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Dev tools · August 10, 2026

My solar died for 6 months, so I built a watchdog

Hi HN, Shawn here. My rooftop system lost about half a year of production and nobody told me. Not the installer, not the monitoring app, not the utility. I found out from an electric bill that made no sense, then spent weeks digging through the monitoring portal by hand. SunRanker is what I wished existed that day. Connect a system once (Enphase OAuth, or a SolarEdge site ID plus API key) and it reads production daily, shows it in plain language, and emails you when something actually changes. Three alerts only. The connection broke, the monitoring went quiet, or output has been well below…

My solar died for 6 months, so I built a watchdog launched on August 10, 2026 with 15 votes, #819 of 23,274 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.

Visit sunranker.com ↗Alternativestop 4% of August 2026

In plain words

SunRanker monitors residential solar systems by connecting once to Enphase or SolarEdge infrastructure, then checking production daily and alerting owners via email when problems occur. Built for homeowners whose solar panels have failed silently, the tool sends plain-language notifications only when the system connection breaks, monitoring stops, or output drops significantly below baseline—avoiding daily alerts and catching issues months faster than standard monitoring apps. It displays production clearly and includes monthly summaries.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Connect your system once and know your solar is doing its job. A clean picture of your production, plain-language health, and an email the moment something breaks.

Connect it once and SunRanker checks your production every day, shows it to you in plain language, and emails you the moment something breaks. Panels don't make a sound when they stop earning. The monitoring app doesn't call you. An inverter can sit dead through your best production months, and the first sign is usually an electric bill that makes no sense . SunRanker re-reads your system every day and treats silence as a problem, not a blank spot on a chart. When something changes, you get one plain email about it. Not a daily drip, and never months late. The connection broke, so nobody is watching. Sent the day it happens. Monitoring stopped reporting while the panels may still be fine.…from sunranker.com

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi HN, Shawn here. My rooftop system lost about half a year of production and nobody told me. Not the installer, not the monitoring app, not the utility. I found out from an electric bill that made no sense, then spent weeks digging through the monitoring portal by hand. SunRanker is what I wished existed that day.…

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