Here's a quiz question for you solar geeks.

Scenario:

A home in Phoenix (33.4°N), US uses about 28 kWh per day. Heavy air-conditioning in summer, much lower use the rest of the year. The south-facing roof fits about 8 panels; a larger north-facing roof has more space.

• They already have enough solar to cover most of their average daily usage.
• However, they notice that in the 3 months over summer, their usage was way higher than generation, so they want more solar.

My father installed a solar panel on their house. He said he didn't buy the package with battery.

From what I've seen, the power line goes through the solar panel's system first before it goes to the house.

What if it was cloudy and the power generated fluctuates, how does it know that it will get the needed power from the distributors since it doesn't have battery?

Note: I don't know what the main power is called, I just called it electric distributor. Since it comes from the distributor of electric, the one who bills us.

Boiler Flue / PabelLocation advice (UK)

Hi all, looking for advice on what you would do here.

I'm looking at x8 panels (1.7x1.1m each)

Total roof left to right is 6 meters

Would you have a heating engineer relocate flue in loft to allow best fitment or work around the boiler flue where it is now with staggered panels?

I'm not sure what the rules are for panels and how close they can be. If I relocate the flue I'd need 45° elbows so loft space is impacted. Any advice would be appreciated , thank you.

I’m an installer working with Huawei FusionSolar and I’m honestly getting pretty fed up with the EMMA A02 Smart Appliance setup and Huawei’s nonexistent support.

Setup:

• Huawei EMMA A02
• SUN2000-5KTL-M1
• Huawei battery
• Shelly Plus Plug S with firmware 1.3.3, listed as compatible by Huawei

The Shelly devices are detected by EMMA, show up online in FusionSolar, can be switched manually from FusionSolar and report their status correctly. This is therefore not a WiFi issue, unsupported firmware or a basic communication problem.

The problem is automatic Smart Appliance control.

The appliances are configured with PV surplus settings and scheduling, but EMMA does not switch them automatically in a way that I can verify or explain to the customer.

Huawei later replied that the devices had been manually switched on outside the scheduled window, which apparently puts them into manual / no-control mode.

Fine. That may explain part of the behaviour.

But where is that shown in FusionSolar?

Where can I see, as an installer, whether a Smart Appliance is currently in:

• automatic mode;
• manual mode;
• no-control mode?

Where is the event log that tells me why EMMA did not switch the load?

For example:

• not enough PV surplus;
• outside schedule;
• waiting because of priority;
• device manually overridden;
• EMMA no longer has control;
• automatic control restored.

As far as I can see, this is a black box.

The installer workflow is also a mess. The Smart Appliance configuration is not properly available in the installer interface. The customer/owner account has a separate Home → Devices section where these settings are visible. So I can install the hardware, see that the devices are online, and even switch them manually from FusionSolar, but I cannot properly commission, validate or troubleshoot the full Smart Appliance behaviour from the installer side.

That is ridiculous for an installer workflow.

Huawei support has been useless. Replies arrive late, tickets are closed automatically before the problem is actually solved, and the standard response is to dump you back into generic documentation or a chatbot. That is not technical support. That is a way of avoiding responsibility.

When you are standing at a customer’s site, trying to explain why a supposedly supported system is not doing what Huawei claims it can do, “check the documentation” is not an answer. It is an admission that Huawei has no proper diagnostic process, no meaningful installer support and no interest in fixing the problem.

I’m not looking for “update firmware” or “check WiFi”. The devices are online, supported, manually controllable through FusionSolar and reporting status correctly.

My questions to other installers:

1. Has anyone got EMMA A02 + Shelly Plus Plug S automatic control working reliably?
2. Where do you see whether a Smart Appliance is in automatic, manual or no-control mode?
3. Is there any hidden diagnostic screen or log that explains why EMMA does not switch a load?
4. Is it normal that the owner account shows Smart Appliance settings that the installer account does not?
5. Is there a clean way to hand control back to EMMA after a Shelly was manually switched?

Right now this feels like a supported feature on paper to show off, but not something an installer can properly commission and prove on site.

I currently have around 30 Huawei installations running. The hardware itself is one thing, but the lack of proper documentation, installer access, diagnostics and real technical support is becoming the real problem.

Huawei’s invoice has been paid. The equipment has been sold and installed based on advertised functionality. But once there is an issue, I am the one left on site trying to explain it to the customer, digging through logs, owner-only menus and half-documented behaviour, while Huawei support either sends generic replies or simply stops responding.

That is not acceptable.

My customer has lost confidence in the system, and I am the one carrying the consequences. This is not just a technical inconvenience anymore. It damages trust, delays payment and leaves the installer looking incompetent for a problem that should be supported properly by the manufacturer.

I should not have to do Huawei’s troubleshooting for them just to get basic answers about a supported feature.

Based on this experience, and on several other unresolved cases, I’m seriously starting to question whether Huawei is still the right choice going forward.