See your APsystems microinverters on your iPhone

Name: Cenit: Solar Panel Monitor
Author: Hrvoje Matošić

Cenit · iPhone and iPad · free for a home

Cenit reads what your ECU sends to EMA and shows it more clearly. It works with DS3, QS1 and YC600 microinverters, using your own account.

Download on the App Store

You open EMA and see a number. What you want to know is something else. Are the panels dirty, or did one fail? Is today a good day or a bad one? Cenit answers that with the same data EMA has, and keeps what it reads on your phone.

Cenit's Now screen with today's production curve, a drawing of the house and what each panel makes

What you need

An ECU (ECU-B, ECU-R or ECU-C) connected to the internet and sending data to EMA. If your panels already show up in the EMA app, you're set. APsystems only has your data if the ECU sends it, and Cenit reads it from there. Then pick one of three ways in.

Your EMA login the easiest

In Cenit, pick APsystems and leave it on EMA login. Enter the same username and password as the EMA app. If EMA asks you to prove you're human, sign in once at apsystemsema.com and try again in Cenit.

Panel by panel, if your installer drew your panels in EMA
An EMA visitor link no password

At apsystemsema.com, under Account Details, turn on "Allow visitors to access this system". EMA gives you a code or a link. In Cenit, pick APsystems, switch to Visitor link and paste it.

Panel by panel, if your installer drew your panels in EMA
API keys APsystems' official API

APsystems gives out API access by email. Write to APsystems support in your region (in Latin America that's info.latam@APsystems.com), say it's to see your own system, and ask for an App ID, an App Secret and your System ID (SID). In Cenit, pick APsystems, switch to API keys and paste all three.

Panel by panel, even without a panel map in EMA

With the login or a visitor link, Cenit reads EMA every 5 minutes while the app is open. The API only allows 1,000 calls a month, so with keys it reads once an hour. Whichever way you connect, it imports roughly the last year of daily totals.

What Cenit shows

Every panel

A DS3 or YC600 takes two panels and a QS1 takes four. Cenit shows what each one makes right now and over the day.

Dust or a panel

If every panel drops evenly, it's dust and time to wash them. If one drops alone, it's that panel, and Cenit points to it. If it stays low for three days or more, you get an alert. This needs data for each panel.

Today against your best two weeks

Drag across today's curve to see what your panels made at each hour. The dotted line is the most they made at that hour in the last 14 days. If a clear day runs under it, something changed.

Savings, and the DAC in Mexico

Enter what you pay per kWh and what you get for power sent to the grid, and Cenit estimates what your panels saved this month and this year, in your currency. In Mexico it tracks your margin before CFE's DAC tariff instead.

Widgets and alerts

Today's numbers on your home screen. Alerts when a panel has been low for days or when it's time to wash them.

If you're an installer

Sign in with your installer EMA login and Cenit lists every customer, with what each plant made today and when it last reported.

Cenit and EMA

Cenit doesn't replace EMA. It reads the same data and lays it out for everyday questions.

What Cenit adds

A dust or panel verdict. Today compared with your best two weeks. A savings estimate. Widgets, alerts and your history kept on your phone. And it works with other inverter brands too, not only APsystems.

What still belongs to EMA or your installer

Getting the ECU online and registered. Registering the microinverters. Drawing the panel map in EMA. Warranty claims and hardware swaps. Cenit only reads. It changes nothing on your system.

What it costs

Cenit is free for up to 3 plants, so a home never pays. Installers who watch more plants pay by how many. For 4 to 10 plants it's 9.99 USD once or 0.99 USD a month. For 11 to 49 it's 39.99 USD once or 3.99 USD a month. For 50 or more it's 74.99 USD once or 7.99 USD a month. The first month with more than 3 plants has everything open.

Questions

Is there an app other than EMA to see my APsystems microinverters on iPhone?

Yes. Cenit reads the same data your ECU sends to EMA. It's free for a home.

The EMA app won't load. Will Cenit work?

It depends on what's broken. If it's the app, Cenit takes a different road and may well load. If the EMA site is down or your ECU stopped sending data, Cenit gets nothing new either, because it reads from the same place. What it already saved stays on your phone.

How do I see production for each APsystems panel?

With the EMA login or a visitor link, only if your installer drew your panels in EMA. With API keys, even without that map. Otherwise you see the whole system.

How do I get an EMA visitor link?

At apsystemsema.com, under Account Details, turn on "Allow visitors to access this system". Paste the code or link it gives you into Cenit. If your installer holds the account, ask them to do it.

Is Cenit made by APsystems?

No. Cenit is an independent app by Hrvoje Matošić, made in Mexico, and it isn't affiliated with APsystems. The EMA login and the visitor link aren't an official API, so if APsystems changes its site the connection can break for a while. If it does, you can send me the error from the app.

Cenit works with other inverter brands too. See everything Cenit does.