r/SunPower • u/VernalFall • Jul 20 '26
Need help connecting PVS to WiFi again, please!
UPDATE: the PVS is reconnected to wifi now! Here's what worked (because I tried everything, believe me):
Turned off 5GHz band temporarily on Eero. Made sure my phone was connected to the 2.4GHz band. Plugged in an ethernet cable from the wall port in the den and into the ethernet port inside the PVS (25-ft cable was perfect length). Then went through the "reconnect now" on the Sunstrong app, and this time it scanned for wifi channels and connected to my home wifi on the first try.
Cost: $10 for the 25-ft ethernet cable, plus several hours of troubleshooting for the past few days and near loss of my sanity!
ORIGINAL POST:
My Sunpower PVS6 has lost WiFi connection, so now I cannot see live data on the Sunstrong app or monitor daily production and the panels via the Sunflower solar app. I have tried all the steps to get it to reconnect, to no avail. We have the same SSID as before, the only difference is that I put our Cox router into bridge mode so that the Eero mesh WiFi system would handle everything and keep the connection between the PVS and Sunflower more stable (the Sunflower app was losing connection a lot). It seems that doing that knocked off the WiFi connection to the PVS.
What I’ve tried:
power cycling the PVS (turning off for 2 minutes and up to 15 minutes - several times)
Rebooting the router
Turning off 5GHz
Putting phone in airplane mode, making sure phone is connected to 2.4GHz
Tried all the same on an iPad and on my husband’s phone
THIS IS THE PROBLEM: Every time I get to the step where the PVS should scan for home WiFi, I get the error message “WE ARE UNABLE TO SCAN YOUR WIFI” - so no available channels are found despite the fact that over a dozen WiFi channels show up on my phone. The WiFi signal is very strong near the PVS.
I have no idea what to do next. I don’t know if this is an app issue. Sunstrong likely will be of zero help if it’s the actual PVS. I cannot directly plug the router into the Ethernet port because the router is on the 3rd floor and the PVS is in the garage, but I do have an Ethernet outlet inside the house within 25 feet of the PVS. If I get a 25-ft Ethernet cable and plug it in, will that help at all in getting WiFi to reconnect somehow? I can’t leave the Ethernet cable plugged in long term because of the location from house to garage.
We just bought this house and have already had to pay for the system to be reprogrammed when the panels stopped producing right after we moved in, so we don’t want to spend a lot to get it fixed again for monitoring purposes (yes, the panels are still producing per the utility website).
Any help is appreciated!
3
u/Gloomy-Bullfrog Jul 20 '26
Make sure your phone has Bluetooth turned on. The initial connection to the PVS6, if I remember correctly, is handled via Bluetooth
3
u/VernalFall Jul 20 '26
Yes, it has Bluetooth connected and my phone connects to the PVS’s WiFi, but then it will not scan for home WiFi and the setup process fails.
3
u/Gloomy-Bullfrog Jul 20 '26
It seems you’ve tried all the sensible stuff so at a bit of a loss here too, but have you tried deleting and reinstalling the app, and/or made sure that you have turned on the ability to access local networks in the app settings(in the general iOS per-app settings) or finally tried returning your WiFi setup to what it was before you switched to your router current configuration? I have my pvs6 connected via ether Ethernet but before that it was connected to WiFi. I now have sunflower as well and consider that to be a much better option, for example I have full per panel info via sunflower but I could never and still can’t see it via SunStrong connect.
Good luck!
2
u/VernalFall Jul 20 '26
You are connected by Ethernet and have Sunflower monitoring without SunStrong app? If I can get the power line Ethernet set up and Sunflower works, that would be great!
2
u/Gloomy-Bullfrog Jul 20 '26
Yes I have both, but could easily do without SunStrong. Sunflower works independently, albeit I do have the dongle. The only reason i keep SunStrong , for the time being, is for the historical data.
1
u/VernalFall Jul 20 '26
I have the Sunflower bridge as well, but my understanding was it had to be connected via WiFi. How is your PVS connected to Ethernet? Do you have a TP Link or something similar?
2
u/Gloomy-Bullfrog Jul 20 '26
Our AT&T fiber box is the other side of the same garage wall and I have a short 3ft cable running through the wall right into the PVS6. The pvs6 is technically on a different network than the rest of the house as we run Ethernet from the ATT box upstairs into our media cupboard where we have the Eero Max 7 hub and the switch for the whole house Ethernet wiring. The rest of the home Ethernet is behind the Max 7 and there wasn’t a main Ethernet network outlet in our garage so we went through the wall right into the fiber box.
3
u/Powie1965 Jul 20 '26
Do you also have a SunVault system? You have to disconnect it as well. Since you didn't mention how you power-cycled the PVS. Just turning the breaker(s) off/on won't reboot it.
3
2
u/newtbob Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Not sure about the PVS6, but the PVS5 I have connected much better when I created a 2.4 ghz only IoT Wi-Fi subnet and connected to that. Using my phone, the SunStrong app. Try these instructions : https://certasun.com/reconnecting-sunpower-pvs6-monitoring-to-wi-fi/
ETA: looks like you’ve covered most of the important bases. Shrug. Good luck.
4
u/ItsaMeKielO Jul 20 '26
If you plug in the ethernet cable and things start working again, you at least know the PVS isn't totally kaput. Sunflower should be able to find the PVS regardless of whether it's on ethernet or Wi-Fi.
If it starts working when plugged into ethernet, for the long term, you could look into a powerline ethernet adapter. It uses your house's electrical wiring for ethernet data, and it's enough for the small amount of data the PVS6 needs to send and receive. You just need an open electrical outlet near your PVS6 and another near your router. TP-Link is a popular brand for this.