Inverter not communicating with Cloud- have already reset etc

After losing connection months ago now, and several attempts to reset-fix it via my very remote supplier I have got as far as seeing the inverter wifi connected to the Vodafone router main wifi. Should both stay connected to the web as I can only have 1 or the other on my PC. I have tried to follow all appropriate advice in these discussions, static IP etc. I have tried and failed to sync the inverter from the Givenergy dashboard. I tried reinstalling the phone app- dongle refuses the new connection attempt. I have set the router but failed to find any forwarding port number recommendation eg 7654 so cant use that option. Any advice- I am competent but definitely not a techie, I do read the manuals such as they are- really recommend GivEnergy improves the WiFi dongle screenshot resolution BTW. Impossible to read all the dropdown selections needed. I cant believe how inscrutable this is for resetting.

Hi Jude,

I am not sure if the following will be useful. I recently changed my broadband provider and recieved their new router. The dongle refused to connect, none of the different solutions worked, including port forwarding, programming the dongle on my computer, dongle switch resets etc. In the end I bought a new router (Asus), and although it would try and connect now, there were will still issues in achieving a stable connection.

The end solution that worked for me was to select "Load Factory Defaults" on the dongle using the software settings (not the button on the bottom of the USB dongle) and re configure. The setting is on the "Device Management" page. This has been stable so far, touch wood.

Note: My inverter is a Hybrid Gen 2, and during the install we had issue with the integral antenna so added a USB dongle. I do not believe this is a issue as it worked flawlessly for the last 18 months.

Thanks very much for this suggestion David- I'm now trying that out...

Hi,
Seems like I’ve got a similar problem, have you had any joy?
BAT

Hi no not yet- am going to try the router guest wifi and static IP or default dchp in case that helps- several posts say it should. It will also improve security as my Norton distrusts it. I'm about to call the support team as emailed themonce I have all elements logged into, not as easy as it might be. I have to leave a couple of days inbetween attempts as I get sooo annoyed with it. Will report back!

Thank you so much David, I am in process of setting this up in my vodafone router- havent yet given up on it as it did work fine. Topline query- should I turn the router firewall off? Feels wrong to do so.......
I am not (yet) MAC filtering on the router. I live in a tiny village so not sure I need to go that far.
Does the below look right? There is a dynamic option but seems counter productive given theres an unknown issue already.
Static Port Mapping
Service Local IPv4 Address Protocol Local Port Public Port
Inverter 192.168.1.98 TCP 7654 7654

I'll have another go with support, they say they'll talk me through the settings- just helps to have more of the basics sorted.
Wish I had more of a clue!

You should NOT need any port forwarding or ANY firewall changes to get your inverter to work with your wifi (I don’t have any).

The port forwarding and firewall changes are to allow inbound connections, but the GivEnergy inverters entirely work by making outbound connections to the givenergy cloud and regularly polling for commands.

Putting the inverter on a static IP address is a good idea as that means that the app then quickly find the inverter when it starts up. I would configure the inverter so it asks the router for the IP address (i.e. dynamic IP not static) and then on the router, once it allocates the IP address you then change the device settings on the router to that fixed IP.
i.e. let the router do the IP allocation not the inverter.

There is a known issue with these inverters not connecting to 5GHz wifi, they only work on 2.4GHz. Try turning off 5GHz and if you have a mesh wifi turning things like ‘fast roaming’ off is sometimes also needed.

I’m not a tec I’m just letting you know what my problem was and hope it helps you.

Not sure what dongles you have but I have an 13.4 battery All in One (AOI) inverter and a Gateway. The dongles on both recognise 2.4 GHz . I have a small TP booster which is also 2.4 GHz and has to be because the dongles apparently struggle with 5Ghz which my new router kicks out.

In fact it’s a smart sky router which operates at 5 and 2.4 GHz . Apparently the sky factory set WPA is set to WPA3.

The dongles struggle with WPA3 and the router needed to be changed to WPA2. Also the fire wall on the router had to be set to medium.

If you think what I have said so far could help please let me know as I have some screen shot that could help.

The end result was that after altering the router WPA and ensuring the dongles were seeing 2.4 GHz instead of 5Ghz I went through a power up cycle on the AIO (turn off and turn on again)
Then connected to the dongles, went to the beta Giv E portal and restarted my inverter, after 4 days off line it sparked up.

I’ve omitted to say that both dongles are connected to the TP booster at 2.4GHz.

Hi Jude,

Geoffrey's comment about leaving the firewall on, 100% agree. Security is not a dirty word!

With regards to Routers with mutiple bands such as 2.GHz and 5GHz etc, this has been said to confuse the dongle, although I am not sure why as it only uses 2.4 GHz to connect. The method I used has 2 parts. I login the dongle on my Router's Guest network. Guest networks, if you router has them, only allows someone/thing using the Guest login to accces the internet and not your local network. This should make your system more secure. The second part to using the guest network is that on some routers you can turn of 5 GHz etc and just use the 2.4 GHz connection. Your "normal" login to the router can then still use the bands the router has available (2.4GHz, 5GHz etc). If you do not have a Guest network on your Router's settings, try switching off 5Ghz, and above, and see if it does improve the connection's stability.

Have you got it sorted Jude??

I've just changed ISP from Sky to Vodafone and can no longer connect my inverter via the dongle. I guess it is the 2.4/5 GHz issue, although the Sky Hub broadcast networks on both frequencies with the same SSID, and I had no problems with that. With the Vodafone Power Hub I can't even switch off 5 GHz 😠