Does anyone know if the Oxley Solar app (Android) is still working? I have had an old tablet running this connected via Bluetooth to my SMA inverter and automatically uploading my data to pvoutput for about 7 years. I haven’t changed anything at my end but the uploads seem to have stopped at the end of March this year. If I try and do a batch upload I briefly see an error message “Forbidden 403: exceeded 60 requests per hour”
Hi, is your PVoutput account a free one or paid?
I have an old Android 5.0 device using Oxley Solar and it’s working well since March.
PVOutput is a free one. Oxley Solar Pro is paid. So - is there a restriction on uploading for ‘free’ accounts here? It’s worked for ages then stopped suddenly. In fact, on the old tablet I’ve been using it’s not even dispaying solar generation… I tested the app on a different device and it displays live generation but won’t do the upload…
A little progress - I restarted the tablet and it’s showing generation data now but won’t upload all the missing days (error - Moon powered - which seems to be do do with incorrect timestamp on some data). Will probably have to live with a little gap
EDITED TO ADD: Thanks for the reply @Sefama - I’ve managed to get all but one missing day uploaded now and the live update is working, so I’m happy that the app is still working and it was a glitch with the data on the inverter that tripped this up.
Hey all, wanted to bring this up again - as my oxlex solar pro app doesn’t upload any data to pvoutput anymore. Since 2018, system works perfectly for 6 years now (SMA inverter via bluetooth and upload to pvoutput). Now in December - all of a sudden - the upload stopped. Oxley pro app seems to have problems with the pro licence (only pro can upload). Tried to buy a new one, but there’s no Google Play option anymore to update license. Anyone has the same issue ? and maybe resolved?
Many thanks & cheers
Ralf
Hey All. I just have the same problem…suddenly stopped uploading… The Oxley Solar app is not available anymore in the Google play store. I solved my problem with: https://github.com/SBFspot/SBFspot
Rien.
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Hi Rien,
thanks a lot for your update! So I guess I have to detach my mobile (where oxley app is installed) and install a raspi onsite with this package. My solar installation is on a farmer roof with 10 SMA inverters attached. So I guess I have to install the raspi and a mobile router (sim card). Do you know whther the SBF can manage 10 inverters? How is your setup?
Thanks again
Ralf
Hi Ralf, My setup is 2 SMA inverters (since 2012) on a farmer roof with a local network and wifi. I did have a mobile with Oxley Solar pro. Now I installed a raspberry pi. The installation was very simple, guided by the sbfspot-config-process (Installation Linux SQLite · SBFspot/SBFspot Wiki · GitHub). Multiple inverters is possible and easy to install ( I don’t know the max) . For the wifi network connection you can use the mobile-hotspot of your mobile. (The raspberry does support wifi).
Regards Rien
Hi Rien, OK - I’ll receive a Raspi 3 Model B tomorrow, hopefully. I’ll install a mobile router as well cause I have an addditional Suntrol (Data logger with ethernet jack only) connected to the 10 SMA. Both will send data via the router. I’ll report after installation! Keep fingers crossed!
Thanks
Ralf
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Good luck.
Yes, thanks Rien. Got a first problem. I tried to install on a Raspi but the setup script stopped because it didn’t find any Inverters via BT (and that’s right, because I wanted to pre-install all the stuff before I visit my remote PV plant). Is there a possibility to setup all the deamons without accessing the inverters at that time?
Thanks Ralf
Hi, I don’t think you can “pre-install” without connection with the inverters. The installations process collects a lot of information from the inverters ( Bluetooth adress, serialnumbers, type inverter etc…),. It saves you a lot of typing…
Rien
As from just before Christmas 2024 the Batch Upload and CSV Download features in the Oxley app stopped being available - it seems to have gone back to demo mode despite my having the Pro (paid for) version. The CSV options at the top right of the Oxley screen have been replaced with the message “CSV export requires export feature or pro”.
After some investigating, including a hard reboot of my Android 5.1 tablet (yes - I know it’s ancient, but it was working fine hitherto) and regenerating the API key, I have found the features become available if I turn off the tablet’s Wi-Fi - which is not much use if I want to do a batch upload, though I can now download CSV. Though, since PVoutput (PVO) will only allow one day’s worth of readings to be uploaded manually every 5 minutes, this is irritating, to put it mildly. The Oxley options also become available if I am out of range of Wi-Fi, so the tablet’s Wi-Fi switch cannot be the problem.
I found I could kid it into a batch upload by switching off Wi-Fi and, while keeping the settings tab open, fire up the Oxley app and select Batch Upload. Then switch on Wi-Fi and quickly revert to the Oxley page and press the OK (upload) button. Then it does it, but immediately goes back to demo mode when finished. Tedious.
So it appears Oxley only goes into this silly mode if it has established contact with PVO’s server. Nothing has changed at my end, so something must have changed with PVO. The only change (of PVO) I’ve noticed at the same time is the Edit/Delete function. Previously there was a column of checkboxes at the left of the Your Outputs screen. Now, edit and delete are achieved by selecting a row (which highlights it in yellow) and then selecting Edit or Delete from the menu above. (As an aside: having these two menu options adjacent is not helpful on a phone - big risk of pressing the wrong one on such a small screen…)
It is not possible to get any tech help from Oxley since, according to Oxley Web Services - Company Profile - Tracxn the developer company, Oxley Web Services, is listed as ‘deadpooled’. The company is not listed on ASIC’s website (AFAIA, the Australian equivalent of the UK Companies House). Hence the reason, I assume, the app is no longer available from Google.
I cannot see why the edit/delete change on PVO should affect integration with Oxley but, as they say, stranger things have happened at sea… Could a PVO developer comment on this and/or suggest a replacement app? (It seems the McDonald app might batch upload to PVO, but the only references on Google are to the fast food chain…) Mukrog’s suggestion of SBFspot doesn’t seem to have an Android version.
This got it working for me - at least for now - similar steps to stevegs solution…
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2356418
For any Oxley Solar Pro users where you’re not able to upload your solar data to PVOutput (settings greyed out).
I worked out how to fix this, quite simple…
1/ disconnect wifi
2/ open Oxley, select the top 3 dots RHS
3/ if one of the options is recheck license, close app, restart from step 1/
4/ if successful recheck license is not shown
5/ select edit system
6/ tick enable auto downloads
7/ reconnect wifi
8/ select OK to save settingsSo far working again on my old tablet and my mobile!!
Hi and thanks for your feedback and possible workarounds. Currently I try to get the SBFspot solution running. I guess, I’m 80% there…current obstacle is a time sync issue with some of my inverters. For some reasons the time on some inverters can only be set once a day and is falling back to 2001 when shutting down over night; other inverters hold the time…weird. So I’m experimenting with settime feature of SBFspot. Guess the next days will bring light into it, literally ;). If this all won’t work I retry oxley …but honestly, I like the SBFspot tool and maybe my remote Raspi 3 is more stable than an old smartphone hanging outside in the wild - with battery issues and reboot problems (power outage happens quite regular in that remote region ). So keep fingers crossed… Thanks Ralf
This is mostly a UI change and doesn’t affect the API which an app like Oxley is using to send data.
I can verify this semi works. It’s not the wifi in specific, it’s the connection to a server. I’m guessing Oxley company server, or Google’s since the app became obsolete after the new year.
I use mobile data, and wifi. It has the same problem with both data options and what solves it, is rechecking the licence after I have all internet cut off from it.
I tried it and it worked. Then tried a batch upload but got some error I about “wrong erergy values” or something similar, and some error codes.
Tried a few times, but then hit the pvoutup limit for the hour, so if someone with a subscription to pvoutput can try this, I’d be much obliged.
Using a pi is something I also considered back in the day, but keep in mind you’ll need a ups powering that pi. If energy is cut off abruptly to a pi, it corrupts the boot record and needs a reinstall of the os. It’s annoying, and it happened to me so many times I had to decommission my rpi3 I used as a wifi adblocker. Even with backup and restore it’s still annoying.
Using Oxley was a perfect solution. The old phone I use, a galaxy note 2 is good enough for that job, has an internal battery, so power breaks are no issue, and I’ve even installed a battery conditioning app, so it charges only after battery reach a low of 20% and a high of 80%.
So I’d like to have Oxley work again if possible. That, or use some other android app that does the same.
Thanks for yours and the summary from Ganghista. I’m now resigned to the tedious procedure of disabling and re-enabling the tablet’s WiFi. In short:
- Open Oxley->Details in one window and Settings->WiFi in another;
- Disable WiFi;
- Select Recheck Licence (Oxley). That option should disappear and the CSV and Batch Upload should become available;
- Select Batch Upload and enter the number of days;
- Enable WiFi;
- Back in Oxley, select OK.
It should then upload, but when done, the Batch and CSV options will disappear shortly afterwards.
What I want to know is what has changed - certainly nothing at my end. There’s clearly a new issue with the API. I accept Banksdownbloke’s comment that the change on the PVO Your Outputs page is to its UI, but that is the only change I’ve noticed since the problem arose.
So is there another app that will do all that Oxley did, given Oxley is no longer supported?
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