Chapter 1: Introducing the SMI-180 Safety and
Monitoring Interface for Large Scale
Installations
When connecting SolarEdge power optimizers to a non-SolarEdge inverter, the
SolarEdge safety and monitoring interface for large scale installations (SMI) enables the
following features:
1. Safety functions of the power optimizers
2. Communication of the module-level data sent from the power optimizers to the
SolarEdge monitoring platform.
SolarEdge offers also the monitoring interface (MI) , which includes only the second
feature above.
The SMI supports the SolarEdge optimizer SafeDC™ feature. The SafeDC™ mechanism
automatically shuts down module voltage whenever the grid power is shut down, thus
providing greater safety during installation, maintenance and firefighting.
The SMI is installed between the SolarEdge power optimizers and a non-SolarEdge
inverter, and is compatible with any on-grid inverter.
Figure 1: The SolarEdge safety and monitoring interface for large scale installations (SMI)
connected in a PV system
Figure 2: The SolarEdge safety and monitoring interface (SMI) for large scale installations
SMI-180 Installation Guide MAN-01-00157-1.1
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Chapter 1: Introducing the SMI-180 Safety and Monitoring Interface for
Large Scale Installations