A days ago I noticed that my SolarPoint setup I had in my backyard had been offline for around two weeks. This is a non critical part of my home network which I setup as mainly a learning experience back in October 2020. The setup is located in a field we have and has a few components, pretty much all of it being Ubiquiti. The setup consists of the Ubiquiti sunMAX SolarPoint which connects to UISP and offers detailed statistics about the charge level and input levels from the solar panel.

On the pole, I have a Ubiquiti NanoBeam AC Gen2, UVC G3 and a UAP-AC-Mesh. All of these devices can be powered by 24v passive PoE, which is crucial as the SolarPoint can only output at 24v. In terms of airMAX devices, all models support 24v, so there will be no issues there. However, only two UniFi Protect cameras support 24v, the G3 Flex and the original G3 Bullet. All newer cameras are 802.3af/at only. For UniFi access points, the only outdoor AP that will support 24v is the UAP-AC-Mesh.

The camera offers a unique view into the wildlife, something that wouldn't have been possible without running mains power to the location which would have been not feasible.

The local GUI of the SolarPoint offers more configuration and allows you to turn on or off the PoE for the four ethernet ports. Each port can have a priority assigned as well as any schedules. The priority setting allows you to determine which devices are turned off first when the voltage on the batteries drops below a certain level.

The SolarPoint also has a pretty neat weather prediction service, which as of writing hasn't been working for the best part of two years. Numerous people on the Ubiquiti Community have publicly complained about it, but so far nothing from Ubiquiti has been said.

The SolarPoint and the functionally identical SolarSwitch have both been out of stock in the US and EU for a pretty long time at this point. Ubiquiti might be prioritising newer hardware at the moment, especially considering the chip shortages.

Parts List

• Ubiquiti sunMAX SolarPoint (store.ui.com)
• Ubiquiti NanoBeam 5AC Gen2 (store.ui.com)
• Renogy 100W Solar Panel (amazon.com)
• 8 Gauge Wire (amazon.com)
• Battery Terminals (amazon.com)
• 14 Gauge Wire (amazon.com)
• Crimping Tool (amazon.com)
• Connectors (amazon.com)
• Ferrules Kit (amazon.com)

Optional

• MC4 Extension (amazon.com)
• UAP-AC-Mesh (store.ui.com)
• Ubiquiti G3 Bullet or any 24v UniFi Camera

Repairing Process

This installation has been rock solid for the two years since I installed it. The only issues I have had is the lack of sun in the winter months which means the devices go offline in the early evening when the sun sets. However, the main reason for making the video below and this post is the repairing process, so what happened? Well the SolarPoint went offline in UISP two weeks ago, but being winter I didnt think too much of it as the sun has been pretty inconsistent at the moment anyway. After a bit of time, I realised something must have been wrong.

I walked down to the SolarPoint as the blue LED light was flashing. Nothing in the guides online that Ubiquiti have suggest what this could mean, looking back it was likely due to a shorting issue. When I took the battery box cover off I noticed that that main cable linking the two batteries was damaged, most likely due to rodents. Spending some more time, it was clear that the smaller wires going up to the SolarPoint were also damaged, again looking like they had been chewed.

I then ordered replacement battery terminals, as these had rusted so much that the nuts were not able to be moved. I also ordered replacement 14 gauge wire, 8 gauge wire, ferrules and larger connectors for the 8 gauge wire.

I then reassembled everything as you see it in the below video and it all started working. I did have an issue with the SolarPoint rebooting every 5 minutes once it was re powered, which was due to the lack of voltage at the time of day. I got the SolarPoint re powered at around 4pm in the afternoon, with not much sunlight in the sky and I think the battery voltage was dipping below the shutoff cutoff configured within the SolarPoint GUI.

Video

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