Simple Query - switching to wired ethernet from Wifi

[asyrop]

I have been trying to find out how I can change my present Wifi link to the Fox cloud to a wired ethernet. My reason is that my system being 50m from the house used an extra router to reach it with Wifi and it has proved unreliable. I now have a wired arrangement to get close to the inverter but I cannot see how to switch from the "smart stick" the installer establised in socket M to the fixed RJ45 ethernet socket - F.

The only setting under Comms/Ethernet on the inverter refers to "DHCP" being on or not. I have Manager Firmware 1.57.

Starting the inverter after rebooting it with the elthernet connected and the smart stick out achieves nothing.
Is it a switch available only to my installer on his app ? Or am I missing something ?

Many thanks for any speciic pointers,

[calum]

I don't know if what you are attempting is possible. As far as I know the inverter only talks to the Fox cloud via Wifi. You may want to look at putting a Wifi access point on the end of the new ethernet link so your inverter can get a reliable signal?

[asyrop]

Thank you, Calum

I could see just about everywhere is silent on the question so I did wonder. Strange to call the port "ethernet" but not use it for conventional wired networks.

I note too that the settings menu has "Ethernet" but the only option I see is "DHCP" which again made me wonder about standard networking.

Kind Regards

[calum]

It is a functional ethernet port, it just isn't connected to the same comms stack as the wifi. If you connect it to a network with a DHCP server active it will pick up an IP address and you can then get Modbus information out of the inverter and use it in Home Assistant or other monitoring platforms.

(This functionality has been lost in recent versions of the inverter firmware but this has recently been restored in the latest 1.57).

If you just want to have the inverter be able to talk to the Foxess cloud, then you will need to provide a usable wifi signal at that location. You can potentially do this cheaply by buying any used Wifi router, disabling the DHCP etc and connecting your ethernet cable to one of the LAN ports on the back (NOT the WAN port). You'll then basically have a WAP (Wireless Access Point) that should do fine for the inverter dongle to work - the amount of data the inverter sends is actually very small compared with any "normal" wifi use case like web browsing or streaming audio or video.

[Dave Foster]

It used to be possible, FoxESS do a LAN version of the wifi stick which allows you to direct connect by ethernet to the cloud.

I’ve not seen one in stock for a while so don’t know whether it’s discontinued or just not in stock often - if you follow this link you’ll see one https://www.itstechnologies.shop/produc ... ring-stick

At that price I would be tempted to buy a small wifi access point, and create a local wifi point for the Fox wifi stick - something like this (used in AP mode)

[asyrop]

Dear Calum & Dave

Thank you for the detailed clarification, esp how the DCHP option is needed for a wired in ethernet for modbus. Hopefully this will help others as well as myself to make use of the networking possibilities as I go forward, esp when far from the house Wifi or setting up HA etc.

I had concluded I need to ensure working local Wifi connection along the lines you have suggested and am now doing so.

Thank you both for highlighting the simple options,

Regards