First power on

I designed SOLAR STATION so you only need to follow the instructions you see on display. I've also included instructions that correspond with the description on display.

After unpacking the device, it probably shows that the device is asleep. On the 4.7" model, there are three buttons on the top - RESET is the right one. On the 7.5" model, RESET is on the back.

After pressing RESET, the device wakes up for 5 minutes and starts broadcasting WiFi called SolarStation (together with a long number). Connect to this WiFi network with your phone or computer. For a shortcut, you can scan the displayed QR code with your mobile phone to guide you through the WiFi connection.

The setup form should pop up automatically, just like when you are connecting to a public WiFi (for example in a shopping mall). If it doesn't pop up, open http://192.168.4.1 in your browser, and it will display the WiFi setup.

You'll need to select your home WiFi and enter its password.

Next, you need to fill in the details to connect to the inverter. You can find these details by your inverter type in the Inverters section.

Now you have completed the minimum that is required for the basic SOLAR STATION function. Below on the form is a button to save the details. You can easily access this form again here.

Setup

If you need to edit anything in SOLAR STATION or you forgot something you can go to the setup form as follows:

1. Briefly press the RESET button.
2. When SOLAR STATION boots up, you will see the address in the status bar at the bottom. Enter this address in your browser. You no longer need to connect to any WiFi network. The SOLAR STATION is connected to your home WiFi network for 5 minutes.

Inverters

If you have multiple installations in your account (e.g. you are a PV installer) you have the option to view other installations. In the setup form, there is a field to enter the serial number of the installation - as you see it in your account. Alternatively, for most portals, you can set up a supervisor account, share a specific installation to that account, and then enter that installation into SOLAR STATION.

Heat pumps

SOLAR STATION also supports selected types of heat pumps. Similar to the inverters you need to enter your heat pump monitoring login details. Below you can find what data you need to connect the heat pump and where to find this information.

Electricity Distributor

We currently only support EG.D. Other electricity providers are not supported because they do not have an API available. Once this situation changes, we will support other providers as well.

Wallbox

SOLAR STATION currently supports wallboxes paired directly with PV as well as external wallboxes from third party manufacturers - these require additional setup.

If Auto Detect is listed in the following table, then there is no need to set anything up, SOLAR STATION will wallbox detects and displays the charging information on the wallbox tile.

Weather

SOLAR STATION can display the current weather forecast. On the form, just fill in the address field. Enter the address without diacritics, and if the location is not specific, add the country as well. For example: Zlin, CZ

The weather is updated once a day. But if you want the weather to be updated every 15 minutes, then create an account on openweathermap.org and they will send you your personal API key to your email, which you can enter in the appropriate box on the form.

The weather will then be displayed on the bottom line. Today's forecast is displayed together with sunrise and sunset. After, the weather forecast for the next 3 days will be displayed. The weather is re-loaded 2 times a day.

The weather is provided by openweathermap.org, where you can check your location.

Spot Prices

SOLAR STATION also displays current spot electricity prices. You can select the provider and the country in the setup form.

During the selection it is important to select the country of the provider, the provider itself is not important. For example, for the Czech Republic, you would choose OTE ČR (CZK/kWh) - Czech Republic for Austria EPEX SPOT AT (EUR/MWh) - Austria.

By default, the prices shown on the tile are excluding VAT.

VAT and fees

You can set the VAT rate and fees in the spot price advanced settings in the setup form. There are separate settings for hours with high and low tariff prices, thus allowing you to target the settings for the hours you are interested in. You can mark when high tariff hours are and these hours will use high tariff multiplier and offset for calculations in those hours, the rest will use low tariff.

Everything is calculated using offset and multiplier keywords. Where you can imagine offset as a fixed fee and multiplier as a percentage fee. The final price is calculated as follows: final_price = (price + offset) * multiplier.

NOTE if you set electricity price provider as EPEX SPOT AT (EUR/MWh) - Austria the offset must be entered in the same units, e.g. EUR/MWh.

Calculation example where VAT (multiplier) = 1.21 (21%), FEES (offset) = 1 (1€/MWh), and ORIGINAL PRICE = 5€ is: FINAL PRICE = (5 + 1) * 1.21 = 7.26€

SOLAR PLUG switching rules

SOLAR STATION can also switch the socket - SOLAR PLUG, which is paired according to the instructions below (SOLAR PLUG). The rule you set is evaluated once every 5 minutes and if the rule is broken, the plug is disabled. The hysteresis is therefore temporal.

Here is a list of rules you can set for switching of the SOLAR PLUG.

1. Disabled - only consumption is displayed. You switch the socket on using the button.
2. The battery is charged to the selected percentage.
3. The overflow is more than the specified (W) value. Socket is on until there is overflows.
4. PV generation exceeds the specified (W) limit.
5. The spot price of electricity is among the N cheapest hours of the day. e.g. if you enter 3 - the socket will be switched on 3 hours a day (the cheapest hours).
6. The spot price of electricity is below the specified level. The price is given in target units, as you see them on the display.
7. Temperature is below or above the specified value. The temperature is measured by the sensor on Solar Plug AddOn.

You can choose multiple rules and also you can choose a combination rule ALL or ANY. So you can set rules like: Turn on when battery is over 80% and (ALL) hour is between 9 and 15.

Wallbox switching rules

This feature is only supported with SOLAX wallboxes and only if you use SOLAX - Unofficial WEB API. You need to set the wallbox to ECO mode to activate this feature.

The same rules as for SOLAR PLUG apply to the wallbox as well. The rule you set is evaluated once every 5 minutes and if the rule is broken, charging is suspended.

Here are some rules you can set for switching of the wallbox.

1. Disabled - only the consumption is displayed. You turn on the wallbox manually.
2. The battery is charged to the selected percentage.
3. The overflow is more than the specified (W) value. The plug is on until ther is and feedin power.
4. PV generation exceeds the specified (W) limit.
5. The spot price of electricity is among the N cheapest hours of the day. e.g. if you enter 3 - the socket will be on 3 hours a day (the cheapest hours).
6. The spot price of electricity is below the specified level. The price is given in target units, as you see them on the display.

Switching off overflows at negative spot prices

This feature is only supported with SOLAX inverters and only if you are using SOLAX - Unofficial WEB API.

You can also use the automatic setting to turn off overflows depending on the spot price. Into the field reserved value enter the value of the reserved power from the distributor (e.g. 4800 if you have a 4.8kW contract). Next, you need to enter the marginal price. In case you don't want SOLAR STATION to shut down overflows at a negative price, leave the Reserved Performance field blank. Do not use this feature unless you have negotiated the overflows with your distributor!

Color scheme

You can also set a color scheme for your SOLAR STATION. You can choose between dark, light, and auto mode.

Dark looks great in combination with the black option. If you want you can also set it to change the color automatically according to the sunrise and sunset.

Night mode

The night mode is used to save power and thus make the SOLAR STATION last longer on a single charge.

The night mode will automatically turn on between 22:00 and 6:00. Depending on the settings the data on screen will be updated at a lower frequency. If you want, you can set the night mode according to the following values:

• Hourly Interval - The values will be updated every hour.
• Standard interval - Values will be updated according to the standard interval, i.e. every 5 minutes.
• Off - Values will not be updated during the night mode. SOLAR STATION will display its logo. The first redraw will take place after the end of the night mode at 6 am.

Don't forget that if night mode is active the control functions may be unavailable - such as the control of SOLAR PLUG according to spot prices.

TESLA

SOLAR STATION can be connected to your TESLA car. To connect, click on the setting form and then click on the TESLA button. The connection can be made only if the SOLAR STATION is already connected to your WiFi network.

You will then be redirected to the TESLA website where you will log in and grant SOLAR STATION access to information about your car. Once successfully connected, the display will show you the current battery status, charging, and other information about your car.

The first vehicle where you are the owner is displayed. Displaying multiple vehicles or selecting them is not currently supported.

The login key remains stored in SOLAR STATION. If you want to cancel the connection you can go to the TESLA website and invalidate the key in your profile.

Description of each tile

Not all inverters support all tiles. Below is a description of each tile that you can use on the SOLAR STATION.

I change the layout from time to time, plus it's also dynamic. Not all tiles are always displayed. Therefore, it is not possible to draw a single picture and explain it. I will try to describe it instead.

If a tile is not available for a given inverter, then it is not displayed. These tiles display only additional data that are less essential. The main tiles - the big ones are always displayed.

The display is divided to show the four main tiles, the bottom row with the weather and the right column with the additional data.

Main tiles

• Photovoltaic Power Plant. Large font indicates current production. Small font indicates today's production, total production since the system started, and, if you have multiple arrays, their output.
• Battery shows the percentage of battery charge. The small font then represents the current battery usage today - how much has been stored and used today in kWh. The smallest font shows the charge/discharge performance.
• Consumption shows the current household consumption. It is the sum of the panel production, the battery, and the purchases from the grid. The smaller font shows today's consumption. The smallest font shows the load value of each phase.
• Purchase and sales display actual electricity usage from the grid. The power plant symbol represents purchase, and the heart symbol represents sales to the grid and independence. The smaller font shows today's energy sales/purchases. The smallest font in the case of automatic price-dependent overflow control, shows the current overflow limit e.g. >3kW shows that the limit is set to 3kW.

Temperature

Weather is shown on the display in the bottom row. It displays today's forecast along with the sunrise and sunset and the forecast for the next 3 days.

Additional data - right column

• Calendar - displays the current date and day of the week. The calendar fills the empty space and is dynamically shrunk for the benefit of other data. If there are many additional data, it is hidden completely.
• The SOLAR PLUG tile displays information about the paired SOLAR PLUG. The icon changes according to the activity of the specified rule and displays information about the current power draw. The smaller number displays the socket's total power draw.
• The heat pump is displayed on two tiles. One tile displays the internal and external temperature. The other tile (if available) displays the temperature of the domestic hot water (DHW).
• The TESLA tile displays the current battery status and range. While charging, it displays charging power and recharged energy in kW (km/h) and kWh (km range).
• The wallbox tile displays the current charging power (W) and chargeable energy (kWh) during a given charging session.
• The energy distributor displays the purchase and the smaller font shows sales of energy for the selected billing period.
• The Spot price shows the price in CZK for the current hour. The number of coins in the icon symbolizes whether the current price within the day is expensive or cheap. The arrow in the icon symbolizes the trend for the following hour.

Bottom status bar

The bottom status bar displays technical data about the device. Only the essential data is shown here, the rest is for me when troubleshooting.

• Firmware version - shows the current firmware version. If a new version is available, a * is displayed.
• Status - displays the current status of the device, where Normal means that everything is working properly. If an error is displayed, follow the instructions below.
• B - this is an indicative battery status.
• W - this is an indication of WiFi signal strength.
• T - this is the inverter temperature if the information is available.

Firmware update

SOLAR STATION is equipped with semi-automatic firmware updates. The firmware is checked and updated automatically when the RESET button is pressed. Therefore, this manual is only intended to be used if this semi-automatic update fails.

Semi-automatic update

If a new firmware version is available, the device will automatically update. The update takes a few minutes, after that the device reboots.

Manual Update

You only need to do a manual update if something goes wrong. In all other cases, the device will update on its own.

Manual update procedure

Ideally, do this on a computer (it is also possible on a mobile phone but it is more complicated for the user)

1. First, you need to find out exactly what SOLAR STATION you have and download the correct file. Pay good attention to this!
   1. I have a big 7.5" model: Download firmware
   2. I have the small 4.5" model and the USB-C charging connector is on the right: Download firmware
   3. I have the small 4.5" model and the USB-C charging connector is on the bottom left: Download firmware
2. Download the file and save it on your computer.
3. Take the SOLAR STATION and do a factory reset on it.
4. Connect to the SolarStation-XXXX WiFi network, just like you did after you purchased it.
5. In your browser, open http://192.168.4.1 and you will see the setup form. Don't fill it out now.
6. At the bottom of the form is the update firmware option. First, press Select File and select the file you downloaded in the previous step, and then press Update firmware. This will update the firmware from the file. Version of the firmware should change. This completes the update process. That wasn't so bad, was it?
7. After the firmware update, the SOLAR STATION will start transmitting WiFi with the name SolarStation-XXXXXX. Now, reconnect to this WiFi and fill out the form this time similar to the first time you turned it on in the Settings.

Factory reset

If anything goes wrong, the easiest thing to do is to do a factory reset and start over.

Use the RESET button to wake up or reboot the device. After the initial logo is displayed press the button again within 3 seconds. The device memory is completely erased and you will see a screen with a QR code.

Now you can follow the instructions to first power on.

Charging

Charging is done via a USB-C cable. Charging is signaled depending on the model of your SOLAR STATION. Do not rely on the percentages shown on the display during charging!

• Charging on the 4.7" model is indicated by a glowing red LED on the back. When fully charged the light turns green.
• On the 7.5" model, charging is indicated by a glowing red LED on the back. When fully charged the LED turns off.

The charging takes several hours. We let the device charge overnight before selling it.

WARNING: in some cases, the cable works in one direction only. After plugging the cable in check carefully and make sure it is charging, indicated by the LED on the back of the device. If the device is not charging you need to rotate the cable, then the charging should begin.

How long does the device last when charged?

We install a minimum of 2500mAh LiPo into the device, based on availability. Occasionally you may get a different battery but always a larger one. The battery life is uncertain - of course, we have measured the consumption and the theoretical endurance is currently 2 months but only in ideal conditions. The ideal conditions are such that the device updates itself regularly within 5s. This data is displayed at the bottom of the status bar. This can be achieved primarily by a good WiFi signal and fast internet. The device does not like network mesh setups because it takes a long time to connect to the network as the various APs (access points) keep switching SOLAR STATION between them. The brand of inverter also affects this quite a bit as some manufacturers provide data instantly and others (GoodWe) only after 2-3 seconds. As you can see, how long the device stays charged depends on multiple factors and it's impossible to say exactly. You can count on a month. If the device discharges faster than a month you need to address the issue. The most common issue is with the WiFi and if you have the option to try it elsewhere (e.g. at work) then try it.

Solve error - I have a WiFi error at the bottom of the status bar

This error is tricky and can be problematic. It means that SOLAR STATION cannot connect to your home WiFi.

If the error appears right after the first set-up then it in most cases means you made a typo in the WiFi password.

If the error appears randomly, then the SOLAR STATION is struggling to connect to WiFi. This is also causing it to drain faster. Check the following:

• Check that there is a sufficiently strong signal. SOLAR STATION has a relatively weak antenna so it needs to be within the WiFi router's range.
• Avoid using a cheap repeater.

Solve error - I have a Cloud error at the bottom of the status bar

The Cloud error indicates a series of errors related to the inverter manufacturer's cloud communication. Try the following:

• Verify that you have entered the correct data for your inverter. Make sure you haven't changed the password.
• For SOLAX you need to enter the second piece of information - Registration Number and not the first one. This is a really common mistake which is why I'm listing it here.
• Try logging into the manufacturer's cloud and check that you can see your inverter there. It happened before that the cloud was temporarily unavailable or that the inverter had been unpaired from your account.
• If none of this helps, email me. Also, send the serial number of the SOLAR STATION that is displayed on the home screen when you press the RESET button. Just send a picture.

SOLAR PLUG

Before you even unpack the plug from the box, check that the SOLAR STATION has up-to-date firmware. I also recommend checking the SOLAR STATION setup form and setting the rule for switching the socket on/off.

The rules are part of the settings in SOLAR STATION so you can find them here SOLAR STATION/SOLAR PLUG switching rules.

Pairing

Plug the SOLAR PLUG into a wall outlet and press the RESET button on the SOLAR STATION. That's it!

After pairing, which can take up to a minute, the socket icon tile will display the measured value of the socket load. It displays the sum of the load of all the SOLAR PLUGs that have been found.

If the value -- is displayed, it means that the socket was paired but not found in the local network. You can try to restart the SOLAR STATION again. The SOLAR STATION tries to find the socket after each reboot. If this does not help even after repeated attempts try a new pairing.

If you pull the plug for a certain length of time it's better to unpair it. The SOLAR STATION tries to find the plug at regular intervals and discharges itself.

New pairing

If you want to do the whole pairing process again press the SOLAR PLUG button for 10 seconds. This will put the SOLAR PLUG into its factory settings.

Cancel pairing

If you would like to unpair all paired SOLAR PLUGs you can do so in the SOLAR STATION settings.

Loss of connection

In case the connection with the socket is lost it will turn itself off after 15 minutes.

Manual control of the socket

If you switch on the socket using a button, it stays permanently switched on. SOLAR STATION only controls switched off socket which it switches on itself.