{"id":35827,"date":"2019-12-19T14:13:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T03:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=35827"},"modified":"2020-01-30T17:32:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T07:02:33","slug":"tigo-sma-communications-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tigo-sma-communications-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"When SMA Inverters Won’t Talk To Tigo TS4 Optimisers: Tales From The Front Line"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SMA

How do you get an SMA inverter to talk to Tigo Optimisers? Sometimes with great difficulty it seems.<\/p><\/div>\n

Update: see SMA response at end of story.<\/strong> It\u2019s time to chase up another customer experience, courtesy of Sharon, who contacted us because her SMA-Tigo installation turned into a saga.<\/p>\n

Back in 2016, SMA Solar Technology decided it wanted better monitoring integration and acquired a 27% stake in a company called Tigo. We\u2019ve heard from a user of SMA and Tigo that things aren\u2019t going the way they were meant to.<\/p>\n

When it\u00a0announced<\/a> the acquisition, SMA was very clear about what it expected from its investment. Its media release said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new TS4 product platform has various options that allow an increase in energy yield, the simplification of system planning and installation, fire safety, and cloud-based monitoring of system availability. The function options can be integrated easily into a solar module. Customer can thus adapt each individual solar module to their individual requirements.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to upgrade its portfolio in the area of MLPE1<\/a><\/sup>, SMA entered into a strategic partnership with Tigo Energy, Inc. Around the world, over a billion solar modules have been installed that cannot be individually monitored. With this stake in Tigo Energy, we can for the first time give all solar modules intelligence\u2014in both existing and new plants.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds wonderful, doesn\u2019t it? Well, it hasn\u2019t turned out that way for Sharon, whose system was installed in early September and is still lacking the panel-level monitoring that was the attraction of having an SMA inverter<\/a> (Sunny Boy) alongside Tigo TS4-R-M monitoring optimisers.<\/p>\n

Sharon told me she wanted panel-level monitoring<\/a> because she\u2019s in a remote location. Any support means someone has to be ready to travel 250km to her house, so it made sense for her to get the best possible performance out of her system.<\/p>\n

That meant 18 Tigo optimsers to go along with her 18 X 370W solar panels.<\/p>\n

However, although SMA has had three years to work on Tigo integration, communications between the solar inverter and the optimisers can be unreliable.<\/p>\n

The \u201cCCA unit\u201d, a communications module built into the SMA inverter, wasn\u2019t talking reliably to the Tigo monitors.<\/p>\n

Firmware Fun And Games<\/h2>\n

SMA decided the problem was in the inverter’s CCA firmware, so after it delivered new firmware, SunWise\u2019s tech made the two-hour trip and installed it – to no avail.<\/p>\n

With the failure of the second firmware installation, there was another rewrite of the firmware and SunWise\u2019s most senior technician made the trip for yet another failed install.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a testament to both Sharon and SunWise that everybody\u2019s still talking to each other in the face of such travails.<\/p>\n

With any luck the system should be working as intended in the New Year.<\/p>\n

Comment:<\/strong> As a writer in the tech industry for 30 years, I\u2019m more than familiar with how easy it is for vendors to not keep up with tech support demands – but it\u2019s absolutely vital that vendors do so.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s especially important for companies like SMA, who rely on the installer channel to get their products sold, installed, and working. A vendor will only keep channel partners if it\u2019s profitable to sell their products – and a saga like Sharon\u2019s burns the installer\u2019s margin pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

Sharon and Sunwise both mentioned that Tigo even offered to come to the rescue with a comms unit and a promise that tech support would be available throughout the install.<\/p>\n

We offered SMA the chance to discuss Sharon\u2019s case. Head office in Germany passed on an Australian contact, but that\u2019s as far as we got.<\/p>\n

Update #1:<\/strong> Since this post was published, Scott Partlin, SMA Australia’s head of after sales service, sent the following via e-mail:<\/p>\n

“The following SMA inverter series have an RS485 port and the Tigo Cloud Connect directly integrated into the inverter software:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Sunny Boy AV-41 series
    \nSunny Tripower AV-40 series<\/li>\n
  • This allows a Tigo Gateway or Access Point to be RS485 wired to the inverter, and then the communication and monitoring of Tigo TS4 products to be able to occur directly through the SMA online portal (www.sunnyportal.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    This function has been working fine to date for STP AV-40 series inverters.<\/p>\n

    However a firmware bug was existing in the SB AV-41 series which meant only 10 pieces of TS4 units could be detected. A new firmware (3.00.7R) which was to address this was recently rolled out. A problem has occured with the roll out which is causing a communication failure between the SMA inverter and the Tigo Gateway or Access Point, preventing visulaisation of the TS4 units in Sunny Portal.<\/p>\n

    The TS4 units on the panels are functioning. But the communication with the Sunny Boy AV-41 inverting is not working due to a firmware bug.<\/p>\n

    R&D in Germany is currently investigating the issue and will in course re-issue a firmware fix which will resotre the communication. However until this firmware fix is provided, visualisation of the TS4 products in Sunny Portal via direct inverter communication will not work. We hope the firmware fix will be rolled out in January 2020, however the nature of software and bug fixes might mean this target date is missed.”<\/p>\n

    Update #2:<\/strong> SMA’s Scott Partlin has provided further feedback on this article:<\/p>\n

    SMA:<\/strong> “Firstly, I can report to you SMA Service has a procedure in place which can rectify the problem for any customer affected. Installers which have open cases with SMA are being contacted progressively, but if any installer or customer wanted to get a fast resolution they can make the request to the SMA Service that their plant receive the corrective measure.”<\/span><\/p>\n

    SolarQuotes:<\/strong> As is clear from this article, we have reported, we believe accurately, on the experience as described by Sharon and SunWise.<\/p>\n

    SMA:<\/strong> “Secondly, contrary to how your report read, this is not wide spread issue. Less than 5% of SMA inverters sold utilise this functionality, and only a subsection of those are affected.”<\/p>\n

    SolarQuotes:<\/strong> We made no representations either way on how many systems were affected.<\/p>\n

    SMA:<\/strong> “Finally, globally SMA has sold and integrated with our SMA products, more than 150,000 Tigo products. There are currently thousands of systems on Sunny Portal, with Tigo successfully integrated. However your article seems to paint that ALL SMA systems are affected. This is NOT true. There are some isolated problems with some systems within the last 6 or so weeks, but more broadly speaking the integration and partnership has been and is working well.”<\/p>\n

    SolarQuotes:<\/strong>We’re happy to have your numbers on the record, although we can’t see any assertion that “all” systems were affected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Update: see SMA response at end of story. It\u2019s time to chase up another customer experience, courtesy of Sharon, who contacted us because her SMA-Tigo installation turned into a saga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":35838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-inverters","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen SMA Inverters Won't Talk To Tigo TS4 Optimisers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SMA made a big fuss about their Tigo partnership. 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[infographic]","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"August 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you that want an easier way to understand the differences between microinverters (such as those manufactured by Enphase or APS) and DC optimisers (such as Solar Edge or Tigo), and don't want to read this long post I published a couple of weeks ago\u00a0then this 2 part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Inverters"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Inverters","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-inverters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Microinverters vs DC Optimisers. 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