SolarEdge (Modbus) smart home integration, free and open source
Local SolarEdge inverters, meters and batteries over Modbus TCP, no cloud.
Published by gboulvin
- Devices
- Version 1.0.1
- Requires Gladys >=5.1.0
- ★ 0
This integration connects Gladys to your SolarEdge installation locally, over Modbus TCP: no SolarEdge account, no cloud, no API key, and a reading every few seconds instead of every 15 minutes.
What you get
The integration detects everything that answers behind your inverter:
| Device | Features |
|---|---|
| Inverter (each one) | Solar production (W), total production (kWh), AC voltage, AC current, heat sink temperature, status |
| Grid meter | Grid power (W, import > 0, export < 0), import index (kWh), export index (kWh), house consumption (W) |
| Consumption meter | House consumption (W), consumption index (kWh) |
| Battery (StorEdge) | Charge level (%), charge power, discharge power (W), charged / discharged energy (kWh), available energy (kWh), temperature, status |
The house consumption is computed from the production of the inverters and the grid exchange. The indexes feed the Gladys energy dashboard.
Before you start: enable Modbus TCP
- Open the SetApp application next to the inverter (or the LCD menu on older inverters): Commissioning → Site Communication → Modbus TCP → Enable.
- Note the port: 1502 by default on SetApp inverters, often 502 on older ones.
- Give the inverter a fixed IP address in your router (DHCP reservation).
- Modbus TCP works over the Ethernet port of the inverter. Over Wi-Fi it depends on the model and firmware.
The inverter accepts a single Modbus TCP client at a time. If another system (Home Assistant, an energy manager…) already reads it over Modbus, stop it, or the two will kick each other out.
Configuration
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Inverter IP address | The address of the inverter (the leader one with several inverters). |
| Modbus TCP port | 1502 by default. |
| Modbus unit ids | 1 for a single inverter. Leader/follower installations: every inverter's id, comma separated (e.g. 1,2). |
| Refresh interval | Seconds between two reads (5 to 300, 10 by default). Large installations are automatically slowed down. |
| Solar surplus threshold | Grid export (W) above which the Solar surplus trigger fires (500 W by default). |
| Invert the grid meter direction | Turn on if Gladys shows an import while you export. |
| Allow inverter control | Off by default: the integration only reads. Turn on to let scenes and widgets limit production or drive the battery. |
Save, then click Test the connection: the integration lists what it found and the devices appear in the Discovery tab, ready to be added.
Scenes
Triggers
- Inverter status changed — producing, limited, sleeping (night), fault…
Filter on the inverter and the new status. Variables:
status,previous_status,power. - Solar surplus — the grid export goes above the threshold (
started) or falls back below half of it (ended). Ideal to start a water heater, a pool pump or an EV charge. Variables:state,export_power. - Battery status changed — charging, discharging, idle, fault…
Variables:
status,previous_status,level. - Inverter connection lost or restored — after 3 failed reads in a row.
Variables:
state,message.
The standard Gladys "device state" trigger also works on every feature (e.g. battery level above 90 %, production above 2000 W).
Actions
- Read the solar installation — returns production, consumption, grid power, battery level, today's production and inverter status to the next actions (conditions, notification texts…).
- Limit the solar production — active power limit in % of the nominal power, for instance during negative prices. 100 removes the limit. The limit stays stored in the inverter until it is changed again.
- Set the battery mode — maximize self-consumption, time of use, backup only, remote control.
- Charge or discharge the battery — a remote command (charge from solar and grid, discharge to cover the house, hold…) for a given duration, with an optional power limit. Then the inverter returns to its default mode.
- Set the backup reserve — share of the battery kept for power outages.
The control actions require Allow inverter control in the configuration.
Otherwise they return applied = false without touching the inverter. Battery
commands require a StorEdge inverter; charging from the grid may also require
the "AC charge" policy enabled by your installer.
Dashboard
- Solar production — live production, consumption, grid exchange and battery level, a production chart (period configurable), today's production, the inverter status and your self-sufficiency.
- Solar battery — charge level, charge and discharge power, available energy, status, health, mode and backup reserve. When control is allowed, two buttons switch the battery to self-consumption or backup only.
Configuration screen buttons
- Test the connection — detects the installation and refreshes the devices.
- Remove the production limit — sets every inverter back to 100 %.
Troubleshooting
- "Cannot reach…": check the IP address and the port, that Modbus TCP is enabled, and that no other Modbus client is connected.
- Exception 11 / no answer on unit id: the unit id is wrong. Single inverters
use
1. - Grid power with the wrong sign: turn on Invert the grid meter direction.
- Today's production starts from the first reading of the day (local time of the integration) and survives restarts.
- At night most inverters keep answering in sleeping mode; some stop answering: the devices stay in Gladys and come back at sunrise.
- Logs: open the integration logs in Gladys. Set
LOG_LEVEL=debugfor details.
Configuration settings
These are the settings SolarEdge (Modbus) asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enable Modbus TCP on the inverter | section | No | In the SetApp application (or the LCD menu of older inverters): Commissioning > Site Communication > Modbus TCP > Enable. Note the port (1502 by default) and give the inverter a fixed IP address on your router. The inverter accepts a single Modbus client at a time. |
| Inverter IP address | string | Yes | IP address or host name of the inverter (the leader one with several inverters). |
| Modbus TCP port | number | Yes | 1502 on SetApp inverters, often 502 on older ones. |
| Modbus unit ids | string | No | 1 for a single inverter. Leader/follower installations: the ids of every inverter, comma separated (e.g. 1,2). |
| Refresh interval (s) | number | No | Seconds between two reads of the whole installation (5 to 300). |
| Solar surplus threshold (W) | number | No | Grid export above which the "Solar surplus" scene trigger fires. It ends below half of it. |
| Invert the grid meter direction | boolean | No | Turn on if Gladys shows an import while you export (meter installed the other way round). |
| Allow inverter control | boolean | No | Lets scenes and widgets write to the inverter: production limit, battery mode and commands. Off: read only. |
How to install SolarEdge (Modbus) in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: SolarEdge (Modbus) appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/gboulvin/gladys-solaredge-modbus:1.0.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/gboulvin/Gladys-SolarEdge-ModBus.
SolarEdge (Modbus) requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
SolarEdge (Modbus) is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by gboulvin, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation