Switching from Wifi to LAN

[nero44]

Hello Everyone,

first time poster.

I have a Fox ESS H1 with 3x HV25 installed last year. They are powered by 9x Canadian Solar 430w. The system is running very well and I am quite happy with it.

The installer used the wifi dongle to connect the inverter to the fox cloud, however the signal is very weak as my broadband router sits on the other side of the house. I am currently using a wifi extender which is some relief. I've also got an office in the room just below the inverter, where I am currently looking to install a wired ethernet port.

The solar installer actually ran two CAT6 cables from the inverter down to the consumer unit. At the time, I had no plans to get an ethernet connection from my broadband router to the consumer unit (and then back to the inverter) so nothing further was installed. However, one of the two CAT6 (actually just two double strands from one cable) is used to connect the inverter to the CT clamp at the consumer unit and the other CAT6 cable is completely spare. I want to use this spare lead, connect one end to my broadband router and the other end into my office as wired internet connection.

Getting closer to my actual question now...

Give the weak wifi signal, I was thinking to connect my inverter to the internet via LAN using the spare lead. Now I've read different things here and that FOX have potentially disabled this function? My idea was to purchase FOX' LAN stick https://www.senetic.co.uk/product/FOX_P ... gKzgfD_BwE and simple replace this with the wifi dongle.

Would this in theory work?

And furthermore, given the amount of data being transferred is quite low, I was wondering if I can actually even use the two spare double strand from the CAT6 cable that is currently connected to the CT clamp. Effectively this would throttle the speed of the cable by just using 2 Rx and 2 Tx. The benefit would be that the other spare CAT6 cable is 100% free and can provide high speeds into my office. Alternatively I would need to install a network switch to split the signal, but I prefer to avoid it.

Thanks in advance.

[Dave Foster]

If you replace the dongle with the LAN version that will work fine, a lot of people use that where signal is weak - another option is to install a wifi extender at the nearest point in your house and only used for the inverter (set to 2.4Ghz).

The cable should be fine with 2 pair, there are only 4 active cores in the cable the rest are spare and used for screening but as you say this is a low speed link and as long as you connect the TX +/- and RX +/- pins it should be good.

Make sure you get the correct smart LAN, the very latest inverters have a USB connector for the wifi/LAN dongle whereas that one is the original style round pin version (most common)..

[nero44]

Thanks Dave, that is very helpful.

I was unaware the LAN stick comes in USB and original round connector (I guess it looks similar to the Meter/CT/RS485 connector).

Do I need to power down the entire system for this? Presumably the system would keep running even if I pull out the USB Dongle, I would just not get any live data for a few minutes.

[Dave Foster]

Yes you can just unplug the datalogger and replace with a new one with power on.

Your user account is tied to it’s datalogger serial number and any inverters on that datalogger show - so your user account will ‘lose’ the inverter when you change datalogger and you will either have to add the new datalogger serial number to your account (under devices), or if you are out of warranty and don’t get support from your installer you can take the opportunity to create a new ‘installer’ access account and add the datalogger to that which will give you access to the data and all of the inverter settings remotely (but your installer will lose access to your system).

[nero44]

Thanks Dave. I will take a look and revert back. The system was only installed in December 2023 so I am under warranty and the installer has full access.

Another somewhat related question... during the configuration stage the installer asked me if I wanted the ability to monitor each panel individually, which would have cost extra. At the time I declined and I still do not really require this information. However, I am pretty sure the installer has access to this, as I remember them showing me something on their tablet (it could have been for another property though). It might not have been on the Fox ESS app.... FYI I have TIGO TS4-A-O.

I do notice that there is a CAT6 cable coming through my roof from the panels, but not being connected anywhere. Any idea what this is? Could this be a link to panel monitoring?

[Dave Foster]

If you have individual panel monitoring that comes from the Tigo’s, they communicate wirelessly between themselves and back to a TAP (tigo access point), that then has an RS485 cable running in unscreened cable and connected to a CCA which is basically a Tigo cloud access point — you have to pay for the Tigo CCA and cloud which gives you the access to all of your panel data via the individual Tigo TS4’s.
If you didn’t take the option up, they may have left the TAP in place but probably not the CCA and the cat6 cable you saw would plug into the CCA and that then connected to the cloud - i’ve always been doubtful that this extra information adds anything and is worth the extra premium you pay for the cloud service, but there have been a few occasions it would have been nice to see what each panel was doing.

[nero44]

Thanks for the explanation, that is very clear and insightful. I will double check, but very unlikely they will have left the CCA hidden in the roof felting. Also it appears that the CCA seems to be the most valuable part of the kit. So unless I find a used CCA for cheap on Ebay, there is no point in pursing this further.

[johnwick1]

Yes, connecting your Fox ESS inverter to the internet using a LAN stick via the spare CAT6 cable should work in theory, provided the LAN functionality on the inverter has not been disabled. You can replace the WiFi dongle with the Fox LAN stick, but it's best to confirm compatibility with your inverter model and firmware version by consulting Fox ESS or your installer.

Regarding using the CAT6 cable currently connected to the CT clamp, repurposing its unused strands for LAN is technically possible, but it may cause interference or compromise the accuracy of the CT clamp readings. A cleaner solution would be to use the fully spare CAT6 cable for the LAN connection and consider adding a network switch if needed for the office connection.

This approach ensures reliable connectivity without risking signal degradation.

[nero44]

FYI, I have completed this in the summer and it works perfectly fine.