Frequently Asked Questions

It is possible that the SunEye OS does not get loaded completely. Possibly due to connection loss during a software upgrade. The resolution is to reload the OS and software then it should work normally. The most common symptom is   that it will power up but stays on the logo screen or otherwise does not load the SunEye software. In this case we can manually transfer the new OS image to the device. I will attempt to document that process here.  First go to this address to download the required files:  http://www.solmetric.net/OS/OS_upgrade_927.zip   and “unzip” (extract) the contents to your desktop. Then connect the SunEye to the computer via USB and put it into RNDIS mode by holding down the two round gray/green buttons on the face of the SunEye (they are the “Home” button and the center “Navigation” key in between the arrow keys) and  momentarily  pressing the hard reset button. Continue to hold the two front panel buttons until you see the Solmetric logo and a small screen icon below it, then release the front buttons. The computer should recognize a new type of device and may start the “found new hardware” wizard but will often fail to load a driver. The driver file is located in the downloaded “OS upgrade” folder, so select that folder when searching for the driver (not the file itself). Once the driver is successfully installed you will want to disable your Windows firewall (or 3rd party firewall if present, Norton, McAfee, et al). Launch the WinCEImageLoader program (in the OS upgrade folder) by right-clicking and choosing “Run as admin” (right-click not required on Win XP). Click “Browse” and browse to the OS upgrade folder on your desktop and select the NK.bin file. After a few moments the “upgrade” button should become active. If not, reset the SunEye into RNDIS mode again with the same procedure as before (hold the round gray buttons and hard reset) and wait for the upgrade button to activate and then click the upgrade button. Once complete the SunEye will reset by itself and connect to your computer in the normal mode via WMDC or ActiveSync. Then run the current SunEye software installer file from our website and follow the prompts.  When complete, the OS and software will be fully reloaded on the device and it should operate normally.

Yes, the Compound Angle Tool is available on-line and as an Android app. Other capabilities such as the iPhone apps iPV and ISV are not currently available.  We currently have two iPhone Apps available, the Solmetric iPV and the Solmetric iSV, both on the  iPhone . The key enablers for both these Apps are the built in Camera, GPS,  Accelerometer  and Electronic Compass.  Initially, the iPhone was the only device with this set of sensors. Today, these capabilities are available on some of the Android based phones, but at this point we have not we made the commitment to port the Apps. One advantage of the iPhone platform is that  Apple  has kept the devices compatible between models and generations.  Please contact Solmetric for an update.

The PV Designer software uses multiple Skyline readings and locates each of them on the rooftop, then interpolates them for each hour to derive the shading probability for each module’s shade. Effects on the module, string, and array are considered in the calculations of AC kWh. 

The attached is a troubleshooting tool that shows recommended action when various SunEye versions display Power Up and Maintenance Required error messages.

Specific image files are not available from PV Designer for the Layout View or Site View. To capture an image from the screen, you can Maximize that view so that it fills up the PV Designer window. Then using the Alt-PrtScn (hold down Alt and press PrtScn) the PV Designer window is copied as an image. This image can then be pasted into another application, such as Microsoft Word or Powerpoint. Another approach is to use the pdf report which contains the Layout View image. Open the report, and use the Snapshot tool under the Tools, Select and Zoom menu. This will also copy the image which can then be pasted into another application.

Normally the SunEye installation program checks that the SunEye is connected before allowing software updates on either the SunEye or the Desktop. However, there are cases that people want to use the desktop software when the SunEye is not present. This is currently possible with the additional steps provided below. (Note that in the future this capability will continue to be available, but may require the purchase of an additional license. 1. Download the installation program to a known location, eg. the Desktop. 2. Create a separate shortcut to the installation program by right clicking on the installation program and selecting “Create Shortcut”. 3. Right click on this new shortcut icon, and select Properties.  4. Click on Target, and position the cursor to insert text after .exe, for example after SunEye_2_8_1230.exe in the “C:\Documents and Settings\Joe Solar\Desktop\SunEye_2_8_1230.exe”. 5. Insert the text ” /DESKTOPONLY” so that it looks similar to  “C:\Documents and Settings\Peter Hoberg\Desktop\SunEye_2_8_1230.exe /DESKTOPONLY”. Note that there is a space after .exe. 6. Run the installation program by selecting the newly created shortcut.

No.  The “monthly” solar access numbers are the solar access values for a given month. “Annual” is the solar access value for the year. Note that yearly would NOT be the average of the monthly percentage numbers, since each month gets weighted by its monthly insolation. For example 50% solar access in December would have much less impact on annual solar access than a 50% solar access in June (in the Northern Hemisphere). For any time interval, you need to add up (integrate for that time period) all the shaded insolation values, then divide by the unshaded insolation values integrated over the same time period.   

With SunEye version 2.8 or above, Obstruction Elevation can be plotted vs. azimuth, and maximum or average values in defined azimuth windows can be plotted and shown in a table. This graph and table are not included in the exported report. (CSV files with these values are included, which can be opened in Excel.) An alternative way to capture an image, eg. for an MS Word document, is to use the print-screen function from the Desktop software, and copy and paste the image into the document. Using the Desktop software, select the Obstruction Elevation view, then size the window for the desired relative height and width. Hold down the Alt key while pressing Prnt Scrn. This copies an image of that window. Then paste the image into the document by pressing Ctrl-V.

Solmetric offers an I-V Data Analysis Tool to import measurement results, create histograms of key parameters, identify outlier results, and create overlay plots of I-V curves, all of which can be printed out or copied into another program. It is available for purchase on the Solmetric website. I-V curves cannot be printed directly from the PV Analyzer software. To print an individual I-V curve, first take a screen shot of the I-V curve while in the ?Traces? tab by pressing the small camera button in the lower right corner. This will enable you to save a jpeg file that can be opened and printed using another programs (Microsoft Paint, MS Word, etc.).

The PV Analyzer software works on Windows® XP, Vista, and 7 operating systems. Mac users can run the software in an emulated Windows environment, but not in the Apple Operating System.