Hi All,

I need someone to supply and install solar assistant (and all the relevant cables) and connect it to my Chase megarevo inverters ( i have 2 in parallel) and battery, and get it integrated to my home assistant.

on the solar assistant site i see it is supported https://solar-assistant.io/help/megarevo/configuration

I have run out of patience and hair trying to get solarman working with home assistant.

PM me with questions and or quotes so i can get this done.

Thanks

Reg

@regbes

I would think your location would be of interest to those who can assist.

+ other relevant info, e.g. Make and model of Batteries, Current installation method (Battery via SOC or Voltage Management)

Edited October 16, 20241 yr by Sidewinder

Thanks sidewinder good points

I have 5 of these https://www.voltex.co.za/product/megarevo-chase-technologies-lithium-battery-ess-6-14kw-51-2v-120ah-es48120t/

Connected to the inverter via can

Located in jhb near Melrose arch

TBH Reg, order the items online and do the install yourself.

I had trepidations of doing it but the helpguides are easy to follow.y system up and running with data showing in 15 minutes.

MdF

8 hours ago, MdF said:

TBH Reg, order the items online and do the install yourself.

Was considering that but could not find the adaptor that plugs into the inverter the round one with 4 pins

Searching for similar connector on the internet, only one I could find so far was on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155648938095, as well as a RS-485 to USB cable: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Communication-Cable-Connector-CC-USB-RS485-150U-4LLT-For-Epever-SolarController/372473784094

There is also a converter: https://watts247.com/product/cable-rs485-solar-assistant-remote-monitoring-nhx-adaptor-use-with-solar-rs485-to-usb-cable/ (overseas site, but it says it is a adaptor cable for Solar Assistant).

Alternatively, DIY Solar Power Forum has some MacGyver solutions in this thread: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/connecting-solar-assistant-to-eg4-megarevo-8kw.67758/

18 hours ago, regbes said:

Was considering that but could not find the adaptor that plugs into the inverter the round one with 4 pins

Reg, make contact with Solar Assistant vai email and ask them for help regarding the cable you are looking for.

They gave me great assistance when I too couldn't figure out the correct cable to buy.

MdF

Thanks @phl003 for the links and advice, I was going to buy the cable from Wats247 (even though the shipping was going to cost more than the raspberry of the solar assistant software) but the payment failed.

so I decided to go for one of the MacGyver solutions, and I found this 

https://www.diyelectronics.co.za/store/connectors-wiring/257-female-to-female-sil-jumper-wires.html

and 

https://www.diyelectronics.co.za/store/serial/2808-usb-to-rs485-converter-module-industrial-grade.html

and ended up with this 

 

p.s. I have never used DIY Electronics before, after this I can highly recommend them, Ordered the items at 2:30 pm and got them the next day. and the shipping was reasonable.

 

 

I acquired a model 3B from an advertiser here on the Power Forum

I followed all the steps in https://solar-assistant.io/help/getting-started/prepare-device using a Windows computer and flashed the 32Gb SD card

Then step 4:   

             

Did not work as expected in that there was no visible Wi-Fi hotspot (on the phone or an iPad)

Looking at my router, the Pi does not appear on the list of connected devices, unless a LAN cable is attached

When the Pi is first powered up, there are prompts to set the location, a user name and password you are invited to join the local wi-fi signal or connect a LAN cable.

Do these steps need to be completed?  Do you need to create a hotspot yourself?

The link https://solar-assistant.io/sites/local does not find the Pi on the local network, even though I can see its address on the list of connected devices

At this point, I do not know how to proceed, so a tip or two would be greatly appreciated

It wouldn't appear as a wireless device/client on your router as its not connected to your WIFI, yet.
Shouldn't be a train smash if you can see the IP your router is assigning it via LAN, then use the IP address to connect via your web browser on your laptop/phone/iPad...instead of the default URL...

Open your browser and enter in the IP address your router has assigned it eg. 192.168.1.45 - this should then take you to the landing page of Solar Assistant to complete the setup and during this process you will give your SA instance a name which will then become your unique URL to connect to it, then you can get it connected to your WIFI.

ALSO, once you downloaded the SD Card image from SA's website - you did extract the ISO from the compressed/zipped folder before selecting the image to flash the SD Card with?

Thank you

I did download, extract and flash an SD card with the image from SA's website

As may be seen from the list of network map clients, the Pi has an address of 192.168.0.118

However, entering this address in a web browser (Edge on Windows) results in the following message

(I had already tried that route prior to posting the message yesterday)

The Pi responds to a Ping request

 

 

 

On 2025/02/02 at 8:25 AM, chrisc said:

Thank you

I did download, extract and flash an SD card with the image from SA's website

As may be seen from the list of network map clients, the Pi has an address of 192.168.0.118

However, entering this address in a web browser (Edge on Windows) results in the following message

(I had already tried that route prior to posting the message yesterday)

The Pi responds to a Ping request

 

 

 

May have a faulty SD…

Try re-flashing the SD card you have?
Alternatively try a different SD card?

Have flashed the SD card twice, but will get a new one anyway

Check on their website that you have a correct type of SD needed for SA to run properly?

MdF

The Solar Assistant website specifies an 8Gb or a 16Gb SD card, depending how much data you want to save, but does not specify a brand or model

The Pi shop SD cards recommended are Sandisk Ultra.  I already had a 32Gb Sandisk Ultra but in any case, purchased a new one today

Unfortunately, the result is the same as I described in the post on Saturday 1st Feb

I sent an email to [email protected] but they have not replied

1 hour ago, chrisc said:

The Solar Assistant website specifies an 8Gb or a 16Gb SD card, depending how much data you want to save, but does not specify a brand or model

The Pi shop SD cards recommended are Sandisk Ultra.  I already had a 32Gb Sandisk Ultra but in any case, purchased a new one today

Unfortunately, the result is the same as I described in the post on Saturday 1st Feb

I sent an email to [email protected] but they have not replied

The Pi is definitely 100% functional?

When you switch on the Pi after inserting the SD card, do you see a steady red light (indicates power) and a flashing green light (indicates its reading the SD card?

 

SA Support will respond they are very helpful, just give it some time…

Yes to steady red and flashing green (the latter while it is starting)

The device boots and I can see the screen images, menus, etc.  I have no idea how to test it further.  It can access web pages via an Ethernet cable and connects to the wi-fi signal fine

I am convinced the instructions are lacking in detail.  Why else would I not be able to use SA to read the device?

Why am I prompted to create a wi-fi hotspot when the program instructions say one is (presumably) built into the SD card image?

I don't see any of this at all

8 minutes ago, chrisc said:

Yes to steady red and flashing green (the latter while it is starting)

The device boots and I can see the screen images, menus, etc.  I have no idea how to test it further.  It can access web pages via an Ethernet cable and connects to the wi-fi signal fine

I am convinced the instructions are lacking in detail.  Why else would I not be able to use SA to read the device?

Why am I prompted to create a wi-fi hotspot when the program instructions say one is (presumably) built into the SD card image?

I don't see any of this at all

On first setup of my SA, it created a WiFi hotspot automatically. I used an android phone to connect to it and perform the initial setup so that the pi could connect to my home WiFi network. After that it was available on my local network and I logged in and completed the setup
 

I did this twice btw, one SA setup on my home network with UniFi Prosumer gear and on my parents default telkom router

2 hours ago, chrisc said:

Yes to steady red and flashing green (the latter while it is starting)

The device boots and I can see the screen images, menus, etc.  I have no idea how to test it further.  It can access web pages via an Ethernet cable and connects to the wi-fi signal fine

I am convinced the instructions are lacking in detail.  Why else would I not be able to use SA to read the device?

Why am I prompted to create a wi-fi hotspot when the program instructions say one is (presumably) built into the SD card image?

I don't see any of this at all

I would try a simple home assistant install on that device to confirm the device is working properly. 

If it is working fine, then try whatsapp solar assistant support team on +27870931601, they are quick to help. 

 

The Pi I'm using is a 3B and Home Assistant cannot load 

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by chrisc

I don’t think that Pi is healthy…

HA will work on at least a 3…

Try just installing the PiOS on it and see if you can access, navigate and connect via WIFI and LAN…this will then rule out the Pi being the issue…but I think it is.

Just for clarity this is a Pi3b or Pi3b+?

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by Carl Anthony

Just thinking about it, depending on how the previous person used the Pi - they may have permanently disabled WIFI on it..
So install the PiOS on it, then see if you can access terminal from the device or SSH into the device once its on LAN, or can you get to this now with the current image you used?

Disasble: rfkill block wifi

Enable: rfkill unblock wifi

To see current status: rfkill

This seems to have gone over my head.  I think I will stop now

Thanks for guidance