Solar monitoring in Melbourne: apps, CT meters and checking your output

What does a solar monitoring system show?

There are two kinds of monitoring. Production monitoring is what the inverter makes, and every inverter app shows it. Consumption monitoring adds what your home uses, buys and exports, and needs an energy meter that measures the power at your grid connection.

Your bill comes from a different meter: your distributor’s smart meter, which records what you buy and export every 5 or 30 minutes depending on its age, according to AusNet. The Essential Services Commission says you can get that data from your distributor, which makes it a useful check on your app.

How to read your smart meter

Your inverter’s app: iSolarCloud, Solar.web or AlphaESS

Each inverter maker runs its own monitoring platform. These are the platforms for the three inverter brands our previous website listed. The inverter reaches it over your home internet, which your installer connects when the system is commissioned.

Keep it online. Victoria’s emergency backstop has applied since 1 October 2024 to new solar systems up to 200 kW and to existing systems that get a replacement inverter, and it works through the inverter’s internet connection. Fronius’s Solar.web can also send you a service message by email or phone when an inverter fails, once service messages are switched on under Settings → Service Messages and your details are set under Settings → Contacts.

Other brands’ monitoring apps

A different brand on your roof? These are the apps the makers name for their own systems, with where each maker keeps its help. Listing a brand here doesn’t mean we install or service it.

Consumption monitoring: CT meters and home energy monitors

A CT meter is an energy meter that measures current through a current transformer (CT): a sensor around the main cable at your switchboard. Wired to the inverter, it measures which way power is flowing at your grid connection, and how much, so the app can work out what the home is using and what it exports. The makers’ documents describe their own:

• Sungrow: the SH-RS hybrid manual calls for one CT on the grid connection when every inverter is a Sungrow, and two when another brand’s solar inverter shares the system (the second on that inverter’s output). The same meter lets the inverter limit exports, and Sungrow notes its data isn’t for billing.
• Fronius: the Fronius Smart Meter is a two-way meter that feeds Solar.web. The 63 A model carries the current itself; the Smart Meter IP 5kA-3 uses CTs for bigger supplies. Both mount indoors on a DIN rail.

Home energy monitors and power usage monitors

A stand-alone home energy monitor works the same way: CT sensors in the switchboard and a display or app. If your solar already has a CT meter, its app gives you the same whole-home picture, so check it before buying anything. A plug-in power meter between a power point and an appliance measures only that appliance.

Fitting a CT or a meter inside a switchboard is electrical work for a licensed electrician: Energy Safe Victoria says doing your own electrical work isn’t only dangerous, it’s illegal. If the app’s home use looks wrong, or shows a meter or CT error, the wiring needs checking.

Meter and CT fault codes

Is my solar system underperforming? Expected output by month

Daily totals swing with the weather, so compare a month’s total, or its average day, with what a Melbourne system should make in that month. Divide your figure by your system’s size in kW (it is on your installation paperwork) and compare it with the per-kW column.

• Allow for your roof. On the same PVGIS model, an east- or west-facing array makes about 86–87% of a north-facing one over a year, and about 63–64% in June. Shade from trees or buildings lowers it further.
• Look for a pattern. The figures are long-run averages, so one dull month proves little. A shortfall month after month, or a drop against the same month last year, is the sign to look closer.
• Check for codes. Look for an error code in the app or on the inverter. Fronius’s Solar.web raises code 997 when output falls below its earnings comparison, which points to a panel-side defect or covered panels.

A big drop with no code can be a tripped isolator, a failed string of panels or a faulty inverter. The season-by-season output of our 6.6 kW package is on the 6.6kW system page.

Safe first checks

Checking output after a clean

Sungrow: iSolarCloud offline? Reconnect the WiNet-S to Wi-Fi

Sungrow inverters reach iSolarCloud through a communication dongle plugged into the inverter: a WiNet-S2 on current hybrids such as the SH-RS, and a WiNet-S or an earlier Wi-Fi dongle on older systems. When the app says offline, look at the dongle’s lights first. These are the WiNet-S meanings in Sungrow Australia’s WiNet offline checklist (a WiNet-S2’s own quick guide lists its lights):

Before you reconnect, check Sungrow’s conditions for your Wi-Fi:

• 2.4 GHz is switched on. Sungrow’s dongles don’t use 5 GHz, so pick the 2.4 GHz network if your router shows two.
• Security is WPA2 or WPA3. That is set in your router.
• The router is close enough. Sungrow’s ideal range is up to 10 m with no obstacles; a Wi-Fi extender adds range.

Reconnect from the app (WLAN Configuration)

1. Log in to iSolarCloud and tap Support at the bottom of the screen, then WLAN Configuration.
2. Scan the QR code on the WiNet-S dongle and tap Confirm.
3. Tap Network, choose your home Wi-Fi (the 2.4 GHz one), enter its password and confirm.
4. When Easy Connect pops up, press the button on the dongle once so the WLAN light flashes quickly, then tap Continue.
5. Wait until the network shows a green tick.

Local access, when the app can’t reach the dongle

Local access connects your phone straight to the dongle’s own hotspot, which WiNet dongles keep hidden until you press the button three times. Sungrow’s local access guide gives the end-user login as account “user”, password “pw1111”; its manual says to change the password once you are in. Sungrow lists a separate login for qualified installers: leave those settings to them.

1. In iSolarCloud, open Local Access and scan the QR code on the dongle.
2. Press the dongle’s button three times to turn on its hotspot, and wait for the app to connect.
3. Log in with the end-user account.
4. Tap the router icon at the top right, choose your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, enter its password and confirm.
5. Go back to the home screen and wait for the router and cloud icons to show green ticks. Tap the cloud icon to check the server is set to “Australian Server”.

If your modem only shows 5 GHz

• Log in to your modem and check its 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi hasn’t been switched off.
• Or add a dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) Wi-Fi extender about halfway between the inverter and the modem, then reconnect the dongle to it.

Still offline with a green RUN light? Sungrow’s next checks are router settings and the dongle’s firmware, which is where an installer takes over. Never open the inverter or unplug cables to fix monitoring.

Sungrow inverters

Fronius: Solar.web offline? Reconnect the inverter to Wi-Fi

Fronius Australia says a system shows as offline in Solar.web when the inverter’s internet connection is faulty or interrupted. The reasons it lists include:

• Your network changed: a new router, internet provider, Wi-Fi name or password. Reconnect the inverter to the new network (steps below).
• The Wi-Fi signal at the inverter is too weak. Fronius wants at least 2 of 4 bars: move the router closer, add a Wi-Fi extender or use a network cable.
• The inverter’s internet connection was never set up. Ask your installer whether it was fully commissioned and connected.

Fronius’s restart for an offline system switches the inverter off at its AC breaker and then its DC switch, unplugs the router, waits about 30 seconds until the inverter is dark, then brings the router and the inverter back. Use only the switches on your shutdown label; if you have a battery, leave the restart to us, because the battery has to be shut down first.

The makers’ restart steps

Primo, Symo and other SnapINverters (Datamanager)

1. On the inverter’s display, go to Setup → Wifi Access Point and confirm.
2. On your phone or laptop, join the Wi-Fi network “fronius_2xx.xxxx” with the key shown on the inverter’s display.
3. Open a browser at 192.168.250.181 and log in. If a setup wizard opens instead, the inverter’s setup was never finished: Fronius says to complete it first, so ask your installer.
4. Go to Settings → Network, choose “Internet via WLAN”, pick your home network, tap “Set…” and enter its password. Leave the IP setting on dynamic and tick the check mark at the top right to save.

Primo GEN24 and Symo GEN24

1. Touch the sensor on the front of the inverter once; the right-hand light flashes blue.
2. Join the Wi-Fi network “fronius_3xxxxxxx”. The key is printed on the rating plate on the side of the inverter; if none is printed, Fronius says it is “12345678”.
3. Open a browser at 192.168.250.181 and log in.
4. Go to Communication → Network, choose “WIFI”, pick your home network, enter its password, leave the setting on Automatic and click Connect.

The access point switches itself off after 60 minutes on a SnapINverter and 30 on a GEN24. For a stable link Fronius wants the inverter to see your Wi-Fi with at least 2 of 4 bars. Steps are from Fronius Australia’s SnapINverter and GEN24 help pages.

Fronius inverters

Monitoring a home battery or VPP

On a hybrid system the battery shows in the same app as the solar: its charge level, and whether it is charging, discharging or idle. A battery is also a reason to keep the system online, for the batteries our previous website listed and for VPPs:

• Sungrow SBR: its warranty requires the battery to be monitored in iSolarCloud (Sungrow HV Battery Limited Warranty V8.0, effective 1 October 2024).
• Alpha ESS SMILE-G3: Alpha ESS’s warranty conditions need an internet connection (Alpha ESS Australia, Warranty Conditions for the Residential Product Series, 11 October 2024).
• Virtual power plants: a VPP operator charges and discharges your battery remotely, so it needs an ongoing internet connection. For the federal battery discount the battery must be able to join a VPP, but joining one is your choice.

Battery modes and the backup reserve

In self-consumption, solar is used first and the surplus is stored in the battery for later. On a time-of-use tariff, or to fill the battery in the free hours of Victoria’s Midday Power Saver, you can schedule it instead:

• Sungrow: in iSolarCloud, open Device → Energy Storage System → Settings → Energy Management Parameters. There you set two time-of-use periods for discharging and two forced charging periods with a target charge level (Sungrow Australia’s guide). The battery can’t discharge during a forced charge, and Sungrow says the schedule isn’t available once you have signed up with a VPP. The SBR’s floor, 5% by default, is a setting for qualified personnel, so ask your installer to change it.
• Alpha ESS: the AlphaESS app offers Self-Consumption, Self-Consumption Plus, Time-based Scheduling, Price-based Scheduling, AI Mode (beta) and Backup (AlphaESS Docs). Its backup slider sets the charge kept in reserve, in every mode, with a “Low Backup” notice below 20%. A VPP’s dispatch takes priority over your mode.

How you use the battery also matters for its warranty. Sungrow’s SBR warranty sets no throughput limit for daily self-consumption and backup, but 35.84 MWh for other uses on an SBR128. Alpha ESS’s capacity guarantee holds while throughput stays under 3.12 MWh per kWh of usable capacity, whatever the mode, so grid charging and VPP trading add to that total.

Charging a battery in the free hours

Sizing the backup reserve

Why the app shows small grid imports with a full battery

A charged battery doesn’t mean zero grid use. The inverter follows its energy meter, which measures which way power is flowing at your grid connection, and how much, so some small imports are the system working as designed:

• Small loads. Sungrow’s SH-RS manual says the battery doesn’t discharge while the home draws under 150 W, so a low overnight load comes from the grid. It also starts charging only once exports pass 70 W.
• Big loads. The battery covers the home only up to what the hybrid can deliver from it: its rated output (5 kW on the SH5.0RS, 6 kW on the SH6.0RS, 8 kW on the SH8.0RS and 10 kW on the SH10RS), or less with a small battery, since an SBR064 is rated 3.84 kW. Run more than that at once and the rest comes from the grid.
• Reserve and schedules. At the reserve level, during a forced charge or while a VPP is in control, the battery holds back by design.

What isn’t normal: steady imports above those levels while the battery sits above its reserve and nothing large is running, or a meter code such as Sungrow’s 84 or 514 (meter or CT reversed, meter communication). Those point to the CT or its wiring, which is a job for an electrician.

Meter and CT fault codes

Alpha ESS: AlphaCloud offline?

Alpha ESS systems report to AlphaCloud, which you see in the AlphaESS app. If it shows offline after a new router or Wi-Fi password, our Alpha ESS page walks through Alpha ESS’s own reconnect steps.

Reconnect an Alpha ESS battery

How a VPP uses your battery

Monitoring checks in a solar service

Solar Victoria and Energy Safe Victoria advise a service at least every 2 years by a licensed A-Grade electrician, preferably accredited by Solar Accreditation Australia. Monitoring covers the months between visits: Solar Victoria says keeping an eye on your bills and your inverter data helps catch glitches early, and to talk to your installer about any error lights or warning codes. Glance at the app each month, and book a check when output drops or a code appears.

If your Wi-Fi has changed, we can reconnect the inverter and set up the app with you during a service.

What a solar service covers

Solar monitoring: your questions