Good day,

After a power failure my inverter is seen as "Offline" on the new SEMS portal and with that, no data is being received.

I connected to the Solar-Wifi network, browsed to http://10.10.100.253 and connected the inverter to the router again. On the router, I can also see that the inverter is connected. The router also has internet access, tested and working.

I read in the manual that you can do a Wifi reset & reload by pressing the wifi reload button, after which the wifi led should blink. I've tried this by holding it for various times (1 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec) but the wifi led stays on with no blinking.

Any idea how I can completely reset the wifi?

Thank you,
Edwill

 

Hi Edwill

If you look on the side of the inverter you will see that the WiFi LED is on (solid) you are connected. A blinking LED means that either there is no connection to the router (2 blinks) or there is a problem connecting to the server (4 blinks).

I have a client where the WiFi is problematic. I have extended the WiFi but still sometimes it loses the signal.

Having pressed the reset button you need to logon to to Solar- Wifi again using your Android device.

If you have a solid LED and cannot connect to SEMS then indeed you have odd behaviour.

 

Thank you Chris, 

There is definitely odd behaviour as it is connected properly but sending no data. What is most strange is that the wifi reset button has no effect (the led should start blinking again). 

Any other way to restart / shutdown the whole system to maybe force a reset? 

Regards, 

Edwill

2 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

I have a client where the WiFi is problematic. I have extended the WiFi but still sometimes it loses the signal.

Chris,

you need to check for devices that are interfering with the WiFi. Neon lights, microwave, remote blasters, TV signal extender, even neighbours WiFi devices can influence this, if they are close enough.

Use an android WiFi app called WIFi analyser to check for rouge signals and WiFi signal strength.

You could also start by switching off all appliances, plugs etc and only have the WiFi on, then start switching on other devices, plugs, etc till you reproduce the fault.

Also keep in mind that most routers have a limit in the number of simultaneous WiFi connected devices.

Hi Anthony, 

All of this has been tested already, the signal is 100% as the router is very close to the inverter. 

I need to know how to reboot the system completely perhaps - any idea how to force a reset? As I mentioned, pressing the wifi reset button has no effect. 

Thanks, 

Edwill 

8 minutes ago, Edwill said:

any idea how to force a reset?

I also have a Goodwe inverter but do not know how to force a reset because I never had a wifi problem with it. Did you already contact Goodwe? They are very helpful. 

[email protected]

On 2018/11/02 at 7:12 AM, Chris Hobson said:

Hi Edwill

If you look on the side of the inverter you will see that the WiFi LED is on (solid) you are connected. A blinking LED means that either there is no connection to the router (2 blinks) or there is a problem connecting to the server (4 blinks).

I have a client where the WiFi is problematic. I have extended the WiFi but still sometimes it loses the signal.

Having pressed the reset button you need to logon to to Solar- Wifi again using your Android device.

If you have a solid LED and cannot connect to SEMS then indeed you have odd behaviour.

 

I would like to revive this discussion because I have repeatedly had the problem described in the OP. The indicator on the inverter and the wifi setup show that the inverter is connected to the WIFI, but yet nothing is sent to SEMS.

I spent the morning analysing the situation. I downloaded a program called inSSIder which was very helpful. This showed me there there several other nearby devices whose signal was possibly bleeding over my router's wifi. So I changed the channel that my router broadcasts on.

Interestingly, the wifi router immediately changed to the same channel, so it is somehow "aware" of the router.

This made no difference.

I went down the path of resetting the Goodwe's wifi to factory settings, to restarting the wifi module. Nothing. I move the router around. Nothing. Interestingly, even when the router was off, the wifi light on the inverter did not flash. It showed as connected. Something is going on there.

I also found out that the inverter wifi was turning off (or choosing not to broadcast any sort of signal) intermittently. One of the analyser tools I have shows a graph of what networks it can see and what their signal strength and channel is (interestingly some multiple channels). All would fluctuate, but the Goodwe would drop clean off the graph, sometimes for 10 seconds.

I observed this behaviour whilst sitting right next to the router.

The other, counter, version of events is that a while back the installer left his own mini wifi device (vodacom) here, in the same cupboard in which the Goodwe sits. And it worked for a month. Just before he came to take it back, I moved my router (Telkom) into the cupboard. Signal around the house was still acceptable and we had no problems for about 3 weeks. 

Then I got a new LTE+ router, moved everything around the house, got the inverter wifi running and sending data to SEMS and all was good. Until it stopped being good. 

If you look at my SEMS data for the last month you will see outages, but always the trace returns. One was an accidental disconnection of the main router. Others were caused by Telksom turning our SIM cards off (I should mention that they had put new SIMs in the box with the new router, and doofus here did not notice them). But each time the wifi light on the inverter would flash, and as soon as the router came back on line it would reconnect.

Now we are back to the wifi light always burning, the channel changing which shows that there is some level of connection between router and inverter (though see above, even when the router is powered off, the inverter light still shows connected).

OK... so let's assume that proximity is part of the problem. I can move one of the routers back into the cupboard, but how do I reboot the wifi system? I suspect (on the basis of what the installer says, his message always includes something like "system restarted") that I need to shut down and then start up again, but I'm a bit nervous about which switches to throw in which sequence.

I note that in the manual it says that when you configure the wifi, the inverter must be running on solar only. So that does that mean that I must turn off grid AND batteries?

Edited September 15, 20195 yr by Bobster
grammar

So this has happened to me again. It seems not to be a case of if the connection to SEMS portal could go down, but when it will go down.

Latest tests show that

1. The wifi software on the Goodwe responds to the setup (IE which router it should communicate with)
2. That the Goodwe really is connected to the router and stays so for hours at a time.
3. That EZmanage still works at home and when I connect my phone to the Goodwe's wifi.

So, the inverter is connected to the router (that's why the wifi light doesn't flash) but no data gets sent to the portal.

So either
a) the Goodwe is not sending data to my router
b) my router can't connect to SEMS to pass the data on. (only it did, for weeks)

9 minutes ago, Bobster said:

So this has happened to me again. It seems not to be a case of if the connection to SEMS portal could go down, but when it will go down.

Latest tests show that

1. The wifi software on the Goodwe responds to the setup (IE which router it should communicate with)
2. That the Goodwe really is connected to the router and stays so for hours at a time.
3. That EZmanage still works at home and when I connect my phone to the Goodwe's wifi.

So, the inverter is connected to the router (that's why the wifi light doesn't flash) but no data gets sent to the portal.

So either
a) the Goodwe is not sending data to my router
b) my router can't connect to SEMS to pass the data on. (only it did, for weeks)

I'm doing the following whenever mine goes down, once every couple of weeks:

• Connect to the inverter Wi-Fi hotspot (Solar-WiFixxxxxxxx)
• Go to http://10.10.100.253 whilst connected to the inverter Wi-Fi hotspot and re-enter the Wi-Fi details.

After this it's fine for quite a long while.

41 minutes ago, Bobster said:

So this has happened to me again.

Hi Bobster, for what its worth, we had a similar situation on an install, eventually after some time, the supplier gave me a firmware update for the Wifi Stick as well as the inverter. this solved it . but only for a while, they then replaced the Wifi stick and problems solved. I still have the updates if you want to try it.

I have similar problem like you and couldn't find a solution yet. When i have an internet loss on the router, it stuck in "Wifi system resetting (one blinks)" mode. After some time, i reset the router and get the internet back, the router wifi mode is still on "resetting" mode. I can see the inverter is connected to the router and has an ip address but not sending any data to semsportal. I also try to reset wifi module via 10.10.100.253 and reset button but nothing happens, still stuck on "wifi resetting" mode. I can get rid of this problem only if i shutdown the inverter and open it back. I already contacted with support and they renewed my module but i still have the same problem. I will be so happy if anyone can help me. Thanks in advance.

9 hours ago, naz_eg said:

 I can get rid of this problem only if i shutdown the inverter and open it back. I already contacted with support and they renewed my module but i still have the same problem. I will be so happy if anyone can help me. Thanks in advance.

You at least know how to shutdown and then restart. I don't, and the installer won't tell me (just says it's not as simple as throwing a switch).

 

17 hours ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

Hi Bobster, for what its worth, we had a similar situation on an install, eventually after some time, the supplier gave me a firmware update for the Wifi Stick as well as the inverter. this solved it . but only for a while, they then replaced the Wifi stick and problems solved. I still have the updates if you want to try it.

Thank you. Let me first check what versions of the firmware are running. I know that since install the inverter firmware was changed once and the wifi firmware at least once (IE maybe more than than once, but I'm not sure).

I also need to get the cable to do the flashing of the firmware.

Anyway... I remembered that in fact I do know how to shut the thing down. I just need to do it during the day as the battery won't restart if there's no solar.

12 hours ago, naz_eg said:

I have similar problem like you and couldn't find a solution yet. When i have an internet loss on the router, it stuck in "Wifi system resetting (one blinks)" mode. After some time, i reset the router and get the internet back, the router wifi mode is still on "resetting" mode. I can see the inverter is connected to the router and has an ip address but not sending any data to semsportal. I also try to reset wifi module via 10.10.100.253 and reset button but nothing happens, still stuck on "wifi resetting" mode. I can get rid of this problem only if i shutdown the inverter and open it back. I already contacted with support and they renewed my module but i still have the same problem. I will be so happy if anyone can help me. Thanks in advance.

In my case the wifi light does not flash. It burns steadily. This makes sense because there is a constant, reliable connection to the router.

Here's a question. I presume the inverter must have some way of identifying itself to the portal. How does that happen? There's a 3rd option which is that it is uploading data but it's not made visible TO ME.

9 hours ago, Bobster said:

(just says it's not as simple as throwing a switch).

you supplier is wrong. It is very easy to restart the inverter using PV Master. Just change any parameter in basic or advanced settings and confirm "restart".

1 hour ago, Fuenkli said:

you supplier is wrong. It is very easy to restart the inverter using PV Master. Just change any parameter in basic or advanced settings and confirm "restart".

Back in the days, in IT, we used to talk about a "warm start" and a "cold start". A cold start was booting the machine from a power off state. ISTM that to kick the wifi back into life I need the equivalent of a cold start. IE all the way off and then bring it back to life again.

I did try changing modes and saw lights flash and heard relays click, but it never bought the wifi back to life. It's the cold start that does it.

Anyway, I think I must drop Goodwe a line.

1 hour ago, Fuenkli said:

you supplier is wrong. It is very easy to restart the inverter using PV Master. Just change any parameter in basic or advanced settings and confirm "restart".

It's not easy in this stage because i can't see any data on PV Master app even the inverter has an ip address. I tried connecting to the inverter directly by Solarwifi but no success. So, the only way to hard restart is close PV, battery and the grid switches. 

15 hours ago, naz_eg said:

It's not easy in this stage because i can't see any data on PV Master app even the inverter has an ip address. I tried connecting to the inverter directly by Solarwifi but no success. So, the only way to hard restart is close PV, battery and the grid switches. 

That's what I had to do this morning. SEMS is now getting data from my inverter.

I find you want to do this during the day, because when the inverter comes up it can't "see" the battery and has to "kick start" it. But it only applies said kick when there's solar power.

15 hours ago, naz_eg said:

It's not easy in this stage because i can't see any data on PV Master app even the inverter has an ip address. I tried connecting to the inverter directly by Solarwifi but no success. So, the only way to hard restart is close PV, battery and the grid switches. 

I find PVMaster unreliable. EzManage does pretty much the same stuff, has a less contemporary look and feel, but works.

The thread that will not die.

I am still having intermittent problems with uploading of data to SEMS portal.

I have tried using a different service provider, a different router, a router closer to the inverter. Everything works for a couple of weeks at most, then the graphs on SEMS portal just show flat lines.

I have an app that allows me to get information from the routers. I have established that the inverter always has a connection to the router. So it's not that the connection fails, more that data just stops flowing over that connection.

I spoke to my installer this moment. He has access to some sort of super portal from where he can view all his Goodwe installations. He says several are exhibiting this behaviour and he's going to query Goodwe to find out why some work with absolute reliably and others fail every fortnight or so.

@Bobster

Firmware version 13134 for my GW5048 resolved both the SOC problems and the ones you indicate about data transmission outages to the SEMS PORTAL. I have not had connection problems or data transmission since I updated the Firmware.
Regards !

Edited November 1, 20195 yr by Cef

4 minutes ago, Cef said:

@Bobster

Firmware version 13134 for my GS5048 resolved both the SOC problems and the ones you indicate about data transmission outages to the SEMS PORTAL. I have not had connection problems or data transmission since I updated the Firmware.
Regards !

AIUI there are two sets of firmware - one for wifi, one for the inverter itself. I certainly had an SOC tracking problem early on and a firmware change fixed that.

What version of the wifi firmware are you running?

I will check versions tonight and report back.

22 minutes ago, Bobster said:

AIUI there are two sets of firmware - one for wifi, one for the inverter itself. I certainly had an SOC tracking problem early on and a firmware change fixed that.

What version of the wifi firmware are you running?

I will check versions tonight and report back.

After following the instructions sent to me by the Goodwe Technical Service, the << Firmware_2.jpg >> appears in the PV Master Application, while in the DEVICES Tab of SEMS PORTAL it appears << Firmware_1.jpg >>

I'm on 12124. But maybe that is it. Because the WiFi dangly down thing is doing its job and connecting to the router. I shall discuss with the clever clogs

On 2019/11/01 at 4:13 PM, Bobster said:

AIUI there are two sets of firmware - one for wifi, one for the inverter itself. I certainly had an SOC tracking problem early on and a firmware change fixed that.

What version of the wifi firmware are you running?

I will check versions tonight and report back.

Long story short: My supplier contacted Goodwe. Goodwe confirm that the current latest firmware WILL address the wifi issue. But it also restricts the types of batteries that may be used with the inverter. I have Revovs and if we go to the new firmware, the inverter will not be able to monitor them accurately (it also will no longer support any type of lead acid battery).

There is a patch being developed that address JUST the wifi issue. When that's available then I will get that. But until then I have to live with this.