u/DoingDaveThings

Hi everyone. This is a long-ish post about how I'm going about creating a data logging solution for our older SunPower grid-tied system. I'm looking for feedback on what data really needs to be collected, though the inverter output makes it somewhat obvious. From the power meter output, I also get the lifetime input of power from the grid.

More importantly I'm looking for ideas on how to save the data and how to retrieve it for analysis (more below).

Last week I posted about how I logged into the SunStrong Connect app for the first time and noticed that I am getting all of the reporting features for free. I suspect they will figure this out at some point and I'll either have to pay or find an alternative. One of the big issues I have with the SunStrong app, however, is that there is no way that I've been able to find to set an alert in case my system has failed. Our system did fail recently and it was a few months before we used up our backlog of credits and were hit this month with a high electric bill. That is when I had to go outside, see that it was down, and perform the first-ever reboot on our almost 11-year-old system. A second problem I have with the SunStrong app is that their day is based on GMT. I dislike checking on the system in the morning, just after sunrise, and see that the "Daily" reading reveals it has already generated 30kWh. There doesn't seem to be a way to correct the timestamps from GMT to my local timezone.

I had toyed with the idea of self-monitoring back around 2016 when our system was still new. Back then, I was able to use WireShark to constantly monitor all the traffic coming out of the PV Supervisor (PVS) across our network, on its way to Sunpower HQ. Every three minutes there were two lines of plaintext data packets sent out, which contained all the useful info I needed to monitor power and such. I simply dumped this into plaintext files, 1 per month, for about a year. It stopped when I started relying on the monthly SunPower reports and website and I repurposed the machine it was running on. Our PV system has simply been "set it and forget it" until now. I tried using WireShark now, but the scan data coming out of the PVS looks to be encrypted info, perhaps from a later software update to the PVS. There is nothing in the data coming out that looks in any way useful.

Using this forum and some older online solar forums, I took one of my unused Raspberry Pi 4 (RPi4) units and installed Raspberry Pi OS Lite on it. This is a 64-bit Linux OS designed to run the computer headless (no keyboard nor monitor needed). I like the RPi4 because it has both an Ethernet port as well as onboard WiFi. The idea is to use the WiFi connection as the main gateway to my home network and to the Internet in general. The Ethernet port would be used to connect directly to the LAN 2 port on the PVS, the so-called "management port" seen in various other posts.

For this to work, two lines of code had to be added the RPi4's dhcp configuration file to prevent the Ethernet port from being set up as a gateway. If this were to happen, the WiFi module would be completely ignored. With that done, when the RPi4 boots up, it gets an IP address of 172.27.153.xx from the DHCP server running on the PVS (address 172.27.153.1 is the hardcoded address of the PVS' running web server). Then the RPi4 connects to our WiFi as normal. On my router, I've set the RPi4 to always receive the same IP address, just as I have for the PVS earlier, so I don't have to go looking for it each time the network resets.

The last thing I had to do was install haproxy on the RPi4. haproxy is a reverse web proxy library that allows me to forward all http requests to the RPi4 on port 80, to the web server running on the PVS at address 172.27.153.1. It then forwards all responses from that server back through the RPi4 and to the system making the request.

Now I can go to any computer in our house and type "http://SolarLogger.local" (the RPi4 was configured with the hostname "SolarLogger") into the address bar and bring up a full web page showing me the entire status of the system and the devices it knows about. In our case, it can only see the PVS, the WattNode power meter, and the SunPower inverter. Our panels come in as two strings into the inverter but we can only see the total output of the combined strings, no individual string info nor panel info.

The image accompanying this post shows what that looks like.

More importantly, I can make individual queries to each device separately to get the data I want to start capturing. At the end of this post are the three commands I plan to run frequently for data logging purposes. Note that I can run them inside a terminal shell using wget, and then parse the data as I see fit. This means I can write scripts to automate this in a time-based fashion. The first thing I plan to do on a timely basis is to run these queries and simply extract the keyword "Working" that appears as the third text field that is returned in the very first line (Name, serial, status, ...). That can be used instantly to tell me that my system is up, or to send out text/email alerts.

The rest I can parse out to a text file as before, but I'm looking for something more robust, more long lasting like a database of some sort. I haven't solved this part yet, nor have I solved the part where I can then examine this data remotely and plot it, etc.

I have a home NAS server running 24/7 that is a beefy Linux box on a large UPS with 24TB of storage space, running TrueNAS. (It is our home media server as well). It is set to always recover from a power outage so what I need now is to figure out the rest of what I want to do with the collected data.

I've started to write up in detail my specific steps on my personal website and will be happy to share that as it is finished. I'm happy to share any info here in the meantime.

Here's the query commands.

For the inverter:
http://solarlogger.local/cgi-bin/dl\_cgi?Command=DeviceDetails&SerialNumber=1913115198
Inverter 1913115198WorkingP1, SPRm, Slave 0
Last Data: 2026,07,27,17,45,19
Total Lifetime Energy: 102834.086  kWh
Last Refresh: 2026,07,27,17,45,23
Avg AC Power: 4.018  kW <-- This is the power from the inverter to our house
Model: SMA-SB-6000TL-US-22
Avg DC Power: 2.114  kW <-- This is the DC power coming in from the PV array, two combined strings
Serial Number: 1913115198
Avg DC Voltage: 376.5699  V <-- This is the DC voltage from the PV array
Software Version: 2.00
Avg DC Current: 5.616  A <-- This is the DC current from the PV array
Avg Heat Sink Temperature: 62.1  °C <-- This is the temperature of the (shaded) inverter, but always about 5ºC above outside air temperature
Avg AC Frequency: 59.9599  Hz
Avg Reactive Power: 0  kVAR

For the power meter
http://solarlogger/cgi-bin/dl\_cgi?Command=DeviceDetails&SerialNumber=83752
Power Meter 83752WorkingP0, Modbus, Slave 11
Last Data: 2026,07,27,17,54,23
CT Scale Factor: 200
Last Refresh: 2026,07,27,17,54,31
Total Lifetime Energy: 74069.5  kWh <--This is the lifetime input from the grid
Model: WNC-3Y-208-MB
Avg Real Power: 2.4284  kW <-- I'm not sure what this number represents. Power back to the grid?
Serial Number: 83752
Avg Reactive Power: 0.6743  kVAR
Software Version: 18
Avg Apparent Power: 2.5202  kVA
Avg Power Factor: 0.9635
Avg AC Frequency: 60.0111  Hz

And for the PV Supervisor:
http://solarlogger/cgi-bin/dl\_cgi?Command=DeviceDetails&SerialNumber=TAEGC1024918
PV Supervisor TAEGC1024918Working192.168.1.220
Last Data: 2026,07,27,17,00,00
Error Count: 0
Last Refresh: 2026,07,27,17,56,08
Communication Error Count: 0
Device IP Address: 192.168.1.220
Skipped Scans: 0
Model: PV Supervisor
Scan Time: 928  sec
Serial Number: TAEGC1024918
Untransmitted Data Points: 756210
Hardware Version: SMSPVS20R1
Time Since Powerup: 406381  sec
Software Version: 2.2.3, Build 251
Avg CPU Load: 0.00
Memory Used: 10316  kB
Flash Space Available: 4140  kB

The rumors about KRQE dropping CBS turned out to be true. Starting August 1, KOAT will become the new CBS affiliate while also maintaining its ABC affiliation. This is similar to how KRQE has been dually hosting CBS and FOX content.

https://koat.com/article/koat-cbs-august-1/73258575

The contract with Jenoptik approved last April is finally being implemented this August with six mobile cameras that will initially be set up (based on a previous announcement) along Jaguar Drive, Zia Road, Camino Carlos Rey, Siringo Road, and Galisteo Street.

The cameras are limited to non-state roads, per state law, which means they cannot be placed along St. Francis Drive, St. Michaels Drive, nor Cerrillos Road.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/santa-fe-to-roll-out-speed-and-noise-cams-in-august/

I used the pass-through door for the first time since installing all new lights in the instrument cluster and learned that there is a warning light to remind you that the door is open.

Tools
• Stubby Phillips screwdriver
• Long Phillips screwdriver
• Right-angle or curved long needle nose pliers
• Trim removal tool (I love the Harbor Freight set for under $10, previously used to replace the car door speakers)

Time: About 1 hour, start to finish. Previously I knew how to remove the radio bits for a new radio head unit install.

Since doing this yesterday I have since found a video showing pretty clearly how to remove the gauge cluster, so I won't cover that in depth. Essentially, start by removing the trim pieces from the shifter and from the left of the steering wheel (with the switches) using a simple plastic trim removal tool. There is no need to disconnect the switches as he did in the video, you can just leave them hanging. Disconnecting them does allow you to clean up the pieces a bit better.
Next, remove the two screws holding down the base of the central radio/AC faceplate. Remove the rubber storage tray and pull out the ash tray. There are two small screws you need to remove from the front of the ash tray using the stubby Phillips. Let it hang down so that the trim plate can be removed. Place the shifter in the '3' position and pop the trim piece out. The wires to the 12V accessory outlet are still attached so leave it hanging off to the side.
Make sure the steering wheel is in the lowest position to remove the gauge cluster shroud piece. Remove the two Phillips screws just under the shroud in front of the gauges; Then remove the two remaining Phillips screws from the left and right side. The piece should pop out easily or you may need to use the trim tool. It has to pull out quite a bit since the air ducts are attached to the unit, but it cannot pull out very far since the wiring for the hazard switch is very short. You'll have to reach in from the tip side to unplug the connector, shown in the video. My fingers are too thick so I ended up using the 90º long needle-nose pliers to remove this connector (and the ones on the back of the gauge cluster). With that done, you can remove this piece entirely. I took mine, along with the other pieces, and cleaned them off with a soap and water wipe down. The foam that helps seal the AC ducts fell off from one of them, so a future project of mine is to put some fresh weather stripping around them. If not for insulation purposes, at least to keep rattling down to a minimum.
Finally, the gauge cluster is held in place by five Phillips screws which are now easily accessible. Remove the screws and pull it slightly forward from the bottom so you can reach behind and remove the three connectors.
With the gauge cluster removed you can simply untwist and remove all the bulbs/sockets and swap in the new ones. I took the time to pull the lens off of mine and cleaned it with soap and water. I didn't want to risk scratching the face with the dials and since it was fairly clean, I simply blew off any dust. I put the lens back in place before turning it over to change out the bulbs.
You can replace the bulbs with new incandescent ones but I wanted to use LEDs. My gut feeling is that they are longer lasting and more shock resistant but time will tell. My car has 204,990 miles on it, to I am probably over thinking this. In any event, I ordered white LEDs but was sent "Ice Blue", so my final look is not what I expected and I need to decide if I can live with it or return them for what I ordered.
This is the set of lights I ordered. It is a set of 40, with 20 sized T5 and 20 sized T10, all for $24. My cluster required 15 T5 units and 4 of the T10, so now I have plenty of leftovers. The lights clip into the new sockets (also provided) and they simply twist-lock into place where the old bulbs went. They are non-polar, so you don't have to worry about orientation. Note that not all of the sockets will be populated by lights, since this gauge cluster was used in other vehicles with other options. I simply replaced the lights that were in use, thanks to feedback from this forum for the info.
After you have replaced all the bulbs you want to test them before re-installing everything. You can reconnect the gauge cluster and then insert your key and turn it to the "On" position, where all the gauge lights turn on. Then you can test the high-beam light. The turn signals will not engage unless you plug in the hazard light switch, however. I trusted that they would work so I reinstalled the gauge cluster with its five screws and then put the shroud trim piece in place just enough to connect the hazard switch. Then I verified that the turn signals worked. You can also unscrew the hazard switch from the trim shroud and connect it in order to verify the turn signal lights.
From there it was easy to put everything back in place, with the exception of the two front screws that hold the ash tray in place. My fingers are just too thick to make quick work of it but I eventually got it. I recommend placing a rag or something over your shift cluster to keep the screws from falling down into the crevices.
With everything back in place, here is what my lights look like. The "Ice Blue" color makes some of the previous red lights look purple. I don't know if I'm going to enjoy this or not and I'm leaning towards swapping them for the correct white lights. Also, I think you can use these same bulbs in other places around the car, like the dome lights, etc.

I have two dead bulbs in the gauge cluster so I’m replacing all the lights while I’m at it. I see five empty sockets and I’m wondering if these need bulbs and a previous owner somehow lost them, or are they for features this 2004 Baja Sport doesn’t have.

In the photo upper right are 4 empty sockets plus an empty socket with no contacts, presumably to keep a spare. In the upper left is one more empty socket with contact pads.

Anyone know what these would be for?

My airbag light is on and remains on. I don't have a scanner capable of pulling airbag codes, nor do I know if that's possible on these cars (2004 Baja Sport). I've checked for the obvious issues (loose connector beneath the seats and issues with the seatbelts).
I've read about how you can jump a wire in a connector beneath the steering wheel but nothing I see looks like anything described.

The photo shows the only loose connector, along with two black wires that also are not connected to anything. Do these have anything to do with the airbag system?

Last week I posted about the high cost of alternators at all the shops local to me, and I was looking for opinions on some of the $100-ish ones available online. Someone suggested rebuilding the alternator instead, and that is what I ended up doing.
I want to share a few pictures of the process and a little detail of the process. In all, it took about 2 hours since I had no idea how to take the alternator apart and I was afraid of damaging the copper windings on the stator with all my prying.
I bought the $60 rebuild kit from https://www.maniacelectricmotors.com/. It included a new voltage regulator unit (with brushes), and a pair of bearings.
Before removing the alternator, I loosened the 24 mm nut holding the belt pulley in place. After removing the alternator from the engine, I removed the pulley and the four long, 8 mm hex/Phillips head bolts holding it together. I also removed the black cap on the positive cable terminal in order to access the 10 mm nut that allows its removal. I removed this terminal as well.
I then used a pair of flathead screwdrivers on either side and pryed the two halves apart. The half with the larger bearing (opposite the voltage regulator) came off easily. Then it was a matter of removing the 4 pan head screws from the plate that holds the bearing in place. I stripped one of the screws and had to use an impact screwdriver to remove the others. I used a screw extractor on the stripped one. Next, I used a socket and dead blow mallet to remove the bearing from the casing.
I then removed the rotor shaft from the lower half of the alternator. The smaller bearing is on the end of this shaft and I tried using opposite screwdrivers, a small pry bar, and even a 3-jaw puller to remove it. It would not budge. The jaws of the puller were too bulky and wouldn't fit in the space beneath the bearing. Finally, I cut off the outer part of the bearing with an angle grinder. After removing the rings and ball bearings the inner sleeve was all that was left. I lightly cut it and was then able to twist it off with a pair of lockjaw pliers. There was no damage to the shaft, fortunately.
The stator and the voltage regulator are soldered in place but you can carefully lift up the windings just enough to expose the screws that allow you to remove them from the remaining aluminum case.
With all the parts removed, I cleaned everything up with brake cleaner, a nylon scrub brush, and then soapy water for the aluminum casings. I then pressed the new large bearing into place using a large socket and the mallet. I then put the retaining plate back in place but I used new M5x80 16mm hex button cap screws instead of Phillips head. I aligned the shaft bearing by hand and was able to press it in a little ways to ensure that it was square, and then soft blows with the mallet drove it into position.
The hardest part was next. I had to unsolder the old voltage regulator from the two pronged contact points and resolder the new one into place after cleaning up all the old solder. This didn't take too long, but longer than I thought it would. You have to solder within the copper windings inside the stator, so space is tight.
The voltage regulator houses the new brushes. They are held back, out of the way of the shaft, by a thin piece of copper wire that goes through the two holes in the brushes. You have to remove the wire before installing the regulator back into the alternator casing. Then, on the back of the casing is a matching hole through which you can run the piece of wire and hold the brushes back out of the way. Hopefully the photos are clear on this.
Assembly is straightforward once the regulator has been screwed into place and the brushes held back. The rotor shaft can then be inserted and you can press it into place a little ways to align the bearing. You can drive it the rest of the way with the mallet. The stator edges should then mate perfectly with the lower casing. The upper alternator casing can then be lowered into place. Be careful to align the bolt holes. I installed the four long bolts and tightened them by hand. I then tightened them in a crisscross manner to fully seat the two halves of the alternator, making sure that the shaft could rotate freely the entire time. Next, I reattached the positive cable terminal. When everything was all done, I removed the thin copper wire and listened as the brushes popped into place. Finally, I installed the belt pulley and put the alternator back in the engine, started everything up and made sure I was getting the correct voltage output.

So I'm working on fixing up our 2004 Baja Sport. We received this car from my wife's parents a few years ago after its original engine blew. My father-in-law hired a mobile-mechanic friend of his who put in a rebuilt engine. We had issues getting the guy to complete the job and after 8 months, we gave up and I hired another mechanic to finish putting the car back together. The engine and transmission had already been put in place at least.

That's when I took it over. On my very first drive I wasn't able to get the transmission to shift out of first gear. Then the "AT Oil Temp" light came on and started flashing. Fortunately we live less than a quarter mile away so I parked the car at our house and it sat there until I could take time to look at it.

Yesterday I started. The dipstick showed no transmission fluid. There were no signs of obvious leaks around the bell housing but the transmission oil pan was completely covered in old fluid. I raised the car and drained what was left of the fluid, 5 quarts total. I then went to remove the old drain pan and discovered that the 10mm bolts were only finger tight, most came off with just my fingers. The mechanic had reused the old gasket as well, which was in pretty bad shape. I'm guessing that was the source of the fluid leaking out.

I thought that might be the end of it, but when I looked at the old oil pan it was crushed inwards, as if the first mechanic had supported the transmission on the pan when lowering it to take out the old engine. I looked at the solenoids and sure enough, one of them had a broken connector that was dangling loose. The "2-4 duty solenoid, red connector" in my service manual.

I have ordered a set of remanufactured solenoids for now just in case an others are damaged. I had already ordered a new pan and silicone gasket, and filter, so hopefully this will be the end of my troubles once the new solenoids arrive.