Given these alarms originate on the individual equipment level, SolarVu is simply logging and passing this along, meaning it generates the alarm and email without waiting for time conditions to be met, like they do for ‘Detected Alarms’.

A great example of Explicit Fault Alarm is the classic inverter fault - when device internally detects the problem like an arc fault or loss of AC grid power, and Cachelan’s system reads and surfaces this through the 'Alarms' system.

Detected Alarms

On the other hand, Detected Alarms, also known as 'inferred alarms,' are triggered when potential site issues are identified using SolarVu® Portal’s O&M Analyzer tools (such as SmartStrings, SmartZones, WeatherTrak, PowerWatch, etc.). These tools cross-reference equipment and sensor data, generating an alarm when production in a specific part of the site deviates from normal levels. This signals the need for your operations team to investigate. Unlike Explicit Fault Alarms, Detected Alarms highlight issues that may require attention even if the onsite equipment does not report an internal fault, as they are based on sensitivity thresholds. Examples include:

PowerWatch Energy Ratio Alarms: Based on the fact that inverter generation should track together (normalizing for inverter size), in the event there is a sustained deviation, Cachelan’s “Alarm” system generates an alarm as that would indicate a potential impact on generation which may not be an ‘Inverter fault’.

Scenario: Three inverters on a site, should generate the same % of their kWp throughout the day. In the event one inverter generates half of its peers, this would trigger a ‘PowerWatch’ alarm.

WeatherTrak ‘SunLowPower/SunNoPower’ Alarm: When a site has a weather sensor which measures real time sunniness (irradiance), given irradiance can be roughly considered to be tracked against a full sun ‘1000 W/m2’ as 100% (approximately), if the sensor is measuring 800 W/m2, through the peak periods of the day, but the inverter is generating only 20% of its kWp, this would be an example which would trigger a ‘SunLowPower’ alarm, as the inverter is functioning ‘normally’ without fault, but not the expected amount of DC energy is coming into the inverter as input.

Instead of identifying explicit faults, Detected Alarms are designed to catch potential issues by detecting anomalies in generation and production that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Diagnosing and Understanding an Issue - Example Walkthrough of an Explicit Fault

Step 1: Access the Issue

There are several ways to navigate to the fault information:

• From the Alarm Email:

Click the “For more details visit” link in the Alarm Email to be directed to the relevant page in the SolarVu® Portal, where you can find the inverter that sends out the explicit fault.

• While Logged into the Enterprise Portfolio:

Click any red indicator light in the left column to access a page displaying the inverter with the explicit fault.

• While Logged into a Specific SolarVu® Portal:

Click the “Analyzer” button on the left, then select “Inverter Status” and click ‘Error Log.’ The recent alarms will be listed. Click on the alarm title to access more details for further diagnosis. Also, you’ll find the specific inverter’s ‘Error Log’ and ‘Data Log’ for a historical snapshot of when the fault occurred.

Additionally, on the site health sidebar, you can click the ‘Fault Alarm’ link to be taken directly to the investigation page.


Step 2: Review the Fault Information

Look for the red-highlighted text next to the “Fault” section in the Inverter Status window. In the example presented above, the SolarVu® Portal displays an Alarm ID #301, Cause ID #29, indicating "Abnormal Grid Voltage". Clicking the “Codes” button next to the red text will take you to the manufacturer’s documentation, where detailed steps for resolving the issue are provided.


Step 3: Take Action

Refer to the manufacturer's documentation to identify the error code and decide on the next steps for site health maintenance. If the code is not listed in the documentation, contact Cachelan Tech Support and/or the inverter manufacturer for additional guidance in resolving the issue.

Diagnosing and issues - Example Walkthrough of a “No Communication” Alarm

A "No Communication" alarm signals that at least one Cachelan hardware device, such as a gateway or modem, has lost communication, often due to an internet connection issue. The steps below can help streamline the troubleshooting process and positively impact issue resolution:

Step 1: Access the Issue

You can access the "No Communication" alarm from any of the following:

• Enterprise Portfolio page

• SolarVu Portal

• Alarm Email

Step 2: Identify Communication Stop Time of gateway(s) which have stopped communicating

Navigate to the Analyzer->"Communication" page and locate the exact time and date when communication was lost.

Step 3: Gateway status light self-check

Make a note of the blinking lights on the Cachelan gateway for a reference starting point as this information will greatly inform next steps.

Step 4: Test Internet Source

Use a laptop to verify the internet connection of the ethernet provided to the gateway at the site to ensure it’s functioning properly.

Contact Cachelan Tech Support

Reach out to Cachelan Tech Support for further troubleshooting instructions.

Diagnosing and Understanding an Issue - Example Walkthrough of a “No Data Received” Alarm

A "No Data Received" alarm indicates that Cachelan's requests for data from the target device(s) are not being fulfilled, signaling potential issues with the onsite equipment that need diagnosis for errors or malfunctions. Before dispatching a technician to the site, SolarVu Portal users can follow these steps to make a more informed decision:

Step 1: Access the Issue

To begin diagnosing the "No Data Received" alarm, access the issue from one of the following:

• Enterprise Portfolio page

• SolarVu Portal

• Alarm Email

Step 2: Identify the Equipment

Navigate to the Analyzer-> "Equipment Log" page and identify which devices have stopped sending data.

The following are common causes and initial steps to troubleshoot (you can also reach out to Cachelan Tech Support for further assistance):

- Wiring Connectivity Issues

Check the wiring between the Cachelan gateway and the target device to ensure proper connections.

- Power Issues

Ensure the target device is powered on and not in sleep mode.

- Modbus Configuration Mismatch

Verify that the modbus settings in the Cachelan gateway match the device’s settings, including IDs, baud rate, and for TCP connections - check if enabled, check the port and IP addresses.

- Noise on the Serial Line

Noise can disrupt data transmission, especially if multiple devices are sharing the same wire and contributing to interference.

- Comm Card/Port Failure

Inspect the communication card or port on both the target device and the Cachelan gateway for possible damage or malfunction.

How to tackle ‘Detected’ Email Alarms/Portal Alarms and what they mean?

To begin, there are several categories of “Detected” Alarms, each of which are triggered making use of different equipment/addons supplied by Cachelan and SolarVu® Portal’s integrated features that are a part of Analyzer O&M toolkit - WeatherTrak, SmartStrings and PowerWatch.


SunLowPower Alarm

The 'SunLowPower' alarm is available for sites equipped with WeatherTrak addon, which could be a Cachelan-supplied weather station, a retrofitted weather station, or a ‘Virtual WeatherTrak’ (where data is shared from another portal’s weather sensor). This alarm is triggered in the following scenarios:

• There is no communication from the inverters.
• Inverters are not producing power despite high irradiance and no fault alarms.
• Power generation is consistently lower than expected based on irradiance over a user-defined or default settings period.

In the example above, Fronius IG inverters #05 and #12 stopped communicating without generating an alarm. WeatherTrak detected the issue by comparing the current irradiance level with actual power generation, triggering a ‘SunLowPower’ Alarm Email.

PowerWatch Energy Ratio Alarm

PowerWatch is part of the Analyzer tools, helping to identify inverter-level underperformance by tracking and comparing their relative energy generation. The 'PowerWatch Energy Ratio' alarm is triggered when an individual portal’s ‘PowerWatch thresholds’ are exceeded. When triggered, PowerWatch will:

• Sends an alarm email notifying users that an inverter is generating significantly less power than others.
• Turn the alarm lights red on the Portal and Enterprise views, indicating a current health issue.
• Log the event in the portal’s Error Log for future reference.

When investigating the ‘PowerWatch Energy Ratio’ Alarm Email (see example above), it becomes clear that Inverter #12 has both an ‘Explicit’ Alarm and a ‘Detected’ Alarm.

If the inverter hadn’t sent the explicit alarm, the issue might have gone unnoticed. However, PowerWatch triggered the Alarm Email, notifying the owner, and the issue can be identified for investigation.

String/LowCurrent & Combiner Alarms

String/LowCurrent alarms, part of the SmartStrings add-on, notify users when specific strings are underperforming by providing details such as the combiner number and the affected string. However, when all strings in a combiner report zero current—due to events like an arc fault shutdown or an open combiner box main switch—no String/LowCurrent alarm is triggered since all strings are reading zero.

To detect such scenarios, a different Alarm Email is used - Combiner Alarms. These alarms function similarly to String/LowCurrent alarms but monitor the total current from all strings within a combiner (also referred to as Zone). Instead of focusing on individual strings, the Combiner Alarm compares the overall current from the combiner to identify significant variations from the expected values.

In essence, while both alarms detect underperformance, String/LowCurrent alarms focus on individual strings, and Combiner Alarms monitor the collective performance of all strings in the combiner.


Viewing a list of recent Alarms/Errors

If you happen to miss an alarm and want to review any errors or alarms that went unnoticed, the SolarVu Portal offers an "Error Log" or "Alarm Log" section. This section stores both Explicit and Detected Alarms from the past 30 days. To access this window, follow these steps:

Below is an example of the "Error Log/Alarm Log/Fault Log" window. By clicking on the title of any listed alarm, the user will be redirected to the specific location on the SolarVu Portal where the issue occurred.

What onsite physical events can trigger a SolarVu® Alarm?
Some reasons that customers have come across which have triggered alarms include, but are not limited to:

• Excessive bird droppings/other soilings on sections of site which impact specific performance.
• Inverter degradation or malfunction, that does not trigger an internal fault or error.
• DC Breakers that get flipped behind on the generation side.
• Blown DC fuses.
• Downed or affected strings.
• Damaged wiring or other equipment.
• Excessive panel degredation.
• Etc.

To sum up, SolarVu® Portal doesn’t provide specific causes of faults or underperformance if equipment doesn’t communicate specific error codes. Rather, it provides tooling that guide, provide answers and information that later on helps to make an informed set of actions that are aimed at issue resolution.

The Alarm System is fully adjustable and it’s effectiveness is dependent on initial setup and users further timely settings modification that reflects current goals and interests of stakeholders which emails are attached/removed/edited in the Email Setup list.