Sofar On-Grid Inverter firmware updates. Any luck?

[MJCM]

I finally after several emails and several days waiting received a Firmware Update for my Sofar On-Grid Inverter.

 

Did anyone update the firmware on their Sofar inverter and any luck doing it?

 

 

 

 

[Crossy]

I did when I first got the on-grid unit.

 

Follow the instructions exactly.

 

Do NOT try to interrupt the beast, it may take longer than you anticipate.

 

Did they not offer to do the update OTA for you??

 

People on the Sofar Facebook groups do it all the time seemingly without issues, until ...

 

 

[MJCM]

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

People on the Sofar Facebook groups do it all the time seemingly without issues, until .

The magic word here is until ...

 

10 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Follow the instructions exactly.

And there it already goes wrong.

 

In the text (pdf) it says this.

 

Switch Off both DC and AC switches.

What do they mean by DC and AC switches, not breakers because in the end of that section it says
 

Switch the DC and AC circuit breaker back on.

[MJCM]

11 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Did they not offer to do the update OTA for you??

Yes they did, but they failed, I think they tried to do it when my Internet was down. I asked them to try again, but NO reply and NO change.

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, MJCM said:

What do they mean by DC and AC switches, not breakers because in the end of that section it says

 

Assume whatever you have to interrupt the AC and DC connections, does your inverter have a big DC switch on the inverter itself?

 

[MJCM]

29 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Assume whatever you have to interrupt the AC and DC connections, does your inverter have a big DC switch on the inverter itself?

 

Yep, but NO AC switch

 

 

[Crossy]

Use your AC breaker for the AC ????

 

How do you get the firmware in, our unit has an SD card.

[MJCM]

15 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Use your AC breaker for the AC ????

 

How do you get the firmware in, our unit has an SD card.

USB Stick (Format as Fat32)

 

Here are the instructions (PDF) I got with the Firmware.

 

Firmware Update Instruction.pdf

 

[MJCM]

They just me the Failure log that shows they couldn't remotely update the firmware.

 

They tried it just when I had internet troubles ????  (I asked them to try again)

 

 

 

[Fruit Trader]

Using clean USB flash drive 

Unpack firmware file to USB drive

Turn off inverter AC + DC

Insert flash drive into inverter USB port

Turn on DC wait for boot

Follow menu update instruction in manual

 

If any file error messages appear during update repeat the process

If file errors persist contact Sofar tell them which file is giving error

 

 

Note - If possible avoid remote online updates from Sofar

[MJCM]

4 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Unpack firmware file to USB drive

Thx, in the ZIP file there are MANY firmware files in the firmware directory

 

Quote

3-6KW-G3_SAFETY.bin
3-6KW-G3_ARM_G0.bin
3-6KW-G3_ARM.bin
3-6KW-G3_ARM_N1.bin
3-8KW-G3_ARM_G0.bin
3-8KW-G3_ARM.bin
3-8KW-G3_ARM_N1.bin
3-8KW-G3_DS_MSP430FR2433.bin
3-8KW-G3_SAFETY.bin
3-8KW-G3_DM.bin
3-8KW-G3_DM_T1.bin
3-8KW-G3_DM_TMS320F280039.bin
3-8KW-G3_DS.bin
3-8KW-G3_DS_N4.bin
3-6KW-G3_DS_MSP430FR2433.bin
3-6KW-G3_DS_N4.bin
3-6KW-G3_DM.bin
3-6KW-G3_DM_T1.bin
3-6KW-G3_DS.bin

According to the Instruction (I posted above) this is the only directory I should add to the USB stick (formatted as Fat32)

 

4 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Note - If possible avoid remote online updates from Sofar

May I ask why?

[Fruit Trader]

Just now, MJCM said:

May I ask why?

Because it is possible to lose the inverters ability to read updates if communication is lost at the right moment. This would then require a low level factory flash.

[Fruit Trader]

6 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Thx, in the ZIP file there are MANY firmware files in the firmware directory

Copy the folder to the flash drive.

[MJCM]

8 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Copy the folder to the flash drive.

Yes will do, but there is also a folder in the zip called "safety" which holds the following files.

 

Copy that as well?

 

Quote

040-001-0608.txt
044-000-0608.txt
046-000-0608.txt
046-001-0608.txt
107-000-0608.txt
108-000-0608.txt
111-000-0608.txt
111-001-0608.txt
121-000-0608.txt
122-000-0608.txt
123-000-0608.txt
030-001-0608.txt
030-002-0608.txt
030-003-0608.txt
031-000-0608.txt
033-000-0608.txt
034-001-0608.txt
035-000-0608.txt
038-000-0608.txt
038-001-0608.txt
039-000-0608.txt
039-001-0608.txt
039-002-0608.txt
039-003-0608.txt
040-000-0608.txt
025-000-0608.txt
025-003-0608.txt
026-000-0608.txt
026-002-0608.txt
027-000-0608.txt
028-000-0608.txt
028-001-0608.txt
028-002-0608.txt
028-003-0608.txt
029-000-0608.txt
029-001-0608.txt
029-002-0608.txt
030-000-0608.txt
011-003-0608.txt
011-004-0608.txt
011-006-0608.txt
012-000-0608.txt
012-003-0608.txt
013-000-0608.txt
018-000-0608.txt
018-001-0608.txt
019-000-0608.txt
020-000-0608.txt
020-001-0608.txt
021-000-0608.txt
022-000-0608.txt
024-000-0608.txt
009-000-0608.txt
009-001-0608.txt
010-000-0608.txt
010-001-0608.txt
010-002-0608.txt
010-003-0608.txt
010-004-0608.txt
010-005-0608.txt
010-006-0608.txt
010-009-0608.txt
010-010-0608.txt
011-000-0608.txt
011-001-0608.txt
002-009-0608.txt
003-000-0608.txt
003-002-0608.txt
003-003-0608.txt
003-004-0608.txt
004-000-0608.txt
005-000-0608.txt
005-001-0608.txt
005-002-0608.txt
005-003-0608.txt
006-000-0608.txt
006-001-0608.txt
007-000-0608.txt
008-000-0608.txt
000-000-0608.txt
000-001-0608.txt
000-002-0608.txt
000-005-0608.txt
000-006-0608.txt
001-000-0608.txt
001-001-0608.txt
001-002-0608.txt
001-003-0608.txt
001-004-0608.txt
001-005-0608.txt
002-000-0608.txt
002-008-0608.txt

 

[MJCM]

11 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Because it is possible to lose the inverters ability to read updates if communication is lost at the right moment. This would then require a low level factory flash.

That is the "brick" I am afraid off ????

 

Even with the USB upgrade method

[Fruit Trader]

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

That is the "brick" I am afraid off ????

 

Even with the USB upgrade method

End user firmware updates always carry some risk. Local up dates are safest make sure the supply is not interrupted during the process.

[Fruit Trader]

13 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Yes will do, but there is also a folder in the zip called "safety" which holds the following files.

 

Copy that as well?

Copy the folder to the flash drive. You will then have a folder on the flash drive named firmware which will contain all of the update files.

[MJCM]

57 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Copy the folder to the flash drive. You will then have a folder on the flash drive named firmware which will contain all of the update files.

Thx,

 

that “safety” directory is a separate folder in the root of the zip file. (Same as “firmware”)
 

they don’t mention that folder in their instructions 

[MJCM]

Update:

 

They (Sofar) tried again to remotely update the firmware again, but failed again, so I did it myself.

 

First USB Stick (32GiB) gave a USB error so used another one (16GiB) and that went oke.

 

DSP-1 update took the longest, counting UP from 0 - 100%

DSP-2 update took a mere 5 seconds

ARM update took also approx 5 seconds.

 

Now I hope the trouble I have are gone, but already noticing one thing.

 

I have Anti-Reflux enabled with Power to 0.00kW and normally it shows in the Screen but not now, send Sofar an email to ask what is wrong with that.

 

Edit: Problem that AR is enabled and still it exports it's still there. (it's only minor export (10W) but still that would run the meter backwards which I don't want.

[Fruit Trader]

58 minutes ago, MJCM said:

I have Anti-Reflux enabled with Power to 0.00kW and normally it shows in the Screen but not now, send Sofar an email to ask what is wrong with that.

If CT is wired correctly + anti reflux is enabled + CT mode selected + power set at zero :-

The inverter should be derating with no export.

Depending on firmware version, the display should say Reflux Derating on the top line and power in watts on the line below

Is you goal to prevent any export?
 

[MJCM]

22 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

If CT is wired correctly + anti reflux is enabled + CT mode selected + power set at zero :-

The inverter should be derating with no export.

Depending on firmware version, the display should say Reflux Derating on the top line and power in watts on the line below

CT is wired correctly and yes AR = enabled CT mode = selected and Power = set to 0.0kW and it's STILL exporting, not a lot for example producing 500W, house uses 490W and export is 10W.

 

Previously (before the firmware upgrade) it Said "Reflux Enabled" and Power in Watts, now it's saying NORMAL and Power in Watts

 

22 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Is you goal to prevent any export?

On the days before and after meter reading day yes and I would like to stay in Positive territory so that is why I would like to prevent Export.

[Fruit Trader]

4 minutes ago, MJCM said:

CT is wired correctly and yes AR = enabled CT mode = selected and Power = set to 0.0kW and it's STILL exporting, not a lot for example producing 500W, house uses 490W and export is 10W.

Is the meter creeping backwards while in this condition?

[MJCM]

2 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Is the meter creeping backwards while in this condition?

yep ever so slowly, hardly noticeable but yep (sometimes it's a bit faster then slower again)

[Fruit Trader]

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

yep ever so slowly, hardly noticeable but yep (sometimes it's a bit faster then slower again)

I have got to be careful what I say here because there are so many firmware variants often country specific.

 

If you are sure the CT wired correctly  and you have done a complete restart after enabling reflux then best keep to your plan and contact Sofar again

[MJCM]

Have a look at this graph (it's from yesterday)

 

Reflux Enabled = Power set to 0.0kW

 

Red Line = Consumption

Light Blue Line - Feed in (thus export)

 

(The (almost) straight line from before 3pm till around 4ish consumption = 300W  Feed-in varies around 10W

[MJCM]

5 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

If you are sure the CT wired correctly  and you have done a complete restart after enabling reflux then best keep to your plan and contact Sofar again

Yes and Yes and will do (already contacted them but no response yet.

 

On another note, if someone knows a good ON-Grid 5kW (max) Inverter with 2xMPPT I would be interested to replace the Sofar. (Needs to be able to export and also be able to disable Export)

[Fruit Trader]

1 hour ago, MJCM said:

Have a look at this graph (it's from yesterday)

One more question just to be sure I am on the right page.

 

Is this correct?

 

Before the firmware update you could always stop export completely and the meter would not turn backwards when solar production exceeded house consumption. 

[Crossy]

I don't think you'll ever achieve exactly zero export, we seem to bumble around 10W either way according to my separate meter (don't trust what the inverter says).

 

There should be a CT calibration setting somewhere so you can tweek what it sees, maybe adjust so you are always importing a tiny amount? 

[Fruit Trader]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

I don't think you'll ever achieve exactly zero export, we seem to bumble around 10W either way according to my separate meter (don't trust what the inverter says).

 

There should be a CT calibration setting somewhere so you can tweek what it sees, maybe adjust so you are always importing a tiny amount? 

True and the setting to no export should result in a tiny import of about 10W. The inverter trends on the import side to avoid the meter creeping backwards.

[Crossy]

@MJCMsince you've now got contact with Sofar you could ask them how to prevent the meter creeping backwards.

 

To be honest, a 10W creep probably isn't ever going to be noticed by the meter man, he's really only interested in the numbers and any blatant banging the meter in reverse.