Troubleshooting an Enphase System
2014 Enphase Energy Inc.
August 2014
21
Power Line Communication Issues between the Envoy & Microinverters
Enphase Microinverters use a power line transmission protocol at the site for communication with the
Envoy. All electrical loads at the premises share this common collection of power lines and circuits, and
terminate at the load center, the location of the circuit breakers. The load center is typically found on the
side of the house or building or in the garage. Since the power lines are shared with other loads,
interference can occur, particularly as new devices are plugged in.
Power line communication between the Envoy and the microinverters is completely separate from the
Envoy Internet communication. That is what makes the Envoy a “gateway device”. One side of the Envoy
communicates with the microinverters via the power lines. The other side of the Envoy communicates
with the Internet using a standard Ethernet/network cable plugged into your broadband router.
At power-up, the Envoy performs a
power line
communication check to determine the strength of the
signal between the microinverters and the Envoy. This check does not assess Internet communications.
During power up, the Envoy performs a communication check. A few minutes after power-up, the Envoy
displays a number of bars from 0 to 5 (figure shows four bars) that indicate the signal strength of power
line communications between the Envoy and the
microinverters.
A signal strength from 3 to 5 bars is usually
sufficient.
A signal strength of 1 or 2 bars is workable,
but not ideal. In these cases, relocate the
Envoy to a dedicated outlet closer to the
load center.
Zero bars means that either that you need to relocate the Envoy, or that there are one or more
devices causing interference between the Envoy and the microinverters in the array
Zero bars may also mean that the Envoy has never detected any devices, so you should initiate a
device scan.
Level: [
]
Devices: 25
