Solar Monitor

Set up your Solar Monitor.

Follow this step-by-step guide to plug Solar Monitor into your gateway, configure your local network, and start tracking your solar generation.

Before You Begin

What you’ll need

  • Your Solar Monitor kit
  • Your home Wi-Fi name and password
  • A phone, tablet, or laptop
  • A flathead screwdriver

  1. Step 01

    Open the PVS enclosure

    Locate your SunStrong / SunPower PVS gateway. It's usually mounted near your main electrical panel or in the garage. Gently pry outward on the tab at the bottom of the front faceplate and lift the cover off.

    A flathead screwdriver shimmed into the release slot along the bottom edge of the PVS faceplate.

  2. Step 02

    Connect ethernet and power

    Plug the included ethernet cable into the ethernet port on the Solar Monitor, and connect the other end to the black ethernet port inside the PVS (labeled LAN1 on most units).

    Plug the USB-C cable into the Solar Monitor, and plug the USB-A end into an available USB port inside the PVS to draw power.

    The status LED will illuminate solid red while the Solar Monitor powers up and prepares for setup.

    The Solar Monitor wired into the PVS LAN1 port and powered over USB, its status LED glowing solid red.

  3. Step 03

    Join the setup network

    On your phone, tablet, or laptop, open Wi-Fi settings and connect to a network named Solar-Monitor. No password required.

    A captive setup window should open automatically. If it doesn’t appear after a few seconds, open a browser and visit http://192.168.4.1.

    iOS Wi-Fi settings showing the Solar-Monitor network joined as an unsecured network.

  4. Step 04

    Configure your home Wi-Fi

    Select your home Wi-Fi network from the list, enter your Wi-Fi password, and tap Connect.

    The monitor will confirm it’s joining your network, close the setup portal, and switch its status LED from red to solid blue once connected.

    The Solar Monitor captive setup portal with a home network selected and its password entered.

  5. Step 05

    Close the enclosure

    Solid blue only means the monitor reached your Wi-Fi — not that it can read your PVS yet. Wait by the enclosure until the light flashes a rainbow for about five seconds. That is a successful gateway read, and the one signal worth waiting for before you close up.

    If it settles into a slow blue blink instead, it is on your Wi-Fi but not talking to the gateway. Reseat the ethernet cable at both ends — the blinking stops as soon as a reading lands.

    Once you’ve seen the rainbow, the light goes dark between polls, which is normal. Closing up is step 1 in reverse: tuck the cables clear of the faceplate, seat the top edge of the cover into the indent along the top of the PVS, then push the bottom in until the tab clicks into place.

    The faceplate hooked into the indent along the top of the PVS, its bottom edge still standing away from the enclosure.

  6. Step 06

    Open your dashboard

    Reconnect your phone or computer to your home Wi-Fi, then visit http://solar-monitor.local. Bookmark this page.

    Live generation and grid readings appear within 20–30 seconds. Historical generation fills in progressively over time.

    The Solar Monitor dashboard open in a phone browser, showing live production, usage, and grid export.

Reference

What the status light means.

The status LED flashes a short rainbow cycle every time it reads your solar gateway — every 20 seconds while the dashboard is open, and every 15 minutes in the background. Between polls it sits dark, which is the normal resting state.

Steady blue confirms Wi-Fi only. A slow blue blinkmeans the monitor is on your network but cannot reach the gateway — check that the ethernet cable is firmly seated in the PVS LAN1 port. The blinking stops as soon as a reading lands.

  • Solid red

    Starting up or awaiting setup

    Connect to the Solar-Monitor Wi-Fi network.

  • Solid blue

    Connected to home Wi-Fi

    Wait for the first rainbow read.

  • Blinking blue

    On Wi-Fi, but can't reach the PVS

    Reseat the ethernet cable at both ends.

  • Rainbow

    Gateway read successful (~5s)

    Nothing — this is what you want to see.

  • Off

    Idle between readings

    Nothing — normal resting state.

Help

If something isn’t working.

Can't find the Solar-Monitor Wi-Fi network
The setup network only broadcasts when no saved Wi-Fi is stored. To reconfigure it later, open your dashboard and go to Settings → Reset Wi-Fi.
solar-monitor.local doesn't load
Some devices don't support mDNS (.local addresses). Look up the device's local IP in your router's connected device list (e.g. http://192.168.1.XX) and open that directly.
Dashboard says “Waiting for reading”
A blinking blue light confirms this is the problem. Check that the ethernet cable is connected directly to LAN1 inside the PVS box — if the LED never flashes rainbow, the monitor isn't receiving data from the inverter gateway. You may need to restart your PVS by flipping the solar monitoring breaker in your electrical panel.
Backing up your data
Go to Settings → Export Data anytime to download a CSV of your historical production. Restore later via Settings → Restore Data.
Factory reset
Settings → Factory Reset erases all recorded history, drops saved Wi-Fi credentials, and restarts setup at step 3.

Need a hand with setup?

If anything didn’t go as expected or you run into questions while connecting to your gateway, reach out anytime.

help@solar-monitor.app