Update 30/05/2024:
Even now, over two months later, there hasn’t been a single update for the AIO. I’ve had the unit reset all its settings on its own once more. The Bypass-mode stopped working again, resulting in the system getting stuck in a loop enabling and disabling Bypass for a day until I manually disabled it again. There have now been multiple occassions where my unit has lost connection to the cloud service, resulting in gaps in the power charts. None of the issues I talked about below have been fixed…
At least there has been somewhat of an update on the MQTT situation with Zendure apparently planning to add support for the AIO in Q3 of this year (July to September).
Original Post:
I’ve been looking for a small battery solution for my solar panels at home for a while now and recently stumbled over Zendure’s new AIO 2400 plug-in solar system. With a 2.4 kWh LiFePo4 battery and up to 1,560 Watt solar input it was a perfect fit for my current system. For the “cheap” price of just 1,343€ in Germany, I had to get one…
Now I have been using the Zendure AIO 2400 for a few days and just wanted to write down some of my thoughts about the product and the quirks and issues I’ve experienced so far. So I guess this is my Zendure AIO 2400 review.
The App
Of course, just like any “smart”-device, the AIO comes with its own app. And while it’s not the worst IoT device app I’ve experienced, it’s definitely not the best either.
Most of the time it works well enough, but the data could come in a bit quicker sometimes and it doesn’t always match what I get from my Hoymiles inverter and my power meter. This is probably because there seems to be quite a bit of smoothing applied to the realtime data. But it does give some basic statistics which are probably enough for most people.
The configuration options available in the app are also not very in depth. But it does allow you to configure some basic settings like maximum and minimum charge level, maximum discharge rate, toggling the Bypass-mode (more on that later) and configuring the lighting on the front of the device.
There are also a few energy plans available to use:
- Setting a specific time interval during which the AIO prioritizes recharging the battery.
- Setting up a time schedule with different discharge rates (basically the same thing with more control).
- Two modes where the AIO matches its output power to your current usage IF you have Shelly devices or Zendure’s own power meters.
But all these modes have one big problem: You can ONLY use them if the AIO is connected to the internet!
Server Dependency and MQTT Data Access
Since all your data HAS to go through Zendure’s servers, unless you want to lose significant functionality, you’re obviously very dependent on their infrastructure. The AIOs basic functionality is controllable through Bluetooth alone though, which is good. So far the servers have been working mostly fine for me but there are numerous people on the Zendure app forum with complaints.
Zendure also offers a way for you to get data from your device through their MQTT server, which supposedly delivers you more data than what’s available in the app. I say supposedly here, because the MQTT server won’t return ANY DATA for the AIO. You can successfully register the device with their MQTT server but you won’t get any data…
Maybe Zendure is working on implementing this, maybe not. Who knows, since they won’t really reply on their GitHub page for the MQTT service. You also can’t change any settings through MQTT. Even though this has been on their “Future Plans” for over a year now! I would love to get access to the battery level in Home Assistant to avoid constantly charging and discharging once the battery is empty, but I guess this has to wait for now.
If you choose to use any of the power plans in the app, it seems all the regulating is actually done on the server side and not on the device itself. Which can lead to quite a bit of delay when using the power matching modes according to users on the Zendure app forum.
Random Issues
I have also experienced some super weird seemingly random issues with my unit.
First the Bypass-mode, which connects the solar panels directly to the converter and skips the battery, just suddenly stopped working after a few hours on the very first day of use. I could hear the relay clicking inside the AIO and the battery stopped charging/discharging but the power was no longer going through to the inverter behind the AIO.
Then I wasn’t able to shutdown the AIO. Usually you’re supposed to press the power button for two seconds to shut the unit down but it would just flash red a couple times indicating an error and then keep working. Even resetting the unit by holding the power button for ten seconds didn’t do anything. WTF Zendure?
When I ran some tests I noticed that the unit actually wouldn’t let me discharge with more than ~700 Watts of power, even though I had the maximum output power set to 1,200 Watts. It just cut out again and again once I got to around 700 Watts.
A few days later the unit just RESET ITSELF TO FACTORY SETTINGS over night. All my settings were gone and the battery just dumped the 20% of remaining charge, which I had set as the minimum level, into my inverter. But this somehow fixed the Bypass issues I was having.
My Verdict for Now
For now I have decided to just set my unit to not output any energy from 6 AM to 12 PM, so it can build a bit of a battery buffer for the day. And I limit my Hoymiles inverter to the current power usage with the data from my power meter, Home Assistant and OpenDTU. Because I’m definitely not gonna buy a Shelly or other Zendure device just to match the power when I already have access to all the data.
To get around the power cutting out I ended up limiting the output to 600 Watts for now. Who knows, maybe a future update to the firmware will fix my issues further. I will probably update this post if anything happens.
With those settings/workarounds my experience has been okay so far. I haven’t had any more resets and with the Bypass-mode magically working again I’m hopeful that more of my issues will be fixed. BUT I won’t recommend buying the AIO if you aren’t willing to do some troubleshooting and can’t control your inverter. It’s definitely nowhere near a set-and-forget deal for me yet.
I really hope Zendure finally does something about their MQTT service and lets us use their devices on the local network because that would be a GIGANTIC advantage over other competitors in the field. They definitely still have a lot of work to do…
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