SMA SUNNY BEAM User manual

BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 | 98-0010512 | Version 1.2
CA
US
Solar Data Technology
SUNNY BEAM with Bluetooth Wireless Technology
User Manual

SMA America, LLC Legal Restrictions
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 3
Copyright © 2011 SMA America,LLC. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, magnetic or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of SMA America,LLC.
Neither SMA America,LLC nor SMA Solar Technology Canada Inc. makes no representations,
express or implied, with respect to this documentation or any of the equipment and/or software it may
describe, including (with no limitation) any implied warranties of utility, merchantability, or fitness for
any particular purpose. All such warranties are expressly disclaimed. Neither SMA America,LLC nor
its distributors or dealers nor SMA Solar Technology Canada Inc. nor its distributors or dealers shall
be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages under any circumstances.
(The exclusion of implied warranties may not apply in all cases under some statutes, and thus the
above exclusion may not apply.)
Specifications are subject to change without notice. Every attempt has been made to make this
document complete, accurate and up-to-date. Readers are cautioned, however, that
SMAAmerica,LLC and SMA Solar Technology Canada Inc. reserve the right to make changes
without notice and shall not be responsible for any damages, including indirect, incidental or
consequential damages, caused by reliance on the material presented, including, but not limited to,
omissions, typographical errors, arithmetical errors or listing errors in the content material.
All trademarks are recognized even if these are not marked separately. Missing designations do not
mean that a product or brand is not a registered trademark.
The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and
any use of such marks by SMA America,LLC and SMA Solar Technology Canada Inc. is under
license.

Legal Restrictions SMA America, LLC
4 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
SMA America, LLC
3801 N. Havana Street
Denver, CO 80239 U.S.A.
SMA Solar Technology Canada Inc.
2425 Matheson Blvd. E
8th Floor
Mississauga, ON L4W 5K5
Canada

SMA America, LLC Important Safety Instructions
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 5
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS
This manual contains important instructions for Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® system monitoring,
that must be followed during installation and maintenance of the system monitoring.
The Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® is designed and tested according to international safety
requirements, but as with all electrical and electronic equipment, certain precautions must be
observed when installing and/or operating the Sunny Beam with Bluetooth®. To reduce the risk of
personal injury and to ensure the safe installation and operation of the Sunny Beam with Bluetooth®,
you must carefully read and follow all instructions, cautions and warnings in this User Manual.
Warnings in this document
A warning describes a hazard to equipment or personnel. It calls attention to a procedure or practice,
which, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in damage to or destruction of part or all
of the SMA equipment and/or other equipment connected to the SMA equipment or personal injury.
DANGER
DANGER indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, will result in death or
serious injury.
WARNING
WARNING indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in death or
serious injury.

Important Safety Instructions SMA America, LLC
6 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
CAUTION
CAUTION indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in minor or
moderate injury.
NOTICE
NOTICE is used to address practices not related to personal injury.

SMA America, LLC Important Safety Instructions
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 7
Other Symbols in this document
In addition to the safety and hazard symbols described on the previous pages, the following symbol
is also used in this User Manual:
Information
This symbol accompanies notes that call attention to supplementary information that you
must know and use to ensure optimal operation of the system.

General Warnings SMA America, LLC
8 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
General Warnings
General Warnings
All electrical installations must be done in accordance with the local and
NationalElectrical Code® ANSI/NFPA 70 or the Canadian Electrical Code®
CSAC22.1. This document does not and is not intended to replace any local, state,
provincial, federal or national laws, regulation or codes applicable to the installation and
use of the system monitoring, including without limitation applicable electrical safety codes.
All installations must conform with the laws, regulations, codes and standards applicable
in the jurisdiction of installation. SMA assumes no responsibility for the compliance or
noncompliance with such laws or codes in connection with the installation of the system
monitoring.
Before installing or using the Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® read all of the instructions,
cautions, and warnings on the Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® in this User Manual.

SMA America, LLC Table of Contents
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 9
Table of Contents
1 Notes on this Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.1 Validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2 Target Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3 Storage of the documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4 Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.5 Nomenclature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 Sunny Beam with Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Field of Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Appropriate Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.1 Supported Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 Unpacking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.1 Packing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2 Identifying the Sunny Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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10 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
5 Installation Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.1 Installation Location Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2 Installing the Sunny Beam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6 Commissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.2 Sunny Beam Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.3 Determining free NetID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.4 Commissioning the Sunny Beam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7 Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.1 Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.1.1 Switching on the Display/Calling up the Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2 Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.3 Chart View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.1 Calling up the Chart "Complete PV System" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.3.2 Calling up the Chart "No. of Inverters" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.4 Power and Energy Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.5 Symbols in the Chart View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7.5.1 Symbol for the Connection Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 11
7.5.2 Battery Symbol/Charging the Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
7.5.3 Info, Error, and Warning Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.6 Calling up Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.7 Sunny Beam Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.7.1 Enable / Disable Alarm for Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.8 Display Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.8.1 Changing the Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.8.2 Changing the Display Switch-Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.8.3 Setting the Coefficients of Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.9 Data Query. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.9.1 Changing the Data Query Frequency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.9.2 Deactivating Overnight Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.10 Service Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.10.1 Checking the Connection Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.10.2 Accessing Device Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.10.3 Performing an Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.10.4 Resetting the Sunny Beam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
7.11 System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7.11.1 Calling up the List of Connected Inverters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7.11.2 Entering the System Password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

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12 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
7.11.3 Repeating the System Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.11.4 Changing the Device Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.11.5 Adjusting the Energy Meter when Switching Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.11.6 Setting the Maximum System Power in kWp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.12 Country Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.12.1 Changing Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.12.2 Changing the Currency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7.12.3 Changing the Unit of CO2 Avoided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7.12.4 Changing the Decimal Separator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7.13 Time Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7.13.1 Changing the Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7.13.2 Changing the Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7.13.3 Changing the Date Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.13.4 Changing the Timestamp Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.13.5 Activating/Deactivating Daylight Saving Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.13.6 Changing the Time Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
8 PV System Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
8.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8.2 Copying PV System Data to the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8.2.1 CSV File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 13
9 Menu Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10 Maintenance and Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.1 Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.1.1 Replacing the Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.2 Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
11 Decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.1 Decommissioning the Sunny Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.2 Disposing of the Sunny Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.3 Disposing of the Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
13 Technical Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
13.1 FCC Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
14 Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
14.1 USB Plug-in Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
14.2 Replacement Batteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
15 Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Table of Contents SMA America, LLC
14 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual

SMA America, LLC Notes on this Manual
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 15
1 Notes on this Manual
1.1 Validity
This manual is valid for Sunny Beam with firmware version 1.0 and later.
Information concerning the connected equipment is available from the manufacturer of the equipment.
1.2 Target Group
This manual is for the operator.
1.3 Storage of the documentation
Keep all Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® manuals in a convenient place for future reference.
1.4 Additional Information
You can find further information on the following subjects in the download section of
www.SMA-America.com.
•SMA Bluetooth Wireless Technology
•CO
2 factor - What the CO2 factor is and why it is different for every region.

Notes on this Manual SMA America, LLC
16 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
1.5 Nomenclature
In this document SMA America Production, LLC is referred to in the following as SMA.
In this document Sunny Beam with Bluetooth® is referred to in the following as Sunny Beam.
The following terminology is used in this document.
Type Example of terminology
Main menu item Select "Settings".
Submenu item Select "Settings > Date".

SMA America, LLC Sunny Beam with Bluetooth
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 17
2 Sunny Beam with Bluetooth
2.1 Field of Application
Sunny Beam is a communication device which requests, displays
and saves data from up to 12 inverters in a Bluetooth PV system
from SMA. Communication with the inverters takes place via
Bluetooth.
2.2 Functions
The most important Sunny Beam functions are:
• Processing data from up to 12 inverters.
• Connection to the inverters via Bluetooth Class 1.
• Range of up to 328ft (100m) in the open with direct visual contact. In closed rooms the range
depends on various factors.
• Display of errors and warnings on the integrated display.
• Acoustic alarms to indicate errors in the PV system and low battery states.
• Connection to the computer via the USB connection cable (max. 9ft (3m) cable length).
• Saving system data in CSB files for at least 90 days (see chapter 8 "PV System Data"
(page76)).
The storage volume depends on the number of inverters. Once the memory is full, the Sunny
Beam will begin to overwrite old data.

Sunny Beam with Bluetooth SMA America, LLC
18 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
• Graphical display of the following data for the whole system and for each inverter on the
integrated display:
– Performance today/Performance yesterday.
– Energy for the last 31 days/Energy for the last 12 months.
– Specific annual yield.
– Revenue for current day / Revenue for entire runtime of the PV system.
–CO
2 avoided for current day/CO2 avoided for entire runtime of the system.
• Display of the following values for the entire system and for individual inverters:
–Present AC power.
– Daily yield (E-Today).
– Energy yield yesterday (E-Yday) when calling up the chart "Power yesterday".
– Total energy yield (E-Total).

SMA America, LLC Safety
User Manual BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 19
3 Safety
3.1 Appropriate Usage
Sunny Beam is only suitable for indoor use. The ambient temperature must be between +32°F and
+104°F (0 °C… +40 °C).
3.1.1 Supported Products
Sunny Beam is only suitable for use with original accessories from SMA or accessories recommended
by SMA. The power supply for Sunny Beam may only be provided by rechargeable nickel-metal
hydride batteries (NiMH), type Mignon (AA) with low self-discharge, e.g. Eneloop batteries.
The Sunny Beam supports the following products by SMA:
• SMA inverters with integrated Bluetooth:
– SB 3000TL-20 / SB 4000TL-20 / SB 5000TL-20: from software version 2.06
– SB 2000HF / SB 2500HF / SB 3000HF
– STP 10000TL-10 / STP 12000TL-10 / STP 15000TL-10 / STP 17000TL-10
•SMA inverters with SMA Bluetooth Piggy-Back upgrade. A list of supported inverters can be
found in the SMA Bluetooth Piggy-Back installation manual.
• SMA Bluetooth Repeater
The Sunny Beam data cannot be used for billing purposes.
Data collected by Sunny Beam regarding the power generated by your PV system may
deviate from the electricity meter.

Safety SMA America, LLC
20 BeamBT-eng-BUS110712 User Manual
3.2 Safety Instructions
Please follow all operating and safety instructions in this manual. Failure to follow these instructions
may result in damage to the device and risk of personal injuries.
NOTICE
Damage to Sunny Beam caused by leaking batteries.
Batteries of the wrong type may leak into the Sunny Beam and damage the device.
• Do not use non-rechargeable batteries under any circumstances.
• You must only use rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH), type Mignon
(AA) with low self-discharge, e.g. Eneloop batteries (see section 14 "Accessories"
(page95)).
Safety of your PV system
It is absolutely necessary that you change the preset system passwords for both user
groups (installer and user). Otherwise your PV system will not be protected from
unauthorized access. You can only change the passwords by using a computer with
Bluetooth and the Sunny Explorer software. You can obtain the Sunny Explorer for free in
the download section of www.SMA-America.com.