One Job: Pick Up What Every Module Is Saying.
Every module sensor transmits its data over the existing DC cable. The String Reader listens.
Module sensors send voltage and temperature as PLC signals — over the string cable that is already there. No data wiring, no extra network.
The String Reader picks up this PLC data from the string, decodes it, and forwards it to the Gateway. That is the core job — and both members of the family do it.
One Family. One Real Decision: In-Line or Clamp-On.
Every version delivers module-level data. The difference is how it connects to the string — wired in for full measurement depth, or clipped on for effortless retrofit.
The classic instrument: string voltage and current at 16 Hz plus module-level PLC data. Two variants, same measurement capability:
The full measurement instrument. Everything the platform needs for DiodeVital, TrueSTC and IEA classification.
Same measurement — plus a built-in rapid-shutdown signal generator. On shutdown, modules drop to safe 1V mode.
Nothing is opened or disconnected. The String Claw clips around the string cable, picks up the module data, and plugs into the X-String Reader via USB.
With one MPP tracker per string, the string current comes from the inverter and is merged in the Gateway. Where strings share a tracker, the X-String Reader adds its own current measurement.
String Voltage. String Current. Every Module.
Three data streams. One device.
Central Inverter Noise? There's a Slot for That.
Every String Reader ships with a built-in DSP expansion slot — ready before you ever need it.
Central inverters switch a lot of power in one place — and that generates significant electrical noise on the shared DC line. In these installations, the PLC signal carrying module-level data can get buried in that noise.
The optional DSP board plugs directly into the dedicated slot inside every String Reader. No tools, no rewiring. It applies advanced signal filtering that pulls the PLC signal cleanly out of a noisy central-inverter environment.
The slot ships in every unit, standard or RSD. Add the board only where the site needs it — no different hardware to stock or spec in advance.
Two Paths In. One Cable Out.
In-line versions wire into the string. The clamp-on X simply clips around it. Either way, everything ends in a single RS485 run to the Gateway.
The in-line instrument measures string voltage and current itself, at 16 Hz — capturing arcing signatures, fast transients and switching events directly in the device, independent of any inverter.
Strings stay connected, the plant keeps producing. String current comes from the inverter and is merged in the Gateway. Details below ↓
No Cable Opened. No String Disconnected.
The clamp-on alternative to the classic String Reader — module-level data from any string in minutes. Currently in development; availability on request. Where several strings share one MPP tracker, it adds the string-current measurement the inverter cannot provide.
The String Claw reads module-level data transmitted over the PV cable — module voltage and module temperature — without touching the DC connection. String current is not measured by the claw: it is taken from the inverter and combined with the module data in the Gateway.
The Numbers — For the Whole Family.
Additional functions — on top of all String Reader specs listed left:
Add-on to the String Reader family — clamp-on connection instead of in-line wiring:
Ready to See What Your Strings Are Really Doing?
Part of a complete measurement architecture — sensor, String Reader, Gateway, analytics.