Deye over RS-485: pinout, traps, and a ready-made board
An ESP32, an RS-485 module, and a cable to the inverter port: that is the right idea. We thought the same, built that board, and it became the ED-1.1. Here is where the days go on this path, so you can decide whether you want to walk it again.
What it takes to build this yourself
| Step | What it involves | Approximate time |
|---|---|---|
| Parts | An ESP32, an RS-485 module, a power supply, a case, and an RJ-45 cable. Order them and wait for delivery | 1–3 weeks |
| Port and pinout | Find the RS-485 port, not the battery port: BMS and CAN are separate buses. Work out which pins are A+, B−, and ground | an evening |
| Soldering and wires | Power the RS-485 module from 5 V, not 3.3 V. On an ESP32-S3, do not use GPIO43/44: the transmitter shuts off during boot, while writes to the port report success | 1–2 evenings |
| Address | The Modbus SN field on the Deye screen must say 01. Address 00 is the broadcast address, and the inverter never answers on it | an evening if you do not know |
| Firmware | ESPHome or your own code, the register map for your exact model, scales, and signs | an evening |
| Silence on the bus | Swapped A and B, swapped TX and RX, the wrong speed or address: all of these look the same, with not one byte in reply | an evening to a week |
| After that | Firmware updates, where to send the data, alerts, and history | ongoing |
| Total | 4 evenings to 2 weeks + 1–3 weeks of delivery |
The times are approximate and apply only if everything goes well. Every row comes from our own log: one wrong pin cost us two days and a customer four trips to the inverter cabinet.
You wanted automation? Here is what already exists, without a line of code
Draw it, and it runs
Select a period on the day chart and choose an action: charge from the grid, hold the charge, or generator. Svitgrid writes it to the inverter and restores your settings afterward.
The water heater turns on by itself
Zigbee sockets and relays through the gateway: turn the water heater on when the battery is above 80%, and off during a scheduled outage.
Night tariff
23:00–07:00: charging from the grid at half price. Both Deye switches turn on together.
The alerts you would write yourself
Power went out, power came back. They reach your phone and, on the Plus plan, the people you share your home with.
Or the ED-1.1: the same idea, ready-made
Build it yourself
- 1–3 weeks of delivery, then 4 evenings of work or more
- Debugging a silent bus
- The data still has to go somewhere
- The updates are yours
ED-1.1
- An ESP32-S3 and an RS-485 transceiver, hand-assembled
- The RJ-45 socket matches the Deye pinout: the RS-485 cable from Deye fits without changes
- App, power alerts, and history without gaps
- Free updates · 1400 ₴
On Deye the ED-1.1 works: our first Deye on the cable is sending data. We have not yet compared a full day of its readings with the inverter's own daily counters, so we say "works", not "verified". An installer needs about 15 minutes to connect the cable.
For those who will build it anyway
We understand: building is fun. Our RJ-45 pinout is open, together with notes on the ESP32-S3 pins and on powering the module. The cable, the Modbus SN field, and what to do when the bus stays silent are in the setup guide. The register addresses and the map traps we measured are on the Deye over Modbus page.
And when you would rather have a station that works without your attention, the ED-1.1 takes the same place.
Questions
What is the Deye RS-485 pinout?
On the RJ-45 socket of the Deye RS-485 port, line B− is on pins 1 and 8, and A+ is on pins 2 and 7. The pairs are joined inside, so one wire per signal is enough. The ED-1.1 socket follows this scheme, so the RS-485 cable from Deye fits without changes. The battery port (BMS, CAN) is a separate bus, so do not connect to it.
Why does Deye not answer over RS-485?
Most often it is the address: if the Modbus SN field on the inverter screen says 00, Deye never answers, because 00 is the broadcast address. Set it to 01. Next, swap A and B: that does no harm. Check that the cable is in the RS-485 port, not BMS or CAN, and that the inverter is on.
Can I connect Deye to an ESP32 through ESPHome?
Yes, this is a working idea: an ESP32, an RS-485 module, and YAML with the register map for your model. Power the module from 5 V, and on an ESP32-S3 do not use pins GPIO43/44, because the transmitter silently shuts off on them. If you do not want to debug this, the ED-1.1 is the same circuit, ready-made.
A Deye logger with a serial starting with 26 gives no data. Does a cable help?
Yes. New-generation loggers with a serial number starting with 26 work only with the Deye cloud and give no data to your home network. An RS-485 cable reads the inverter directly, bypassing the logger.
Do I have to remove the Solarman logger?
No. The cable connects to the inverter's RS-485 port, and the logger stays in place and keeps sending data to Solarman.
Read next
Try it before you build
You can return the gateway within 14 days. If Svitgrid does not suit you, you lose an evening, not a month.