Your OwlWatt collector reads your solar gateway every 5 seconds for system-level totals (production, consumption). Individual per-panel snapshots arrive every 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how many microinverters your Envoy needs to poll.
Your Enphase Envoy polls each microinverter over the powerline (PLC) in batches. Panels earlier in the polling chain report sooner than panels at the end. A spread of up to 30 minutes between the newest and oldest reading is normal and does not indicate a problem.
Microinverters shut down when the sun sets and stop producing data — this is completely normal. Your dashboard will show 0 W production overnight. If your system has a consumption meter (net-metering CT), consumption data continues to be tracked around the clock.
OwlWatt multiplies the kilowatt-hours your panels produced by your configured electricity rate. The default rate is $0.332/kWh. You can enter your actual tariff in Settings → Solar System → Grid provider for a more accurate number, including tiered and time-of-use rates.
The sun trajectory chart plots the arc of the sun's altitude throughout the day at your location. It shows sunrise, sunset, and solar noon, along with the sun's current position. This helps you understand how much daylight your panels receive and when peak production should occur. Accuracy depends on having your ZIP code set in Settings → Account.
The heatmap uses color to show each panel's output relative to your system's current best performer:
You enter them yourself in Settings → Solar System → SREC enrollment. OwlWatt does not auto-pull them from your broker yet (planned for a future release).
Go to Settings → Account → Change password. You'll need to enter your current password and choose a new one. If you've forgotten your current password, use the "Forgot password" link on the login screen to reset it via email.
Go to Settings → Account → Two-factor authentication and follow the setup wizard. You'll scan a QR code with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, etc.) and confirm with a one-time code. After enrollment, OwlWatt will show you 10 single-use backup codes — save them somewhere safe.
Use one of the 10 backup codes shown when you first enrolled. Each code works exactly once. If you're out of codes, email [email protected] from the address on your account and we'll help you re-enroll after verifying your identity.
Go to Settings → Privacy & Legal → Download all my data. We'll email you a link to a ZIP file containing your profile, contracts, daily-aggregated telemetry, analyses, and support tickets.
Go to Settings → Account → Delete my account. There's a 30-day grace period during which you can cancel the deletion from the same screen. After 30 days, all your data is permanently removed.
Your ZIP code enables three things: local weather data on your dashboard, accurate sun trajectory calculations for your latitude/longitude, and utility rate lookups for your region. Set it in Settings → Account.
Upload your solar contract PDF and OwlWatt extracts the text via OCR, then uses AI to analyze the clauses. The analysis includes exact quotes and page references so you can verify every finding against the original document.
The analysis identifies your contract type (lease, PPA, loan, cash purchase), production guarantees and their measurement periods, annual escalator rates, SREC ownership terms, buyout/termination options, and any red flags like unusual penalty clauses or missing consumer protections.
Upload your utility bill PDF and OwlWatt extracts the billed amounts and usage via OCR, then compares them against your actual production data for the same period. This helps you spot billing errors, meter discrepancies, or unexpected consumption changes.
Yes. Uploaded documents are encrypted per-customer using envelope encryption. They are never shared with other customers or third parties, and are permanently purged when you delete your account. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
OwlWatt applies reasonable monthly upload limits to manage processing costs. Most residential customers will never hit these limits. If you need to upload a large batch of historical documents, email [email protected] and we'll accommodate you.
The collector sits on your home network and polls your solar gateway (e.g., Enphase Envoy) every 5 seconds. It batches those readings and uploads them to the OwlWatt cloud every 60 seconds, giving you near-real-time visibility into your system's performance.
The collector spools data locally for up to 50 hours when it loses internet connectivity. Once your connection is restored, the buffered data is replayed automatically — no readings are lost. If the outage exceeds 50 hours, there will be a gap in your telemetry.
Go to Settings → Solar System → Connect Enphase. You'll enter the email and password you use for Enphase Enlighten once. These credentials are stored securely, encrypted at rest, and never shared. OwlWatt uses them only to authenticate with your local Envoy gateway.
The collector is available as a dedicated hardware device (Raspberry Pi-based, plug-and-play) or as software you can install on an existing Windows, macOS, or Linux computer on your home network.
The collector uses mDNS (Bonjour) to automatically discover your Envoy on the local network. If automatic discovery doesn't work (some routers block mDNS), you can enter your Envoy's IP address manually during setup.
The Devices tab in Settings shows a per-device health indicator. Yellow means the collector hasn't checked in for 5–60 minutes (usually a brief Wi-Fi or Envoy interruption); red means it hasn't checked in for over an hour or has run out of disk space. Hover over the indicator for the exact threshold.
OwlWatt supports 18 notification types across six categories:
Each can be delivered via in-app notification, email, or (coming soon) SMS and push.
Go to Settings → Notifications and toggle each event on or off per delivery channel. You can also set the frequency to "immediate," "daily digest," or "weekly digest" where supported. A few security-related notifications (like login alerts and support ticket replies) cannot be turned off.
OwlWatt compares your actual utility bill against what your production data predicts you should owe. If the two differ by more than a configurable threshold (default 15%), you'll get an alert so you can investigate a possible billing error, meter drift, or unexpected consumption. Adjust the threshold in Settings → Notifications → Alert thresholds.
This alert fires when an individual panel's daily output runs more than 20% below your system's fleet average for 3 consecutive days. It helps you catch shading, soiling, or a failing module early. Both the percentage and the number of days are configurable in Settings → Notifications → Alert thresholds.
OwlWatt collects your account information (name, email, ZIP code), solar telemetry from your collector, and any documents you upload (contracts, bills). We also collect standard web analytics (page views, feature usage) to improve the product. For the full details, see our Privacy Policy.
No. OwlWatt does not sell, rent, or share your personal information or solar data with third parties for their own purposes. See our Do Not Sell or Share policy.
No. OwlWatt uses Anthropic's commercial API for contract and bill analysis. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, your data is not used to train AI models. Your documents are processed, analyzed, and the results returned to you — nothing is retained by the AI provider.
All data is encrypted in transit (TLS). Passwords are salted and hashed using modern one-way algorithms — we never store them in plain text. 2FA secrets are encrypted at rest. Uploaded contracts and bills use per-customer envelope encryption, meaning each customer's documents are encrypted with a unique key.
A dash means OwlWatt hasn't received recent production data. Common causes: your collector is offline (check the Devices tab in Settings), your Envoy gateway is unreachable (power cycle it), or it's nighttime and your inverters are sleeping (normal).
The most common causes are partial shading (trees, chimneys, neighboring structures), soiling (dirt, bird droppings, snow), or a wiring or hardware issue with the microinverter. The heatmap on your dashboard helps identify which panel is underperforming. If the problem persists after cleaning, contact your installer to inspect the unit.
OwlWatt needs your ZIP code to fetch local weather data. Go to Settings → Account and enter your ZIP code. Weather and sun trajectory data will appear on your dashboard within a few minutes.
By default, OwlWatt uses $0.332/kWh (the U.S. residential average). If your actual rate is different, update it in Settings → Solar System → Grid provider. Once set, savings will recalculate using your real tariff, including tiered and time-of-use rates if applicable.