware related matter in that my logger may be an older version where I need to ask Sunsynk to enable for me?

9 hours ago, WillieC said:

Ok, thank you - let me try that and see. In your second last sentence you refer to a new logger that can do remote control. I want to make sure I understood you - do you mean that on newer hardware version loggers this is available by default and that I perhaps have an older hardware version? I am trying to understand whether this is a hardware related matter in that my logger may be an older version where I need to ask Sunsynk to enable for me?

The new logger is made by Sunsynk themselves, they wil most likely try to get you to buy this if you want to do remote management, i just told them i cant afford it so they had no choice but to enable it on Solarman . The old one is the Solarman one you have .

1 hour ago, Nexuss said:

The new logger is made by Sunsynk themselves, they wil most likely try to get you to buy this if you want to do remote management, i just told them i cant afford it so they had no choice but to enable it on Solarman . The old one is the Solarman one you have .

Ah, ok - thanks. Will wait to hear from them and update on here as well.

@Nexuss - 😡 Sunsynk support came back saying they are not able to grant me access - it's only available to installers. I did then try and ask them to help me but they did not seem to want to. Could it be the Solarman logger that's making them say that?

Or, does anyone perhaps have a contact name/email address of someone at Sunsynk that could possibly assist me (or please PM me the info)?

4 minutes ago, WillieC said:

it's only available to installers

I simply told them I am the installer.

Yea i also installed my system so technically i am an installer but they didint even ask me that. Just keep on bothering them .

58 minutes ago, WillieC said:

@Nexuss - 😡 Sunsynk support came back saying they are not able to grant me access - it's only available to installers. I did then try and ask them to help me but they did not seem to want to. Could it be the Solarman logger that's making them say that?

Or, does anyone perhaps have a contact name/email address of someone at Sunsynk that could possibly assist me (or please PM me the info)?

So you need to email [email protected] 

Make sure you have downloaded the solarman BUSSINESS app and registered for that + tell them that you're the installer

Cringy restriction.

Is there not another way to do this? 

I don't have a Sunsynk. I can configure my inverter when I'm at home, on the same wifi segment as the inverter. If I could connect remotely (probably requires a static IP address, maybe a domain name) so that although I'm wherever I am, it LOOKs like I'm connected to the same wifi router, then I could configure to my heart's content. 

I suppose I'm describing a VPN. Obviously some security would be nice. I don't want to open up my home network to anybody who feels like having a nose around.

Presuming you are on fiber, get a fiber router (Mikrotik) that support dynamic dns and has a vpn server that is your absolute best choice. 

On 2022/08/03 at 6:42 PM, WillieC said:

I was hoping to be able to remotely change settings, eg when loadshedding is announced etc to change that batteries are charged at a specific time and then de-activate that remotely as well when needed.

I went the SolarAssistant route to be able to do exactly that. Involves a bit of extra cost for the system, but negligible in the greater scheme. Allows me to view inverter data real-time (and not delayed as on my old Sunsynk dongles) as well as make changes to my setup from anywhere in the world

1 hour ago, CyberJoe said:

Presuming you are on fiber, get a fiber router (Mikrotik) that support dynamic dns and has a vpn server that is your absolute best choice. 

Or install something as simple as tailscale 🙂

Am using SolarAssistant + Tailscale currently

Hi @WillieC

You can also use Home Assistant with the Node Red flows from Bloubul7 to switch settings on your inverter using the Canbus port on the inverter. 

Is a bit of a learning curver but works very nicely once you have everything setup.

 

Surely easiest solution here is to have the remote control enabled via solarman?

Thank you everyone - these suggestions are all great. Being new to this, it's great to also learn about other interfaces, software and other monitoring options available.

I spoke to my installer and he was very happy to swop it out for a Sunsynk logger to which he managed to also help me with access to changing the settings remotely. 

Looks like I am sorted for now and will also look at the other monitoring software and options mentioned!

20 hours ago, mzezman said:

Or install something as simple as tailscale 🙂

Am using SolarAssistant + Tailscale currently

Tailscale installed on a local PC I presume?

1 hour ago, CyberJoe said:

Tailscale installed on a local PC I presume?

Its running jn my HA instance, previously on a Pi and now in a VM but essentially yes, running on a local machine. That acts as the break-out node into the LAN 

On 2022/08/05 at 12:56 PM, WillieC said:

Thank you everyone - these suggestions are all great. Being new to this, it's great to also learn about other interfaces, software and other monitoring options available.

I spoke to my installer and he was very happy to swop it out for a Sunsynk logger to which he managed to also help me with access to changing the settings remotely. 

Looks like I am sorted for now and will also look at the other monitoring software and options mentioned!

Can you tell me how to change the settings remotely with the sunsynk logger? 

On 2022/08/04 at 8:13 PM, mzezman said:

Or install something as simple as tailscale 🙂

Am using SolarAssistant + Tailscale currently

SolarAssistant has a "Fast Reverse Proxy" for remote access - just configure the Site URL.
No need for Tailscale.


Fast Reverse Proxy - frp - see https://github.com/fatedier/frp

As always, for security reasons I suggest running all IOT stuff in own firewalled VLAN away from your normal LAN.