We have a PV system with a Fronius Symo Gen24 inverter, however you have to pay in order to have more than three days of history on Fronius Solar Web.
The Inverter does, however, have a publicly accessible JSON API, which has documentation available here.
It can be accessed via http://<inverter_ip>/solar_api/v1/GetPowerFlowRealtimeData.fcgi and returns a JSON object with all the data (the E_Day and E_Year fields are exclusive to Fronius Non-Hybrid inverters starting from version 3.7.1-1 and Fronius Hybrid 1.3.1-1).
This guide is based on this guide, but aims to go more into detail and provide a more complete setup.
Docker Services
The data will be collected using Prometheus and the JSON exporter and then visualized using Grafana.
JSON exporter
The exporter functions in a really simple way, and the only thing we need to do, is to run it in a docker container and give it the correct config file.
config.yml:
---
modules:
default:
metrics:
- name: battery
type: object
path: '{ .Body.Data.Inverters.1 }'
help: Battery Data
labels:
id: "battery"
name: "battery"
values:
SOC: '{.SOC}'
- name: site
type: object
path: '{ .Body.Data.Site }'
help: Site Data
labels:
id: "site"
name: "site"
values:
P_Akku: '{.P_Akku}'
P_Grid: '{.P_Grid}'
P_Load: '{.P_Load}'
P_PV: '{.P_PV}'
There are two ways this config file can be mounted into the container, either by using a volume or by mounting it directly.
1. Mounting a volume and moving the config file into it
You might want to choose this option, if you don’t want to have the config file lying around on your host machine (especially when using something like Portainer).
docker-compose.yml:
version: '3'
volumes:
json-config:
services:
json-exporter:
image: quay.io/prometheuscommunity/json-exporter
restart: unless-stopped
command: --config.file=/config/config.yml
volumes:
- json-config:/config
In this case, you have to first create the container using the docker-compose file above and then copy the config file into it by running the following command:
docker cp config.yml <container_name>:/config/config.yml
2. Mounting the config file directly (may not work when using Portainer to deploy from git)
This option is a bit more straightforward, but requires the config file to always be in the same location on the host file system.
The only thing necessary here is to specify the path to the config file in the docker-compose file.
docker-compose.yml:
version: '3'
volumes:
json-config:
services:
json-exporter:
image: quay.io/prometheuscommunity/json-exporter
restart: unless-stopped
command: --config.file=/config.yml
volumes:
- ./config.yml:/config.yml
Prometheus
Setting up Prometheus works similarly to above, but we have to mount a volume for persistent storage in order to keep our data when updating the container, so it makes sense to always go with the equivalent of option 1 from above.
prometheus.yml:
scrape_configs:
## gather metrics of prometheus itself
- job_name: prometheus
static_configs:
- targets:
- prometheus:9090
## gather the metrics of json_exporter application itself
- job_name: json_exporter
static_configs:
- targets:
- json-exporter:7979 ## Location of the json exporter's real <hostname>:<port>
## gather the metrics from third party json sources, via the json exporter
- job_name: json
scrape_interval: 5s
metrics_path: /probe
params:
module: [default]
static_configs:
- targets:
- http://<inverter_ip>/solar_api/v1/GetPowerFlowRealtimeData.fcgi
relabel_configs:
- source_labels: [__address__]
target_label: __param_target
- source_labels: [__param_target]
target_label: instance
- target_label: __address__
replacement: json-exporter:7979 ## Location of the json exporter's real <hostname>:<port>
docker-compose.yml:
version: '3'
volumes:
prometheus:
services:
image: prom/prometheus
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- '9090:9090'
command:
- --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus
- --storage.tsdb.retention.time=5y
- --config.file=/promehteus/prometheus.yml
volumes:
- prometheus:/prometheus
We also have to expose port 9090 in order to access the Prometheus web interface.
The three entries in the command section specify the path where the data is stored, the retention time and the path to the config file.
Again, we have to move our config file into the container like above:
docker cp prometheus.yml <container_name>:/prometheus/prometheus.yml
Grafana
docker-compose.yml:
version: '3'
volumes:
grafana:
services:
grafana:
image: grafana/grafana-oss
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- '3000:3000'
volumes:
- grafana:/var/lib/grafana
As you can see, we have to expose port 3000 in order to access the Grafana web interface and mount a volume to /var/lib/grafana in order to have persistent storage.
Combining everything
docker-compose.yml:
version: '3'
volumes:
json-config:
prometheus:
grafana:
services:
json-exporter:
image: quay.io/prometheuscommunity/json-exporter
restart: unless-stopped
command: --config.file=/config/config.yml
volumes:
- json-config:/config
prometheus:
image: prom/prometheus
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- '9090:9090'
command:
- --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus
- --storage.tsdb.retention.time=5y
- --config.file=/prometheus/prometheus.yml
volumes:
- prometheus:/prometheus
grafana:
image: grafana/grafana-oss
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- '3000:3000'
volumes:
- grafana:/var/lib/grafana
Configuring Grafana
After starting the containers, you can access the Grafana web interface at http://<host_ip>:3000 and log in with the default credentials admin:admin after which you will be prompted to change the password, so do that.
You will, however, still not see anything in Grafana, since there are a few more steps to take.
Adding Prometheus as a data source
- Click on the gear icon in the left sidebar and select
Data Sources
- Click on
Add data source(as you can see, I already have Prometheus set up)
- Select
Prometheus
- Enter the URL of the Prometheus server (in this case
http://prometheus:9090, since we can access it via the hostnameprometheusfrom within the docker network) and clickSave & Test
- If everything went well, you should see a green
Data source is workingmessage
Creating a dashboard
You can of course now create your own dashboard from scratch, but the following steps will show you how to import a premade one that you can customize to your liking.
- Hover over the Dashboards icon in the left sidebar and select
Import
- Paste the following JSON into the text box
dashboard.json
{ "annotations": { "list": [ { "builtIn": 1, "datasource": { "type": "datasource", "uid": "grafana" }, "enable": true, "hide": true, "iconColor": "rgba(0, 211, 255, 1)", "name": "Annotations & Alerts", "target": { "limit": 100, "matchAny": false, "tags": [], "type": "dashboard" }, "type": "dashboard" } ] }, "editable": true, "fiscalYearStartMonth": 0, "graphTooltip": 0, "id": 1, "links": [], "liveNow": true, "panels": [ { "collapsed": false, "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "atlsm-I4z" }, "gridPos": { "h": 1, "w": 24, "x": 0, "y": 0 }, "id": 12, "panels": [], "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "atlsm-I4z" }, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "Row title", "type": "row" }, { "datasource": {}, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "thresholds" }, "mappings": [], "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "red", "value": 80 } ] } }, "overrides": [] }, "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 5, "x": 0, "y": 1 }, "id": 6, "options": { "orientation": "auto", "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "showThresholdLabels": false, "showThresholdMarkers": true }, "pluginVersion": "9.2.0", "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_Grid)", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "", "range": true, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "To/From Grid", "type": "gauge" }, { "datasource": {}, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "thresholds" }, "mappings": [], "max": 6000, "min": 0, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "green", "value": null } ] } }, "overrides": [] }, "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 5, "x": 5, "y": 1 }, "id": 8, "options": { "orientation": "auto", "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "showThresholdLabels": false, "showThresholdMarkers": true }, "pluginVersion": "9.2.0", "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_PV)", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "", "range": true, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "Production", "type": "gauge" }, { "datasource": {}, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "thresholds" }, "mappings": [], "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "orange", "value": null }, { "color": "green", "value": 200 }, { "color": "#6ED0E0", "value": 300 }, { "color": "#EF843C", "value": 400 } ] } }, "overrides": [] }, "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 4, "x": 10, "y": 1 }, "id": 10, "options": { "orientation": "auto", "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "showThresholdLabels": false, "showThresholdMarkers": true }, "pluginVersion": "9.2.0", "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_Load)", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "", "range": true, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "Consumption", "type": "gauge" }, { "datasource": {}, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "continuous-GrYlRd" }, "mappings": [], "max": 5000, "min": -5000, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "green", "value": null } ] } }, "overrides": [] }, "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 4, "x": 14, "y": 1 }, "id": 16, "options": { "orientation": "auto", "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "showThresholdLabels": true, "showThresholdMarkers": true }, "pluginVersion": "9.2.0", "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "site_P_Akku", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "", "range": true, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "Battery Discharge/Charge", "type": "gauge" }, { "datasource": {}, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "thresholds" }, "mappings": [], "max": 100, "min": 0, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "red", "value": null }, { "color": "orange", "value": 20 }, { "color": "#EAB839", "value": 50 }, { "color": "green", "value": 80 } ] } }, "overrides": [] }, "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 6, "x": 18, "y": 1 }, "id": 14, "options": { "orientation": "auto", "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "showThresholdLabels": false, "showThresholdMarkers": true }, "pluginVersion": "9.2.0", "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "battery_SOC", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "", "range": true, "refId": "A" } ], "title": "Battery State of Charge", "type": "gauge" }, { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "atlsm-I4z" }, "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "color": { "mode": "palette-classic" }, "custom": { "axisCenteredZero": false, "axisColorMode": "text", "axisLabel": "", "axisPlacement": "left", "barAlignment": 0, "drawStyle": "line", "fillOpacity": 0, "gradientMode": "none", "hideFrom": { "legend": false, "tooltip": false, "viz": false }, "lineInterpolation": "linear", "lineWidth": 1, "pointSize": 5, "scaleDistribution": { "type": "linear" }, "showPoints": "auto", "spanNulls": false, "stacking": { "group": "A", "mode": "none" }, "thresholdsStyle": { "mode": "off" } }, "mappings": [], "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "red", "value": 80 } ] }, "unit": "watt" }, "overrides": [ { "matcher": { "id": "byName", "options": "Production" }, "properties": [ { "id": "color", "value": { "fixedColor": "semi-dark-orange", "mode": "fixed" } } ] }, { "matcher": { "id": "byName", "options": "Power from Grid" }, "properties": [ { "id": "color", "value": { "fixedColor": "#b7b7b7", "mode": "fixed" } } ] }, { "matcher": { "id": "byName", "options": "Consumption" }, "properties": [ { "id": "color", "value": { "fixedColor": "dark-blue", "mode": "fixed" } } ] }, { "matcher": { "id": "byName", "options": "SoC" }, "properties": [ { "id": "color", "value": { "fixedColor": "dark-green", "mode": "fixed" } }, { "id": "unit", "value": "percent" }, { "id": "custom.axisPlacement", "value": "right" }, { "id": "custom.axisSoftMax", "value": 100 }, { "id": "custom.axisSoftMin", "value": 0 } ] } ] }, "gridPos": { "h": 15, "w": 24, "x": 0, "y": 9 }, "id": 2, "options": { "legend": { "calcs": [], "displayMode": "list", "placement": "bottom", "showLegend": true }, "tooltip": { "mode": "multi", "sort": "none" } }, "targets": [ { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "atlsm-I4z" }, "editorMode": "code", "expr": "abs(battery_SOC)", "hide": false, "legendFormat": "SoC", "range": true, "refId": "battery_SOC" }, { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_PV{})", "interval": "", "legendFormat": "Production", "range": true, "refId": "P_PV" }, { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_Grid)", "hide": false, "interval": "", "legendFormat": "Power to Grid", "range": true, "refId": "P_Grid" }, { "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "jnmDPlsnk" }, "editorMode": "code", "exemplar": true, "expr": "abs(site_P_Load)", "hide": false, "interval": "", "legendFormat": "Consumption", "range": true, "refId": "P_Load" } ], "title": "PV Overview", "type": "timeseries" } ], "refresh": "5s", "schemaVersion": 37, "style": "dark", "tags": [], "templating": { "list": [] }, "time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" }, "timepicker": {}, "timezone": "", "title": "Fronius", "uid": "VXvFPls7k", "version": 12, "weekStart": "" } - Click on
Loadand thenImport(you can name it whatever you want)
From here you can edit the dashboard however much you want, the possibilities in Grafana are pretty much endless.
One bug I encountered was, that none of the Panels were showing any values. I fixed this by simply going into the edit mode for every single one of them (hover over and press e), clicking inside the query field and then clicking on the empty space below.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or I missed something, please let me know via the Suggest Changes link below the heading.