{"id":9659,"date":"2017-03-21T09:10:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T22:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=9659"},"modified":"2017-04-18T14:34:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T04:04:57","slug":"a-readers-frustrations-with-the-enphase-envoy-monitoring-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/a-readers-frustrations-with-the-enphase-envoy-monitoring-system\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reader’s Frustrations With The Enphase Enlighten Monitoring System"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"enphase

Enphase panel monitoring is a great feature. But some Enphase installers flat out refuse to enable it.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are many people in this world who enjoy monitoring the output of their rooftop solar systems.<\/p>\n

But other people – not so much.\u00a0 For example, I don’t think my parents have checked the output of their system since they got it.\u00a0 My father just looks at the electricity bill every three months and grunts, “Power bill low.\u00a0 Is good.” And then goes back to making stone tools.<\/p>\n

But for those who enjoy the heady pleasures of solar system monitoring, modern technology can provide the fix you’re looking for.<\/p>\n

It is becoming more common for solar inverters to offer monitoring via the internet, but conventional string inverters can only monitor\u00a0the entire system’s output1<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 If you want to see the output of each panel you will need either microinverters or DC optimisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enphase’s Enlighten Monitoring System<\/h2>\n

In this article I am going to tell you about monitoring panels equipped\u00a0with\u00a0Enphase microinverters. \u00a0 Enphase’s\u00a0monitoring software is called Enlighten<\/a> and the\u00a0monitoring hardware is known as an\u00a0Envoy<\/a>\u00a0box.<\/p>\n

Actually, I’m not going to be the one who tells you about it, but I’ll get to\u00a0that in a bit.<\/p>\n

Enphase is the world’s\u00a0biggest\u00a0producer of microinverters and their products have a reputation for reliability.\u00a0 In Australia they have a 10 year warranty2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and in the United States they have a 25 year warranty.\u00a0 This doesn’t necessarily mean they will\u00a0last 25 or more years under Australian conditions, but it is a good sign.<\/p>\n

I mentioned the Enphase monitoring system 10 months ago when I wrote about the Enphase AC battery<\/a>.\u00a0 But there is not a lot of information about it there, apart from the fact that the warranty on the Envoy monitoring hardware is only 5 years.<\/p>\n

I could do some more research into the Enphase monitoring system, but that would take time and effort and I’m a busy person.\u00a0 I’ve got places to go, people to avoid, and shoes to nail to my horse.\u00a0 So thank goodness my good friend Ian has provided me with detailed information on his experiences with getting and using the Enphase monitoring system3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is Ian’s experience, in Ian’s words (Subheadings added):<\/p>\n

\n

Ian Wrote:<\/h2>\n

We began our solar journey looking at lots of things.\u00a0 As we have moving shade issues due to trees on a neighbouring property we ended up selecting the Enphase microinverter based system. I always planned to use panel monitoring to decide their ideal placement over the course of a year.<\/p>\n

So how did we go?<\/p>\n

After two false starts we found what we thought was a good company to install the panels and microinverters as we wanted. We discussed the fact that we wanted to monitor at an individual panel level they told me\u00a0this was possible with extra\u00a0software which would be installed later.<\/p>\n

The installation went well and, after a couple of calls to sort out the internet side of things, the system worked beautifully. We were happy and saving money.<\/p>\n

Frustration #1: Original Installer &\u00a0Enphase Australia Refuse Panel Level Monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n

But after a month I still had not heard from the installers about the software upgrade to monitor individual panels. They tried to put me off \u00a0by offering to generate reports when I wanted them. \u00a0They then told me Enphase preferred not to sell the additional software for fear of\u00a0silly warranty claims such as bird poop on a panel etc.<\/p>\n

I persisted for about 6 months and with no result was quite annoyed. I then took the matter up with Enphase in Australia and their technical people were sympathetic but not much help, suggesting I go back to the installer or try another installer. Arrrgh!<\/p>\n

I then managed to find a contact at Enphase in the US and asked a lot of questions and got mostly useful technical responses but no software. I then embarked on a campaign to call Enphase agents in WA starting with those closest to me.<\/p>\n

Surfside Electrical to the Rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eventually I found Surfside Electrical<\/a> and they were very helpful. They did also warn me about the issues with things such as bird poop and the fact that false alarm call-outs would be charged.<\/p>\n

I told them I am an engineer and that bird poop would not be an issue. They came and inspected the system as installed and provided a quote to install the\u00a0extra\u00a0metering equipment.<\/p>\n

Frustration #2: \u00a0Monitoring hardware needed to be upgraded for consumption monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n

It transpired\u00a0that I would need to replace the ‘Envoy’ management box (hardware). \u00a0This annoyed me a lot as I had made it clear to\u00a0the original installer that I wanted panel level monitoring. \u00a0Either the original company were incompetent, deceptive or wanted to sell something they had in stock.<\/p>\n

[Note from Finn:<\/strong> All Envoys can monitor at the panel level if the installer enables it in\u00a0the software. It looks like the new installer had to upgrade the Envoy hardware to accomodate Ian’s request for\u00a0consumption monitoring]<\/em><\/p>\n

So we paid to replace the Envoy\u00a0box and add the wiring and additional metering hardware and fired up the system.<\/p>\n

No go. Bugger.<\/p>\n

Frustration #3: Wi-Fi Woes<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that the Enphase systems are very sensitive to the signal quality of the Wi-Fi connection particularly when using the Enlighten management software. An investigation followed and the company that fitted the stuff recommended we:<\/p>\n