Troubleshooting Guides Elon® Smart basic troubleshooting guide and alarms v1.6 Water temperature is too low Alarm icon ( ) showing in Elon Smart app Yes Contact a technician Are there any alarms ( ) showing on the status screen? Check the alarm message on the device status screen. Water temperature is too high Wait for 2 hours for hot water No Is the smart thermostat set to “Solar Only”? Contact our help chat Is water hot? Resolved Contact our help chat Wait until power returns *Is geyser circuit breaker on at DB? *Is the power on? Press “heat with grid now” button. Any Yes *Is it cloudy? * Have you used a lot of hot water? * Was there a power failure? Yes Wait (water is heating) No All No Reported Issue: Did the device switch to grid mode? Is the status “Heating with solar”? Reduce thermostat setting Is water still too hot a day later? Resolved Contact our help chat Yes No Elon® Smart basic troubleshooting guide V1.6 How to use this guide Select your issue in blue Follow the steps indicated by the blue arrows until you reach a red or green final step. Can you resolve the alarm yourself? Resolved Yes No Power source status greyed out Does that resolve the issue? Resolved Contact our help chat Yes No Tap the Settings button in the app (within Wi-Fi range of your Elon Smart device). Update the Wi-Fi settings and save. Wait 5 minutes. My Elon Smart status is not updating in the app Yes Contact our help chat Fix your Wi-Fi network Reported Issue: Did you change your home Wi-Fi network name or password? Resolved Yes No No Are you able to connect to the internet from your phone via the same Wi-Fi network? Is the status updating now? No Yes *Is geyser circuit breaker on at DB? *Is the power on? *Is the sun shining? Wait until power or sun returns All Yes No Can’t connect to my Elon Smart with my phone (via the Settings button or the “Thermostat settings” menu item) Contact our help chat *Is geyser circuit breaker on at DB? *Is the power on? *Is the sun shining? Wait until power or sun returns and check again No Yes Can you connect now? Resolved Close and restart the Elon Smart app and try again. Can you connect now? Yes No Are you at home and within Wi-Fi range of your Elon Smart? No Wait until you get home or move closer to your Elon Smart device Yes My Elon Smart won’t connect to my Wi-Fi network Yes Contact our help chat Reported Issue: Check your Wi-Fi router security settings (security mode). Is it set to WPA or WPA-PSK security? Resolved Yes No Can you connect now? No Change the security mode to WPA2. Are you trying to connect to your router’s 5 GHz band? (The 5 GHz band is typically denoted by 5G or 5GHz at the end of the router name – for example “MYROUTER_5G”) No Resolved Yes Can you connect now? Connect to the router’s 2.4 GHz band (this is usually the router name without anything added to the end – for example “MYROUTER”) Yes Uninstall and reinstall the app, and reboot the Elon Smart by switching grid power off for 2 min at night. Can you connect now? Resolved Yes No Contact our help chat No “Unhandled exception querying device” error 5 things to try: Delete the geyser in the app and rescan the QR code; Go to config screen and change heating policy; Uninstall and reinstall the app; Reboot the home Wi-Fi router Switch off the geyser circuit breaker at the DB at night time, wait for 2 minutes and switch it on again (this will force the Elon Smart to reboot). Did this clear the error? Resolved Contact our help chat Yes No No The Elon Smart unit might be out of range of your Wi-Fi network. If you can, reposition your Wi-Fi router closer to your geyser. Otherwise, you might need to get a Wi-Fi extender or booster. Check that your Wi-Fi router is not set to only the 5 GHz band, but also the 2.4 GHz band. Yes Can you see your Wi-Fi network on the list of Wi-Fi networks in the app? AC not present alarm Reported Issue: For installers: how to configure the Elon Smart when no home Wi-Fi is available You can configure the Elon Smart by connecting directly to it as follows: Scan the QR code to add the Elon Smart to the app. Tap the gear icon on the home screen or select “Thermostat settings” in the menu on the status screen to access the thermostat settings. Configure the thermostat as described in the installation manual (set name, address, temperature set points, heating profile). Skip the Wi-Fi configuration. The Elon Smart will function without a Wi-Fi connection after configured, but the status screen in the app will not update. If you want to see the status screen (graphs and temperature) update, provide a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot on a second phone (not the one that you’re connecting to the Elon Smart with). No Resolved Set heating profile to “Solar Only” to remove alarm Is AC (grid) power to Elon Smart installed? Yes Yes to any question Resolved Wait until grid power returns or switch grid power on or set heating profile to “Solar Only”. The Elon Smart will use solar power if available and in solar mode, despite AC not present alarm. No to all questions Check the following: Is there loadshedding? Is there a power failure? Is the geyser circuit breaker off at the house DB? [For technician:] Is the AC isolator close by the geyser switched off? Do you have a geyser timer installed? Yes Resolved Remove all geyser timers (or switch to ‘grid power permanently on’) to avoid clashes with the Elon Smart. Contact our help chat Wait for a few hours to see if the alarm clears. If not, contact our Help Chat. No Elon® Smart first line support checklist V1.7 STEP 1. COLLECT INFORMATION FROM CUSTOMER Customer Name Customer Address Date Elon® serial no. What is the issue? How long have you been experiencing this issue? Have you had any power failures recently? Have you used more hot water than usual (such as having guests over), or at a different time than usual? Has the weather been cloudy or rainy in the last day or two? Any alarms? (Indicated with an emphasised red exclamation mark on the home screen and with an alarm message on the status screen) Yes 🞏 No 🞏 Alarm message What heating profile is the Elon Smart thermostat set to? What are the temperature set points? Solar °C Grid °C What is the water temperature? Do you have the latest version of the Elon Smart app? Position of geyser circuit breaker in DB (distribution board) (X) On 🞏 Off 🞏 Don’t know 🞏 Anything else to note? STEP 2: TROUBLESHOOTING Alarm messages on the Elon Smart app ID Alarm message How to resolve the alarm: USERS How to resolve the alarm: TECHNICIANS / ELECTRICIANS 0 Element Faulty Contact your installer / electrician Check that the thermostat is inserted correctly. If that does not clear the alarm, measure element resistance and replace if necessary. 1 Switch Failed Contact our help chat Contact our help chat 2 DC Disconnect Failed Contact our help chat Contact our help chat 3 AC Not Present This can be due to several reasons: There is no AC power connected to the Elon Smart. AC power is off at the circuit breaker in the DB board or at the AC isolator close by the Elon Smart unit. There is a power failure or loadshedding. You have a geyser timer installed. This alarm won’t prevent the Elon Smart unit from functioning and heating water with solar (DC) power as long as there is solar power available. You can clear the alarm by switching the AC power on (where applicable), setting the Elon Smart heating profile to Solar Only or you can leave it until AC power returns. See to the left 4 Measurement Failure Contact our help chat Contact our help chat 5 Disconnected for Safety When there is a safety-related alarm condition, the Elon Smart will disconnect power from the geyser. To clear this alarm, you need to clear the other safety-related alarm(s).  See to the left 6 Water Temperature Measurement Failure Contact our help chat  Contact our help chat 7 Ambient Temperature Exceeded Check the installation. If the geyser is installed in direct sunlight, see if you can provide shade to the geyser end space area where the Elon Smart is located. Reduce temperature set point by 5 degrees. Wait until temperatures cool down. The Elon Smart will start up again. Contact our help chat if the above doesn’t clear the alarm. See to the left 8 DC Wiring Insulation Failure Contact your installer / electrician. To operate the Elon Smart whilst the insulation fault has not been located and resolved, you can set the heating profile to Grid Only or switch off the DC disconnect switch. Check solar panels and DC wiring for insulation faults. To operate the Elon Smart whilst the insulation fault has not been located and resolved, you can set the heating profile to Grid Only or switch off the DC disconnect switch. 9 Insulation Self-Test Failed Contact your installer / electrician Check earth wiring. Make sure both earth straps are connected securely to the geyser earth stud. 10 AC Wired to DC Input Contact your installer / electrician Wire AC to correct input (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 11 DC Wired to AC Input Contact your installer / electrician Wire DC to correct input (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 12 DC Not Present This can be due to several reasons: There is no DC power connected to the Elon Smart DC power is off at the DC disconnect switch close by the Elon Smart unit. There is an issue with the DC wiring or solar PV installation. It is extremely dark and overcast during daytime. (The alarm is not active when the sun is less than 15 degrees above the horizon.) This alarm won’t prevent the Elon Smart unit from functioning and heating water with grid (AC) power as long as there is grid power available. You can clear the alarm by: switching the DC power on (where applicable); setting the Elon Smart heating profile to Grid Only; leaving it until DC power returns; or contacting your installer / electrician to inspect and fix the DC wiring and/or solar PV installation. See to the left 13 DC Input Reversed Contact your installer / electrician. The wiring on the Solar input has been installed incorrectly (in reverse). The DC+ (positive) wire has been connected to the DC- (negative) terminal on the Elon Smart and the DC- (negative) wire has been connected to the DC+ (positive) terminal on the Elon Smart. Swap the DC wires around (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 14 Hot Connection Contact your installer / electrician. Elon Smart not correctly inserted into geyser element. Switch off all power to the Elon Smart and re-seat (reinsert) the Elon Smart. 15 RTC Failed Contact our help chat Contact our help chat 16 Power Unstable If it is intermittent or temporary and occurring during loadshedding or grid power failures, you can ignore this alarm. If the alarm persists whilst grid power is available, contact your installer / technician. Check that wiring to Elon Smart is properly connected and not loose. Check whether geyser circuit breaker in DB or the geyser’s AC isolator are faulty or wiring is not properly connected. If none of the above are present, then contact our help chat. 17 Server Not Available Check that your home Wi-Fi network has internet connectivity. Check the Elon Smart Wi-Fi settings on the thermostat settings screen (access by tapping the gear icon in the app when at home). If your Wi-Fi router is far away from your geyser, the Wi-Fi signal might be too weak. This can be improved with a Wi-Fi extender or signal booster. If none of the above works, try rebooting your Elon Smart by switching off the geyser circuit breaker on your house DB board at night for 2 minutes. See to the left PowerOptimal Elon® Smart Troubleshooting Guide for Electricians v1.7 NOTE: This Troubleshooting Guide is intended for electricians and not general users. Users should please refer to the User Manual, which can be found at www.poweroptimal.com/manuals. Always check the PowerOptimal website for the latest version of this guide. Unit no. Development name Elon® serial no. Date Name: 1st level support person Unit construction status (Works OR Final Completion) Resident name Reported issue (customer) Reported issue (Level 1 Support) Troubleshooting Steps No. Action Result Units 1 Open the Elon Smart app. (Download the Elon Smart Water app from the Google Play or Apple app stores if you don’t have it installed on your phone. Make sure that you have the latest version of the app – you can check by searching “Elon Smart Water” in your app store and tapping “Update”.) 🞏 2 If you don’t have the specific thermostat in your device list, scan its QR code (on the house DB or on the thermostat itself) to add it by tapping the + button in the Elon Smart app. 🞏 3 Open the Thermostat Settings screen by tapping the Settings button (the gear icon) to the right of the thermostat on the app status screen. 🞏 4 Check for any alarms at the bottom of the screen and rectify accordingly (See list of alarms at the end of this guide) 🞏 5 If you cannot access the thermostat from the app, confirm that the DC isolator / circuit breaker is closed (on); the AC circuit breaker at DB and AC isolator are closed (on). 🞏 DC closed 🞏 AC closed 6 If you still cannot access the thermostat from the app, remove the geyser end cover and: Visually inspect the wiring ensuring that AC and DC wiring are still inserted into screw terminals; Check using a voltage meter that DC voltage is present on the DC screw terminals and polarity is not reversed (Figure 1); Check using a voltage meter that AC voltage is present on the AC screw terminals (Figure 2). 🞏 Wiring correct V DC & correct polarity V AC 7 Write down the conclusion from your testing (What caused the reported issue?) & any other observations: Fig 1 Checking DC voltage Fig 2 Checking AC voltage Things to Remember After power up, the unit runs a self-test that takes about 30 seconds. Once the self-test passes the unit will engage the correct power source determined by the heating profile. If the water temperature is lower than the temperature set point for the source (Grid or Solar), it will start heating water. You should hear a click when this happens. Make sure that the wires are connected to the Elon Smart terminals securely (do a tug test with AC & DC power to the Elon Smart switched off) and check that the terminals have not been damaged (for example by overtightening). If the two earth wires are not connected to the earth stud the unit will fail the self-test and never start the heating process. Check for any geyser timers and bypass them completely or set them to “always on”. If you are having DC power supply issues, check if the DC circuit breaker or isolator is faulty by measuring the voltage across the DC circuit breaker or isolator whilst DC power is being supplied to the element. If there is a voltage drop across the disconnect switch, it is faulty and needs to be replaced. Also check all DC fuses if installed. The unit will detect the following installation faults and display them on the configuration screen. These will stop the unit from connecting power to the element until they are cleared: DC + and DC – are reversed (reversed polarity); The earth straps are not connected to the earth stud; AC is connected to DC input; There is a fault between the solar wiring and earth (insulation failure); Element faulty (this may happen if you insert the unit so only a single spade connector makes contact with the element); Unit component failure. The unit will also warn the installer if there is: No power on the AC input. The alarm is not shown if heating profile Solar Only is selected. No power on the DC input and it is daytime. The alarm is not shown if heating profile Grid Only is selected. For any Heating profile except Grid Only, solar power is normally engaged except for the periods listed in the table below. If the unit has no grid power and engaging the element causes the DC voltage of the solar panels to drop below the voltage required to power the unit, the unit disconnects the element. If AC power is supplied, then the unit can run down to 0 V on DC. If the unit disconnects the element, it will stay disconnected for 2 minutes before connecting to the element again. If the unit is connected to the grid, it may draw a small amount of power (<3W) from the grid even if Solar Only heating profile is selected. How to switch on solar power to element: Select Solar Only heating profile on the configuration screen. How to switch on mains power to element: Select Grid Only heating profile on the configuration screen. Heating Profile option Solar power use Grid power use Comments Grid Only Never Always Select this option if you don’t have any solar panels installed. Solar Only Always Never ONLY use solar power. NEVER use grid power. Morning Shower Always except for 3 – 5 am 3 am – 5 am Solar power will be used whenever available, and grid power will only be used early in the morning to boost water temperature to the Grid set point if the temperature is lower than that. Evening Shower Always except for 5 – 7 pm 5 pm – 7 pm Solar power will be used whenever available, and grid power will only be used in the late afternoon to boost water temperature to the Grid set point if the temperature is lower than that. Morning and Evening Shower Always except for 3 – 5 am & 5 – 7 pm 3 am – 5 am & 5 pm – 7 pm Solar power will be used whenever available, and grid power will only be used in the early morning and late afternoon to boost water temperature to the Grid set point if the temperature is lower than that. Holiday Mode Off Off System switched off completely Custom Profile Whenever not in grid mode Custom Use the Custom Profile option to set your own grid heating timers. List of Alarms and How to Resolve Them The Elon Smart has a helpful alarm system that detects and reports common issues. See the below list for the various alarms and how to resolve them. Always check that you have the latest version of the app by going to the “Elon Smart Water” app in your app store. ID Alarm message How to resolve the alarm 0 Element Faulty Check that the thermostat is inserted correctly. If that does not clear the alarm, measure element resistance and replace if necessary. 1 Switch Failed Contact our help chat 2 DC Disconnect Failed Contact our help chat 3 No Power on AC Input This can be due to several reasons: There is no AC power connected to the Elon Smart AC power is off at the circuit breaker in the DB board or at the AC isolator close by the Elon Smart unit. There is a power failure or loadshedding. You have a geyser timer installed. This alarm won’t prevent the Elon Smart unit from functioning and heating water with solar (DC) power as long as there is solar power available. You can clear the alarm by switching the AC power on (where applicable), setting the Elon Smart heating profile to Solar Only or you can leave it until AC power returns. 4 Measurement Failure Contact our help chat 5 Disconnected for Safety When there is a safety-related alarm condition, the Elon Smart will disconnect power from the geyser. To clear this alarm, you need to clear the other safety-related alarm(s).  6 Water Temperature Measurement Failure Contact our help chat  7 Ambient Temperature Exceeded Check the installation. If the geyser is installed in direct sunlight, see if you can provide shade to the geyser end space area where the Elon Smart is located. Reduce temperature set point by 5 degrees. Wait until temperatures cool down. The Elon Smart will start up again. Contact our help chat if the above doesn’t clear the alarm. 8 DC Wiring Insulation Failure a. Check solar panels and DC wiring for insulation faults. b. To operate the Elon Smart whilst the insulation fault has not been located and resolved, you can set the heating profile to Grid Only or switch off the DC disconnect switch. 9 Insulation Self-Test Failed Check earth wiring. Make sure both earth straps are connected securely to the geyser earth stud. 10 AC Wired to DC Input Wire AC to correct input (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 11 DC Wired to AC Input Wire DC to correct input (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 12 No Power on DC Input This can be due to several reasons: a. There is no DC power connected to the Elon Smart b. DC power is off at the DC disconnect switch close by the Elon Smart unit. c. There is an issue with the DC wiring or solar PV installation. d. It is extremely dark and overcast during daytime. (The alarm is not active when the sun is less than 15 degrees above the horizon.) This alarm won’t prevent the Elon Smart unit from functioning and heating water with grid (AC) power as long as there is grid power available. You can clear the alarm by switching the DC power on (where applicable), fixing the DC wiring / solar PV installation, setting the Elon Smart heating profile to Grid Only (see Table 4.1) or you can leave it until DC power returns. 13 DC Input Reversed The wiring on the Solar input has been installed incorrectly (in reverse). The DC+ (positive) wire has been connected to the DC- (negative) terminal on the Elon Smart and the DC- (negative) wire has been connected to the DC+ (positive) terminal on the Elon Smart. Swap the DC wires around (see Chapter 4 in the Installation Manual). 14 Hot Connection Elon Smart not correctly inserted into geyser element. Switch off all power to the Elon Smart and re-seat (reinsert) the Elon Smart. 15 RTC Failed Contact our help chat 16 Power Unstable If it is intermittent or temporary and occurring during loadshedding or grid power failures, you can ignore this alarm. If the alarm persists whilst grid power is available, check the following: a. Check that wiring to Elon Smart is properly connected and not loose. b. Check whether geyser circuit breaker in DB or the geyser’s AC isolator are faulty or wiring is not properly connected. c. If none of the above are present, then contact our help chat. 17 Server Not Available Check that the home Wi-Fi network has internet connectivity. Check the Elon Smart Wi-Fi settings on the thermostat settings screen (access by tapping the gear icon in the app when within Wi-Fi range of the Elon Smart). If the Wi-Fi router is far away from the geyser, the Wi-Fi signal might be too weak. This can be improved with a Wi-Fi extender or signal booster. If none of the above works, try rebooting the Elon Smart by switching off both the AC isolator (or geyser circuit breaker on the house DB) and the DC circuit breaker for 2 minutes. The below basic troubleshooting guide for users might also be of use to you.