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For customers

Let your installer see your system — safely.

Your installer asked you to connect your GivEnergy system so they can help remotely. It takes about two minutes, and you stay in control: Sentinel is read-only by default, and nothing can be changed unless you have allowed it on your own screen — access you grant, and can revoke at any time.

Download Sentinel
Two minutes · Mac & Windows

Download it, open it, read the code.

Run this on any computer on the same network as your inverter. It shows a six-character code — read that to your installer and they can connect.

Free · Mac & Windows · nothing to set up

Open Sentinel and read your installer the code.

Download Sentinel and open it on a computer on the same network as your inverter. It shows a six-character code — read that code to your installer so they can connect. Your readings are not shared until you tap “Let your engineer look at your system” on your own screen; until then your installer sees only which inverter it is (its model, serial number and firmware) and any fault alert it raises. Anything that changes a setting needs a second, separate tap. Both permissions run out on their own. If you give 48-hour access instead, that one permission covers both, for 48 hours.

Download for Mac Download for Windows

Mac (macOS 11 or later): on first launch macOS shows a “cannot verify” prompt — open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway. The first time it searches, macOS also asks to allow access to devices on your local network: that one matters, because your inverter is a device on your local network and Sentinel cannot find it without it. If you tap Don’t Allow by mistake, turn it back on under Privacy & Security → Local Network.

Windows 10/11: unzip and run Sentinel.exe; on first run click More info → Run anyway. Sentinel needs Microsoft’s WebView2 runtime to draw its window — that’s already on Windows 11 and nearly every Windows 10 machine, and if it is missing the app offers to fetch it. If Windows blocks it flat with no “Run anyway” option, that is Smart App Control, which only allows signed apps and cannot be told to trust one: use the Mac app for now, or ask us — a signed version is on the way.

Both prompts appear because we haven’t yet bought a code-signing certificate, not because anything is wrong with the download. We’d rather say that plainly than have you wonder.

iPhone, iPad or Mac: you can use Sentinel Quick from the App Store instead. It shows a six-character code in the same way; keep it open on the same Wi-Fi as your inverter. 48-hour access needs a Mac or a Windows PC.

  1. 1Download & open Sentinel
  2. 2It shows a six-character code
  3. 3Read the code to your installer
  4. 4Allow access on your own screen
How it works

Think of it like a phone call for your solar system.

When something needs looking at, a visit isn't always necessary. Sentinel opens a temporary, secure line between your system and your installer — the same idea as reading a code off your screen to let someone help with your laptop. Three things are involved, and that's it.

01 · Your system

The Sentinel app

Runs on a computer at home and talks to your inverter over your own network. It shows a code and nothing else.

02 · The secure line

An encrypted relay

Carries the connection over the internet. No one can join without the six-character code you read out, or 48-hour access you have given.

03 · Your installer

Their web browser

They see your readings in their browser. Nothing is installed on your side beyond the app you opened.

K·7·Q·2·M·9 YOUR HOME ENCRYPTED RELAY YOUR INSTALLER

  1. You open the Sentinel app

    It shows a one-time 6-character code. Until you open it, there is no way in — full stop.

  2. You read the code to your installer

    They type it in to connect. Only someone with that exact code, right now, can reach your system this way.

  3. They can look — once you allow it

    By default the connection is read-only, and even looking at your readings is off until you say so: until then they see only which inverter it is (its model, serial number and firmware) and any fault alert it raises. Tap “Let your engineer look at your system” on your own screen and for six hours they can see live readings and recent history and read your inverter’s settings; then it closes itself. From the Sentinel 1.2.0 app update they can also ask it to search your network again for an inverter it has not picked up. Tap it again to stop sooner.

  4. To change a setting, you allow that separately

    If a fix needs a setting changed, you tap “Let your engineer change settings” on your own screen. They can then change any of the settings listed below for one hour — you are allowing the window, not approving each change one by one — and then it closes itself. Tap it again to close it sooner. On a call, no window means no change.

  5. You can end it any time

    Close the app and the line is gone. There's nothing left running, and nothing to reach.

  6. If being on the phone doesn't suit — the 48-hour option

    Some faults only show up overnight, or your installer works while you're at work. So you can choose to give one named engineer up to 48 hours instead of a live code. You set it up on your own screen by typing in the 12-digit code they give you and your full name, and the app shows you who the engineer is before you agree. For those 48 hours they can do everything they could do during a call — look, and change the same settings — without you being there. From the Sentinel 1.2.0 app update, that screen also tells you, before you agree, that “RVTC’s administrator can also connect during these 48 hours, to help your engineer.” Access you give there lets RVTC’s administrator connect as well, under the same permission, and anything they do is recorded against them. Access given from an older app is your engineer’s alone.

    Be clear on the difference, because it is the one permission that outlives the moment: this window stays granted until it expires or you cancel it. Closing the app still stops everything dead — nobody can reach your system while it isn't running — but reopening it inside those 48 hours picks the window back up without asking you again. The app lists every window you've granted, and one tap revokes any of them.

Why it's safe

You stay in control the whole time.

Sentinel is built so a remote session can never do something to your system without your permission.

Read-only by default

As soon as your installer connects, they can see which inverter it is (its model, serial number and firmware) and any fault alert it raises. Your live readings — power, battery, solar — are shared only once you let them look, and they cannot change anything unless you allow that too.

Nothing changes unless you allow it

Sentinel is read-only until you say otherwise. To change a setting your installer needs your permission, given on your own screen — either by allowing a short window during a call, or by granting 48-hour access you can revoke at any time. Without one of those, nothing on your inverter can be changed.

No login, no password

Sentinel never asks for your GivEnergy account or password. It talks to the inverter on your own network — it doesn't need the GivEnergy cloud at all.

A permanent record

Every change is written to a tamper-evident log before it is sent to your inverter — what changed, which engineer made it, when, and whether it was during a call or under 48-hour access — and no one can quietly edit or delete it. If a change cannot be logged, it is not sent.

You're in control

Nothing happens until you read the six-character code out. Close the app and the session ends — nothing keeps running and nothing leaves your network without you. If you would rather not be on the phone, you can instead give your installer a 48-hour window; you set that one up deliberately and can cancel it whenever you like.

The honest boundaries

What your installer can, and can't, do.

No small print. These aren't promises — they're the limits built into how Sentinel works.

With your say-so, they can

  • See live power, battery level, solar and grid — as it's happening.
  • Scroll back through recent history to spot what caused a fault.
  • Change settings during a change window you opened, or while 48-hour access you gave them is running: battery and charging settings and schedules, metering, the clock, backup power, switching the inverter off and on or restarting it, and your export, import and output-power limits.
  • That includes the grid-protection settings your installation was commissioned to, such as anti-islanding and the voltage and frequency trip limits. When they set one of these, their screen warns that it is a grid-code setting and makes them type the new setting again before it is sent. Putting one back to what it was before they first changed it in that session needs only a click to confirm.
  • Reset your inverter’s grid code. That puts your own settings — charge times, export limit, battery reserve and eco mode — back to that grid code’s defaults (GivEnergy says the grid-protection settings are reset too), and nothing puts them back automatically. Their screen makes them type RESET first.
  • Ask the app to search your network again for an inverter it has not picked up (from the Sentinel 1.2.0 app update).
  • On a GivEnergy energy management unit (EMS), from the Sentinel 1.2.0 app update: change the unit’s own settings, such as whether it manages the site, its timed charge, discharge and export slots, and the limit on how much power the site may send to the grid. Their screen makes them type that limit again before it is sent. Older apps change nothing on an EMS.

They can never

  • Change anything unless you have allowed it on your own screen — a change window during a call, or 48-hour access.
  • Change a setting Sentinel does not allow — your inverter’s serial number, model or firmware, for example — or change anything at all on a GivEnergy Gateway.
  • See your files, cameras, or anything else on your home network. A search for your inverter shows them only which addresses on your network answered on the port inverters use.
  • Reach your inverter once you’ve closed the app: no live readings and no changes. (Sentinel keeps a summary of your readings for 48 hours, and an engineer you have let in before can still look back over it, even after their access has ended; so can RVTC’s administrator, who runs Sentinel.)

The one thing to remember: Sentinel can only ever reach your system while your app is open and you've allowed it. There's no always-on backdoor, and there's a permanent record of anything that ever changes. A 48-hour window is the one permission that waits for you between sessions — it's yours to grant, it's shown to you in the app, and one tap cancels it. If in doubt, close the app: nothing can reach your system while it isn't running.

Works with GIV-AC GIV-HY 3.0 / 3.6 / 5.0 GIV-HY3 (Gen 3) GIV-AIO GivEnergy inverters and batteries. Not sure? Download it and open it — if it doesn’t recognise your system, tell your installer.

For customers

Your questions, answered

Sentinel lets your approved installer see your GivEnergy system live, from their office, so they can help without a site visit. You run a small app that shows them a code; they connect using that code. From then on they can see which inverter it is (its model, serial number and firmware) and any fault alert it raises, and once you allow it they can look at your live readings too. They can change a setting only while you allow that as well, or while 48-hour access you have given them is running.
By default they cannot change anything, and they cannot see your live readings until you allow it; before that they see only which inverter it is (its model, serial number and firmware) and any fault alert it raises. To change anything on your inverter you have to allow it first, on your own screen. There are two ways to do that: open a window during a call, which lasts one hour and where you are there while the work happens; or grant 48-hour access, where you approve the access up front and the engineer works without you there. Either way you are approving the access rather than each individual change, both expire by themselves, and you can revoke at any time: that ends their access to your inverter straight away. Sentinel keeps a summary of your readings for 48 hours, and an engineer you have let in before can still look back over it, even after their access has ended; so can RVTC’s administrator, who runs Sentinel. Every change is recorded permanently against the engineer and the time. Sentinel never needs your GivEnergy login or password.
Download Sentinel, open it, and read the six-character code on the screen to your installer. That's it. When you're finished, close the app and the connection ends.
No. You just leave it open while your installer is looking, then close it — it only runs when you open it, and nothing is installed to start on its own.
Any Mac or Windows computer on the same network (the same router / Wi-Fi) as your inverter. It talks to the inverter locally on your network.