SolarMark Blog · Sungrow

Two doors into your Sungrow. One of them is better.

August 24, 2026

Sungrow inverters, the most installed brand in Australia, can serve live data on your home network over Modbus TCP. But there are two ways in, and owners who pick the wrong one often conclude local monitoring "doesn't work" when it works fine through the other door.

Door one: the WiNet-S dongle

The little antenna unit on the side of the inverter exists mainly to feed iSolarCloud. It can also answer local Modbus requests on port 502, but how well depends on the dongle's firmware version: some versions limit which data is available, some drop idle connections, and firmware updates have been known to change behavior without notice. It's worth trying, especially if it's your only option, but treat it as the fallback.

Door two: the inverter's own LAN port

SH-series hybrids have a built-in Ethernet port on the inverter itself, separate from the dongle. A cable from your router to that port gives you a direct, stable Modbus connection that doesn't depend on dongle firmware at all. Some units need the LAN port enabled once through the iSolarCloud app's local access screen, a two-minute job your installer can do if you can't. If you have a hybrid, this is the door to use, full stop.

Setting it up

1. Connect and enable. Hybrid: run Ethernet to the inverter's LAN port and enable it if needed. Dongle-only model: note the WiNet's address instead and expect to test.
2. Reserve the IP in your router app under Connected Devices, so the address never changes.
3. Add it in SolarMark with the vendor type set to Sungrow, port 502, or let the network scan find it. The built-in diagnostics show exactly where a connection stands, and on hybrids you get battery State of Charge, temperature, and voltage alongside production. The free 14-day trial exists precisely because dongle firmware varies: confirm your setup connects before you pay anything.

Your iSolarCloud app keeps working either way; local polling runs alongside it. The difference is that the LAN connection updates every 5 seconds, works when your internet doesn't, and answers to nobody's server. The full setup detail lives in the Sungrow guide, and if the connection fights you, start with the troubleshooting checklist.