If you're on the same network as the inverter it should work regardless whether you're using wifi or LAN. If you can't ping it from the device you're trying to run the program on, you need to solve that first. Successful pings is a requirement to establish a connection to it using this program (unless you have some super complicated firewall rules that block ICMP). Also make sure port 8899 is open. The other high port I can see seems to be dynamically allocated.

 

2 hours ago, Tokolosh said:

@BeylieI tried the Part 1.. no go.. ill try part 2 tomo..let you know. Shot for assistance.

 

From the PC with Windos xp, 7,8 or 10 you have no response from the ping command, the program will not be able to find the inverter as @Beylie says.

It has happened to me in about 6 months on about 3 occasions, that the IP of the Power Inverter "disappears" from the LAN, despite the connection with the SEMS Portal continues. It is a mystery that I have not been able to solve, but I attribute it to some interference of the Goodwe wifi signal / board with the Network / Router.

Inmediate and simple solution for me: Make a simple reset of the wifi board by removing the screws on the bottom cover and pressing once for an instant and only for an instant the hidden internal button as indicated in the user manual that you should do if you do not have communication with the PV Master. If you press this button only once, you will not have to configure anything again, but if you do it for more than 3 seconds, it will make a Hard Reset of the Board and you will have to reconfigure the Network Board with the user network and password.

After this action you should have a response from the inverter IP to the Ping command from any PC in your home and the System should recognize it and work OK.

On the other hand I would like to explain for the most curious and as the sniffing that anyone can do, the Program only communicates with 2 ports:

1. Port: 48899 sends a Broadcast to search for the Inverter in the Primary LAN Network (includes all connected devices, no matter if they are Wi-Fi or connected via UTP cables to RJ45 connectors), configured in your home as explained by Beylie . When the response to this broascast is positive, the software identifies the IP of the current inverter.

2. Only when it obtains the IP, the port begins to be used is: 8899. The program uses the 1st. UDP Interrogation command (for device ID) to make sure what type of Goodwe ES Series Inverter it is (this is then used to determine the Workload in%) and the general unit Identification data. If it does not get response, the program stops, informs the User and gives the option to retry the connection at that point.

3. On the same Port 8899 and if the ID data was received, another command is used (whose technical information for programmers I published in another thread), whose objective is to obtain the Data of the Self-defined Configuration of the Battery and the Mode General Working Effective of the current inverter that were previously configured by the User / Installer through the PV Master App. If after 3 attempts it does not obtain this information, the program stops, informs the user and gives a new option through a button where it will try again with 3 attempts.

4. On the same port 8899 and if the Data of the previous paragraph (3.) were received, it begins to interrogate the current inverter with the Time Interval set by the User in PARAMETERS screen, to obtain the Operation data in real time. At this point, 2 Audit events are generated that inform the Work Mode and the Energy Mode that the program finds when it loads.

 

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by Cef

Through the use of external measurement instruments, I was finally able to understand how Goodwe handles energy flows. From this, I was able, using simple algebraic operations, to get the values that are not provided as live data, but are obviously calculated from them.
As you will see in the new diagram showing version 2.70 of the system, which I just uploaded to the forum download site, what happens in the different energy value scenarios is clearly outlined in the diagram.
I show screens of some of the possible scenarios that are self-describing
I had to draw an auxiliary line (which is not actually present in the facility, which is red and yellow) to understand the PV surplus case covering backup Loads, non-essential Loads, charging the batteries and displaying the surplus is exported.
I should point out that I have not tested every mode of operation of the inverter. For example, the current version may show errors in case you are using your batteries to power the grid. If so, please inform me of the error so I can correct it.
Stay tuned for their comments.

Edited April 11, 20215 yr by Cef

Wow, now even I can understand all the values! :D Awesome work, Cef!

Are you using a different font for the "Power Balance"? Mine looks like this and it is cutting off:

I have reinstalled the supplied fonts, but no change.

 

If possible, could it be so that if you click on X, it gives you the Exit option immediately instead of having to right-click on the systray icon?

 

Loving this new version!

Hi @Beylie !

You are right. In the next review I will include that Font You can search for it on the web. It is called: DS-Digital and the files are DS-DIGIB.TTF and DS-DIGIT.TTF.
Regarding how to exit the system: I did it this way on purpose for now as I am in the design phase. Starting from version 3.0 I will start to record all electrical parameters in local databases, the processor workload for a single thread can increase a lot. You may need to separate it at some point in development into 2 apps. A resident that reads the data from the Goodwer and passes it to another application that displays it and that is the one that interacts with the user. As I also intend to add energy adders and statistics, this way of exiting simply prevents that it is closed by mistake and that in the future the data is not registered in the Databases.

14 hours ago, Cef said:

Through the use of external measurement instruments, I was finally able to understand how Goodwe handles energy flows. From this, I was able, using simple algebraic operations, to get the values that are not provided as live data, but are obviously calculated from them.
As you will see in the new diagram showing version 2.70 of the system, which I just uploaded to the forum download site, what happens in the different energy value scenarios is clearly outlined in the diagram.
I show screens of some of the possible scenarios that are self-describing
I had to draw an auxiliary line (which is not actually present in the facility, which is red and yellow) to understand the PV surplus case covering backup Loads, non-essential Loads, charging the batteries and displaying the surplus is exported.
I should point out that I have not tested every mode of operation of the inverter. For example, the current version may show errors in case you are using your batteries to power the grid. If so, please inform me of the error so I can correct it.
Stay tuned for their comments.

Cef,

Thank you for the updated version, downloaded it, installed the program and it runs like a well oiled machine. Thank you for your hard work and input giving us a real time monitor to see how the system is performing. Well done to an awesome program.

In the MODE section, the info given there, is that generated by the program, or settings needed to be input by the users?

What is the normal readings and settings for the items on the MODE page?

Thank you again for your great effort and awesome real time monitor.

Hi @Barry de Kock
Thanks. It is a pleasure to share what helps me with this community from which I have learned so much.
The software system DOES NOT WRITE any Data to the Goodwe. It only reads the Data that is running (live data) and part of the configuration that has been written in the Power Inverter, prior to executing this program, through the Android / Iphone PV Master / Ez Manager application from Goodwe.
The appearance of the program is intended to "simulate" what the Goodwe lacks, which is an LCD Display.
The RED Button, which I changed in name in this version is now called "LCD MODE". The idea is that it resembles as much as possible to a real LCD panel, as functionalities are added, these will appear successively with each press of the "LCD MODE" button.
I don't know if you mean this or how to interpret the information that appears in the "LCD MODE" PARAMETERS ¿?

Hello Cef,

You are correct that my question was about the "LCD Mode" - Parameters and the information there. Unless I have a big load the power balance have a continuous minus  XXXw and I was trying to correct it via the settings on the Parameters screen. What would the "normal" settings be on the Parameters screen, photo of mine attached.

Thank you again for a great program,

Regards

 

Well.
The answer will not be short. I hope to be clear.
Reason why I add the "corrections" in the LCD Mode -Parameters-: "Using instruments with greater precision than the Goodwe (one more decimal place) I realized that the data it delivers has measurement errors even at the level of its own resolution. "
If you look at my posts, you will find the RTPhoram system. This is the one that I have used "as a contrast" and simultaneously with the same PC with the readings that I get from the Goodwe.
The magnitude of these errors may be greater or lesser and this will affect what would be the instantaneous POWER BALANCE, at this moment in the development of the system. The downside of these errors is their accumulation. To obtain kWh, kWh daily, monthly, annually, the values are added and also the errors if they are not compensated with instantaneous values greater or less than 0.
Therefore, what you are seeing on the SEMS Portal will follow this logic.
Following the general Physical Principle of Energy Conservation, or Energy Transformation, this Balance arises from the difference between Inputs and energy outputs and must be "0" in an ideal condition, which is never fulfilled by the fluctuations introduced by the AC harmonics. Energy is not the same as Power, but for calculation purposes we are talking about electrical power. The total input power at a given moment will be:
Imported grid power, photovoltaic power and battery power in discharge (the latter term is the power that supports loads or is exported to the grid).
The power outputs at the same time will be:
Power consumed by backup loads, power consumed by non-essential loads, power exported to the NETWORK, power to charge the batteries and power self-consumed by the inverter.
As I explained in the release notes, I have determined that the value that is read live in the Backup Output (Loads_E in the following equation) includes the current self-consumption of the power inverter which is not constant, obviously according to the operating conditions.
In the following equation the absolute value will be considered (without sign of the Discharge or Charge Power of the Batteries)
POWER BALANCE = (Grid_I + PV + Bat_Disch) - (Loads_E + Loads_NE + Grid_E + Bat_Charg)
From here then it can be understood that if you observe a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE value of the POWER Balance Value constantly above 100 to 200 watts (which is what I have determined through tests as normal fluctuations except for certain Peaks when a Sudden GRID Export) It is quite possible that one or more of Goodwe's sensors measure more or less power values.
The problem is that external instruments are required to be able to know what is causing this constant difference.
Due to the measurements made in the System, I did not observe important differences in the BackUp Outputs, Non-Essential Loads or in the Import / Export from and to the GRID.
I detected the serious problem in the current and voltage measurements both in charge and discharge of the battery and in the STAND BY state. Due to these errors, being the SEMS Portal the batteries in STAND BY (Current = 0), it permanently showed me a load of 130 Watts: wrong condition.

I could post my own corrections, but they would be of no use to you.
If you do not have external measuring instruments, you will be guessing if you put values other than "0" (without correction) in the electrical parameters.
I hope you understand me.
Regards.

Edited April 13, 20215 yr by Cef

Thank you Cef, I installed it on my pc and I am impressed with all the information that it provides,  well done

Version 3.0 in download area.

Regards !

9 hours ago, Cef said:

Version 3.0 in download area.

Regards !

This is a most AWESOME program. I can now make sense of my PV and inverter as a solar system.

Cef, THANK YOU for your time and effort, you are a star, your work, effort and dedication is highly appreciated.

Barry

Very nice software! Well done CEF, it really does provide a much more granular view of what's going on with the system.

What is also interesting to watch is how it switches from PV power and then adds/removes escom, battery power as required. This is a good view of what a hybrid system does.

NOT SOFTWARE RELATED...

Goodwe has one fatal flaw - It does not show the battery usage, i.e. how much power went into the batteries and how much went out, it shows SOC but that does not tell one how much power (AC) your batteries have provided. 

If between 6pm and 9pm I only use batteries, it looks like my "load" total is not updated even though I am obviously using power but its not from escom but rather the batteries. I suppose it could have something to do with the placement of the meter....

 

 

 

2 hours ago, FixAMess said:

Very nice software! Well done CEF, it really does provide a much more granular view of what's going on with the system.

What is also interesting to watch is how it switches from PV power and then adds/removes escom, battery power as required. This is a good view of what a hybrid system does.

NOT SOFTWARE RELATED...

Goodwe has one fatal flaw - It does not show the battery usage, i.e. how much power went into the batteries and how much went out, it shows SOC but that does not tell one how much power (AC) your batteries have provided. 

If between 6pm and 9pm I only use batteries, it looks like my "load" total is not updated even though I am obviously using power but its not from escom but rather the batteries. I suppose it could have something to do with the placement of the meter....

 

 

 

In home assistant I can clearly see how much watt (though I guess DC) it pulls from the batteries. Usually it matches House Consumption if Eskom and Solar is at 0 watt.

1 hour ago, Tinuva said:

In home assistant I can clearly see how much watt (though I guess DC) it pulls from the batteries. Usually it matches House Consumption if Eskom and Solar is at 0 watt.

How does HA connect to the batteries?

1 hour ago, FixAMess said:

How does HA connect to the batteries?

No, I referred to what the Goodwe report it is pulling from the batteries. 

Amazing. 

Want to come back here and read again to understand more.

 

15 hours ago, FixAMess said:

Goodwe has one fatal flaw - It does not show the battery usage, i.e. how much power went into the batteries and how much went out, it shows SOC but that does not tell one how much power (AC) your batteries have provided. 

If between 6pm and 9pm I only use batteries, it looks like my "load" total is not updated even though I am obviously using power but its not from escom but rather the batteries. I suppose it could have something to do with the placement of the meter....

@FixAMess that's not why. The instantaneous data in Watts sent and extracted from the batteries, the Goodwe firmware informs them and sends them to the SEMS PORTAL, they simply have not designed the accumulators, that is, on the server side, the integration of the values sent in time to obtain kWh discharged or charged in batteries. In other words, it is a problem with the Goodwe software on the SEMS PORTAL and its API.
The new option of the Comparative Statistics of this software, tries to solve the lack of Goodwe.
Goodwe is a Plug and Play inverter, neither its firmware nor SEMS PORTAL software is intended for intermediate or advanced users.
And most users are comfortable that way.
One of the objectives of the development of this program is precisely to be able to know exactly what the system is doing and why it is doing it the way it does every second and little by little to develop other characteristics and capabilities far beyond the SEMS PORTAL. .

How do I balance the energy flow on the Working Schematic screen?

Bottom it reads -400W

With reference to the number that appears in Instant Power Balance, please read 10 previous posts on this page of this thread. Having configured the Goodwe for 0 Watts of Export to the Grid, and in the working modes: GENERAL or BACKUP (my main tests) Those -400 watts can't be constant! They should only be instantaneous! I have seen instantaneous values in my house of up to -500 watts exceptional in cases where there is significant consumption of both essential and non-essential loads and that all are being supported by Pv power. The moment one of these high consumptions disappears when a device in my house is turned off, I have detected that there is an instant Export peak, despite having Export set to 0, it is much higher than what the Power normally requires Inverter to synchronize the network. It is an abnormal peak. I have no explanation for this, it is what Goodwe reports and causes an instantaneous imbalance in numbers giving a below -200 watts approximately. I have also observed these values with external instruments ... but I don't want to extend this answer too much.

However: If you insist it has a constant value of -400, show here a screenshot of the sector where that value is recorded. Go to the option where you look at the database second by second and scroll right to the column that says "Lost / Surplus". These are the instantaneous values of the stored energy balance. Also in this version (3.0) a field is added in "PARAMETERS" that will allow you to eliminate All ABSOLUTE values Greater than the one you write there. I originally left it set to 1000 so that each user can determine the optimal value based on at least 1 full day of registration. I have it configured in my system in: 200 This in order that these anomalous instantaneous peaks are eliminated from the Database and do not affect the averages and sums in hourly, daily, monthly kWh ...

Edited May 25, 20215 yr by Cef

It disappeared during the day and then came back in the afternoon and remained constant. Can it be related to one of the pv strings not performing as it should?

 

Interesting!

Until 14:35:06 everything on your system seems to be working perfectly. You have low values with positive bias, which implies an insignificant surplus of power contributions with respect to your consumption.

From that moment on, everything changes strangely. It match exactly, according to the information your BMS sends to Goodwe, when the charging poder of your batteries increases.

A negative value always implies that the consumptions are greater than the contributions, but in your case it really seems like a lot.

We should see the big picture of what exactly happened from then on with the rest of the variables. Could you maximize the grid and display a full screenshot of the first column after that exact time ?

As for photovoltaic strings, this software show you valuable information, there is something you suspect. Why? 

Hi

Only learned yesterday how to expand the window.  Awesome to be able to see the data. Thanks

Is it possible to export the data to excel or something?

On the PV strings there seems to be something wrong with pv2 as it produces lots less power than pv1.

 

 

 

Sems Portal does not show the same jump in battery charge.

You can see the irregular pv output.

 

Sorry, hijacking your thread now.

Ok, about the software. 0) Install all the Fonts if you don't  want the spacing of the text to be wrong 😀.1) The accounts are fine: Don't worry about the energy balance. Analysis can be long I am far from home and I answer uncomfortably from my mobile. Next week we will. 2) Of course, it is very simple, in the next version I add a button to export to Excel Sheet.

3) I don't know what Goodwe does with the data sent by the firmware on the server side, PORTAL SEMS, but if you add the values between 14:35:00 to 14:35:59 and divide them by 60, it is almost certain that you will get what it shows: 1335 W at 2:35 pm in SEMS. 4) PV. Exactly, a much lower efficiency is observed in PV2, but are their powers symmetrical? Are they exactly the same orientation? No shadows in PV2? Are the nominal power ratings set exactly in the software settings of this thread?

Edited May 26, 20215 yr by Cef