Connecting to Your PVS6 Device

This guide covers how to establish a direct network connection to your SunPower PVS6 device for local monitoring and control. There are two main types of PVS6 devices with different connection methods. If you’re using a PVS6 device with a USB Ethernet adapter, you’ll need to use the USB Ethernet adapter to connect to the device. If you’re using a PVS6 device with a dedicated Ethernet port, you’ll need to use the Ethernet port to connect to the device.

Identifying Your Device Type

Go to where your solar subpanel is installed. Look for a device that looks like this:

Open up your PVS6 device from the front by removing the removable cover and look at the ports along the top of the inside of the device.

If you see this:

• Note that on the left, there is a port labeled “D-AUX”, one labelled “RJ-485 2-wire”, one labelled “LAN1 (Local Ethernet)” and one labeled “WAN (Customer Internet)”

• The port we want to connect to is LAN1 (Local Ethernet)

• There are also 4 USB ports, and one for power (labelled “12 VDC”).

You have an older PVS6 device with a dedicated Ethernet port. You will just need to use a standard CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable to connect to the device on LAN1.

If you see this:

• The D-AUX port and the RJ-485 2-wire port are still present, but the ethernet ports are not there.

• There are now 3 USB ports, and one for power (labelled “12 VDC”).

You have a newer PVS6 device with only USB ports. You will need to use a USB Ethernet adapter and a standard CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable to connect to the device.

Connection Methods

Direct Ethernet Connection (Older Models)

For PVS6 devices with dedicated Ethernet ports:

Required Equipment

• Standard Ethernet cable (Cat5e or Cat6)

• Computer with Ethernet port, or a USB Ethernet adapter

• Network configuration knowledge

Connection Steps

• Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the PVS6 “LAN1 (Installer)” Ethernet port.

• Other end to your computer’s Ethernet port or USB Ethernet adapter

USB Ethernet Adapter (Newer Models)

For PVS6 devices with only USB ports:

Required Equipment

• USB 2.0 to Ethernet adapter (compatible with PVS6). The USB 3.0 tend not to work according to the community.

• Standard Ethernet cable (Cat5e or Cat6)

• Computer with Ethernet port or a USB Ethernet adapter

• Network configuration knowledge

Recommended USB Ethernet Adapters

These are the adapters that the community has reported working.

• USB 2.0 to ethernet Adapter USB to RJ45 Supporting 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Network for Window/Mac OS, Surface Pro/Linux/Chromebook/Android/iOS.

• Cable Matters USB 2.0 → Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Model 202023) [ASIX AX88772 chipset]

• Plugable USB2-E100 [ASIX AX88772 chipset]

Possibly any ASIX AX88772 will work, although the first one is the cheapest and most widely available.

Connection Steps

• Plug the USB Ethernet adapter into one of the PVS6 USB ports.

• Connect one end of the Ethernet cable that USB Ethernet adapter.

• Other end to your computer’s Ethernet port or USB Ethernet adapter

Configure your computer’s Network

Once you’re all wired in, you’ll need to configure networking. Luckily this is easy since the PVS6 runs a DHCP server that will configure your network settings for you. One thing to note is that the PVS6 runs its own nameserver to serve the domain sunpowerconsole.com and the IP address of the PVS6 is 172.27.153.1.

PVS6 Network Settings

This is what you should get if you’re using the PVS6’s DHCP server.

• PVS6 IP Address: 172.27.153.1

• Subnet: 172.27.153.0/24

• Gateway: 172.27.153.1

• Nameserver: 172.27.153.1

• Your IP Address: 172.27.153.X, where X is a number between 2 and 254.

OS Specific Instructions

• On a Mac, move the ethernet device to the top of the list in the network list so that the nameserver running on the PVS6 is used first before the default nameserver.

• On Linux, add nameserver 172.27.153.1 to /etc/resolv.conf as the first nameserver. This is the IP address of the PVS6 nameserver and webserver.

• Not sure at this point if you need to do anything special for Windows.

Test Connectivity

As said above, you should get an address assigned via DHCP from the PVS6. You can test this by telneting to port 443 of the PVS6’s IP address: 172.27.153.1

telnet 172.27.153.1 443
Trying 172.27.153.1...
Connected to 172.27.153.1.
Escape character is '^]'.

You should also be able to resolve the domain sunpowerconsole.com to the PVS6’s IP address.

nslookup sunpowerconsole.com

Server: 172.27.153.1
Address: 172.27.153.1

Name: sunpowerconsole.com
Address: 172.27.153.1

You should be able to access the PVS6’s web interface at https://sunpowerconsole.com.

telnet sunpowerconsole.com 443
Trying 172.27.153.1...
Connected to sunpowerconsole.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: sunpowerconsole.com
Connection: close
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

The response should be a 403 Forbidden error. This is expected, as SunStrong (or SunPower?) has blocked access to the web interface from outside the PVS6’s local network. Luckily only / is blocked, so you can still access the API.

Finally, try using the sungazer command line tool to access the API. I’m assuming here that you’ve installed the sungazer package.

>>> sungazer session start
{
   "result": "succeed",
   "supervisor":     {
      "SWVER":       "2025.06, Build 61839",
      "SERIAL":      "ZT212345123459A0621",
      "MODEL":       "PVS6",
      "BUILD":       61839,
      "FWVER":       "1.0.0",
      "SCVER":       1630652920,
      "EASICVER":    131329,
      "SCBUILD":     1188,
      "WNSERIAL":    16,
      "WNMODEL":     400,
      "WNVER":       3000
   }
}

This should see the PVS6’s supervisor information. It just tells you a few interesting things about the PVS6. You won’t use in monitoring, but if you can get this far, you’ve successfully connected to your PVS6.

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

No Response from Device

• Check Ethernet cable connections

• Verify USB adapter is properly seated (newer models)

• Try different USB port (newer models)

• Try rebooting the PVS6 device by opening the circuit breaker for the PVS6 (should be in the subpanel below the PVS6), waiting 10 seconds, and then reconnecting the circuit breaker, then wait 2-3 minutes for device initialization. You’ll know it’s up and running when the light on the device is solid dark green.

403 Forbidden from the API endpoint or sungazer

• Try rebooting the PVS6 device by opening the circuit breaker for the PVS6 (should be in the subpanel below the PVS6), waiting 10 seconds, and then reconnecting the circuit breaker, then wait 2-3 minutes for device initialization. You’ll know it’s up and running when the light on the device is solid dark green. The community has reported that this fixes the issue.

Cannot telnet to port 443

• Verify network configuration

• Check firewall settings

• Restart PVS6 device as above

Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

1. Check device documentation for specific instructions

2. Verify hardware compatibility for USB adapters

3. Test with different equipment if possible

4. Check community forums for similar problems

Remember that direct connection is the only way to get to the monitoring interface of your PVS6 device.