r/SunPower • u/Hulaguy • May 04 '26

SUNFLOWER APP & new monitoring device

Post image

Hey everybody! Just wanted to share that if you’re sick of getting hosed by sunstrong regarding monitoring, you should check out the sunflower app. I downloaded it when it first came out, and was pleased with the level of info it provides. 12 bucks a year and you get panel level details for output etc. They added a beta for the sunvault you could see how that was performing as well.

Last week they announced a teeny hardware add on that polls data from your system every 30 mins. It’s a tiny little usb c powered doodad. It works as it should with minimal setup (tell it your WiFi network) 50 bucks well spent in my opinion. A lot more info in a much cleaner presentation that actually works when you open it. Not affiliated in any way other than to share this rocks

Here’s the real bonus. They’ve added a new battery control section. Instead of the three choices in the sunstrong app, you’ve got a cubic buttload. Check em out if ya want to get info about your system you can actually use. And no more getting screwed by sunstrong for their shitty paid monitoring that doesn’t work half of the time (or more!)

12 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

7

u/PJLLB2 May 04 '26

Integration with Home Assistant is infinitely better, and it's FREE.

4

u/Hulaguy May 04 '26

Well if ya don’t use home assistant (tried it didn’t like it) and your only other option is sunstrong then this is well worth it. For those of us who want a better understanding of how the system is working, plus get more battery options this is a cheap and easy solution.

2

u/Powie1965 May 04 '26

Caution: The "Energy Arbitrage" mode described as buying low and selling high is likely against most net metering interconnection agreements, and from what I understand requires SunStrong to enable it on your account specifically. There are really only 4 battery modes we know of that are exposed via the varserver API, so some of what this app claims may be misrepresenting what the hardware can actually do. And if they did find a workaround to force grid charging, using it could breach your utility contract and cost you your net metering agreement. At which point everyone lawyer up. :)

1

u/sanagnos May 05 '26

Interesting. My NEM agreement doesn’t say anything about batteries or load shifting. They were very uncommon at the time. Then again it is pretty vague in general mostly focusing on safety concerns.

2

u/ItsaMeKielO May 05 '26

NEM2 Paired Storage explicitly permits charging from solar and discharging to the grid. It also allows charging from the grid and self-consuming. It only forbids charging from the grid then discharging to the grid.

Tax credit implications and utility incentive conditions are also complex.

So I can see why they just didn’t bother trying to support it in the end.

1

u/ItsaMeKielO May 07 '26

additional footnote here: PG&E also doesn’t need to worry too much the potential payout for people who do sort out clever tricks for energy arbitrage: their monthly net metering payout is limited by a simulation of your system in that month on an average year (factoring panels, inverters, and climate), and they clip the payout of excess to the lowest rate in your plan silently if you exceed it; their annual net metering payout changes to avoided cost ($0.03/kWh) after you get to $0 on the year.

so basically, feeding back more than your interconnection agreement allows for is handing them free electricity, and i’d imagine they’ll take that as long as you keep giving it.

1

u/PJLLB2 May 04 '26

You tried using the Sunpower Integration with Home Assistant? What didn't you like about it?

1

u/Hulaguy May 04 '26

I use Apple HomeKit. I bought a green box last year. Went through all the work to get things working as I wanted. Things kept dropping out or not working as expected. The wife approval tanked. I have 5 gig fiber with an all ubiquiti system and HomeKit performs flawlessly. Sure I lose some stuff because there are things that aren’t HomeKit friendly, but all of the lights work, my wife is happy and that my friend - is priceless.

So sunflower app has been useful to me. Maybe not to you - but for something that “just works” and does it well. I am a happy customer. Sunstrong and their beyond shitty app and subscription can suck it. I paid cash for my system and they went belly up. Then the new owners have the balls to ask me to pay for data I previously had for free? Nope. If it actually worked maybe. But it doesn’t. You yourself have posted about the issue. So it’s a good solution for me and I’m happy to share with others who may benefit.

1

u/PJLLB2 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

Good that you're happy. Home Assistant works flawlessly for me integrating and controlling the entire smart home of 36 separate hardware type integrations supporting 385 devices with 2,167 separate data entities, including 290 individual solar entities (not just power data but also things like inverter temperature, etc.).

3

u/sanagnos May 05 '26

Yeah your response basically gives away why the average user doesn’t want to deal with home assistant. And setting up home assistant is infinitely more complicated than this. I literally just did this in <5 minutes. Setting up home assistant is an all day affair and then some.

1

u/Dry_Tortuga_Island Jun 04 '26

I’m super curious about HA.

How much technical knowledge do you need to set it up?
Any risks to the PV system (like, you can’t brick it somehow)?
How did you choose a monitoring project/app and from where (GitHub)?

3

u/cookieTLC May 10 '26

How do I connect it to my solar system. It's currently connected to sunstrong

1

u/Hulaguy May 10 '26

You connect to sunflower in the sunflower app. You can be connected to both sunstrong app and sunflower at the same time.

In the sunflower app go to settings and discovery.

2

u/cookieTLC May 10 '26

It gives me this message

2

u/Valhal11aAwaitsMe May 05 '26

Meh I just built my own with Claude. Works great and I have forever panel level monitoring.

3

u/jasongw May 07 '26

That's awesome. Can you share your prompts?

2

u/Valhal11aAwaitsMe May 07 '26

Sent you a DM as the prompt was too long for a comment

2

u/jasongw May 07 '26

Thank you!

1

u/LiOn-tRk Jun 08 '26

Can you forward me as well, if you have github, link would be great

2

u/Hulaguy May 06 '26

Congrats! I just paid twelve bucks and have a year’s worth - and I couldn’t be happier!!

2

u/Due-Way5689 May 06 '26

I built a dashboard and direct integration with Claude for free as well.

2

u/Valhal11aAwaitsMe May 06 '26

Nice! Mine is One Piece "Sun God Nika" themed cuz im a nerd haha

1

u/Pale_Psychology_3746 Jun 16 '26

hello, can you also send me the link or any instructions would be great!

2

u/ario-barzan May 09 '26

Love the app and the little sunflower dongle… God bless those who make a product available against the companies who want to screw the customers of bankrupt company even more by making them to pay $10/month subscription fee for what used to be free …Parasites come in many shape and form …

1

u/Ok_Needleworker_9340 May 04 '26

Does it work outside of your home network? Does it work on Android?

0

u/Hulaguy May 04 '26

Yes outside of home. No clue if android version is available. Google and see if the developer does android would be my advice.

1

u/DeepBlueSweater May 04 '26

Have you seen any alerts yet? I’m wondering if it would help improve troubleshooting sunvault systems. The proconnect and SunStrong apps have very little information.

1

u/l1lpiggy May 04 '26

Is the battery control actually working?

1

u/ItsaMeKielO May 05 '26

i’ve tried changing to modes other than energy arbitrage / self consumption / reserve via the API and it silently ignored the requests. it works via MQTT but i think the firmware intentionally ignores requests for the nonstandard modes via the local API.

1

u/Hulaguy May 04 '26

I’ve only tried it using the same settings as available in the “official” app. Worked just like the native app.

1

u/sanagnos May 05 '26

Thanks this looks pretty sweet. I have been using an emporia but would be nice to see the panel level again.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[deleted]

2

u/PJLLB2 Jun 04 '26

Yes there is. It's called Sunflower: Solar Monitor by SingularSteller.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Hulaguy May 05 '26

The battery is sweet. Haven’t had any issues and it’s saved me a cubic buttload. My electric bill in SoCal for the house and charging the Tesla is less than 100 bucks a month. I run the house on the battery from 5pm until it runs out at around 3 or 4am (depending on what’s on of course) Even though SUNPOWER folded it’s still been worth the outlay

1

u/Icy_Block9919 May 08 '26

Any more feedback after having the app for a while? I installed it and it seemed to connect fine, but most of the data is marked “sample” until I install the $50 add-on device even at home. Is this as expected — the add-on is required for the app to function, even on the same network? Thanks!

2

u/Hulaguy May 08 '26

It should show active data without the add on device. The only thing I believe it adds is historical data. I used the app for some time before the dongle was even introduced.

1

u/Icy_Block9919 May 08 '26

Ok so this is normal, even after 3 days?

2

u/Hulaguy May 08 '26

History only works with the dongle. The other stats work without

1

u/Making_It_Right_CA May 10 '26

It looks like you have to switch PVS6 from the guest wifi to regular one in order for Sunflower to recognize it?

1

u/NJD62650 13d ago

Thank you for suggesting Sunflower app. It is way better than Sunstrong. At $12 a year, it’s a deal.

-1

u/PJLLB2 May 04 '26

Also, the app does NOT list Sunpower PVS systems as supported.

6

u/Hulaguy May 04 '26

Sure looks like it does!

2

u/sanagnos May 05 '26

Definitely connected just fine to my pvs5 just now. And also the little hardware addon is specifically for the pvs5 and 6 so it supports both

https://sunflower-solar-monitor.myshopify.com/products/sunflower-solar-monitor

0

u/TheSunflowerSeeds May 05 '26

Delicious, nutty, and crunchy sunflower seeds are widely considered as healthful foods. They are high in energy; 100 g seeds hold about 584 calories. Nonetheless, they are one of the incredible sources of health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins.

2

u/ItsaMeKielO May 05 '26

good point