What monitoring is, and what it is not
Monitoring reads data from equipment that is capable of reporting and puts it somewhere you can see it. It does not make a system more reliable. What it does is shorten the gap between a fault happening and somebody noticing, and on a roof mounted system that gap can otherwise be months.
It is also not universal. Whether your equipment can report at all depends on the manufacturer, on what access that manufacturer gives to a servicing company, on your home connectivity, and in some cases on sensors that were never installed.
What can be monitored today
Solar Electric
Available for Supported EquipmentProduction figures appear for supported platforms once your system is connected. Some manufacturers do not release production data to servicing companies at all, and those systems show equipment records and documents instead of live figures.
Battery Backup
Available for Supported EquipmentState of charge, capacity and backup configuration appear for supported platforms once your system is connected. Not every battery platform releases live data to a servicing company, and those systems show equipment records and service history instead.
Solar Pool Heating
Coming SoonEquipment, documents, photographs, maintenance and service history are kept today. Temperature monitoring is what SunTroller is being developed to add for supported systems.
Solar Water Heating
Coming SoonTank, collector, backup heating and service records are kept today. Temperature monitoring is what SunTroller is being developed to add for supported systems.
Monitoring availability depends on installed equipment, connectivity, manufacturer access, supported integrations, and any required sensors.
Why monitoring stops
- The home network changed. New router, new provider, new password. The gateway has nothing to talk to.
- The monitoring device was unplugged and never plugged back in.
- The account belongs to a company that no longer exists, so nobody can log in.
- A cellular device reached the end of its data arrangement.
- The equipment itself failed, which is the case monitoring is meant to catch.
Regaining access when someone else set up the account
A lot of Florida systems were commissioned with the installer as the account owner, using an installer email address. When that company closes, homeowners are locked out of their own data.
Recovery is usually possible, and it usually needs the same three things: the equipment serial numbers, proof that you own the property, and a request to the manufacturer rather than to the installer. Some manufacturers will transfer ownership of a site to the homeowner directly. Others require a servicing company to hold the site.
What Solar Home does with monitoring
Where a supported connection exists, your Solar Home shows the production information available for that system alongside the equipment records, documents and service history for the same property, so you are not holding three apps and a folder to answer one question.
Where no connection is possible, Solar Home still keeps the equipment records, photographs, documents and service history. That is worth having on its own, and it is the part that no manufacturer can switch off.