Security¶
Introduction¶
The default security settings of a GivEnergy inverter are likely to expose your home network to your neighbours if they have not been configured properly. This guide will show you how you can secure your GivEnergy inverter.
WiFi¶
GivEnergy inverters typically use a WiFi dongle to connect to the Internet via a customer’s home WiFi network. Interestingly, rather than being a client of the customer’s WiFi network, the dongle runs its own WiFi access point (AP) which bridges to the customer’s WiFi network.
If you view the WiFi networks available you will see a WiFi network with a SSID that begins with WE, WF or WO followed by the dongle’s serial number. The default pasword for the AP running on the GivEnergy dongle is 12345678. Once connected to the network you will be able to browse the Internet and access any devices connected to the network thanks to the bridge the dongle has created to your home network. This therefore circumnavigates any secure password you have configured on your home WiFi network!
Admin Console¶
Once connected to the AP on the GivEnergy dongle, you can access the web based admin console by browsing to http://10.10.100.254. The default username is admin and the default password is also admin.
Thankfully the admin console allows you to change the SSID name, WiFi password and login credentials for the admin console.
AP Interface Setting
Proceed to the AP Interface Setting section of the admin console. Here you can change the SSID name and password of the AP running on the dongle. You can also opt to hide the SSID from being broadcast if you wish.
Note
Depending on the model of dongle that you have, you may find that if you change the SSID it periodically resets back to the serial number.
Device Management
Proceed to the Device Management section of the admin console. Here you can change the admin username and password.
Once you have changed these values, you can restart your dongle to apply the changes.