PVAlign Simulator Update History
Browse the chronological PVAlign simulator changelog, including new components, calculation improvements, safety feedback, controls, and learning features.
Product changelog / 2026
Browse 59 recorded, user-visible improvements across 31 release dates. The history covers new electrical components, calculation improvements, safety feedback, controls, and learning features.
Website
Explore PVAlign in 2D and 3D
The homepage and About page now introduce the deployed 3D solar simulator alongside the 2D circuit canvas. Choose a workspace, compare its features, and open it directly, including in local website previews. Updated FAQs explain 3D navigation and project files, while page descriptions and search-facing content reflect both workspaces.
3D Workspace
3D Solar Simulator
Explore the new 3D solar simulator at /3d-simulator/. Place and wire solar panels, batteries, charge controllers, inverters, protection devices, and appliances in an interactive 3D workspace.
3D Workspace
Hybrid Inverter Presets
Choose generic 2, 3, 5, 6, or 8 kW hybrid inverter presets in the component inspector. Each applies power and surge ratings, battery voltage, PV startup and MPPT limits, and charge/discharge limits together. Editing a rating switches the selector to Custom, while choosing Custom keeps the current values. Presets support undo, copying, and project saving. Existing inverter settings are preserved.
Electrical Simulation
Shared-Terminal Parallel Wiring
Wires sharing a component terminal now remain electrically connected through that terminal, so parallel bulbs can share live or neutral connections without adding wire junctions. The solver follows wires in either direction while keeping separate terminals isolated and respecting open switches and disconnected conductors.
3D Workspace
Specific Breaker Names in the 3D Sidebar
The 3D Wiring & protection sidebar now uses specific MCB breaker, MCCB breaker, and RCBO breaker labels. Tooltips explain each abbreviation and available settings, and newly added breakers use matching names.
2D Workspace
Rotation Sliders for Wiring Components
Bus bar, MC4 fuse, and MC4 branch inspectors now use matching rotation sliders with a visible angle and 1-degree steps from 0 to 359 degrees. Artwork, connected wires, and selection outlines follow every angle, saved projects retain their rotation, and locked circuits keep the controls disabled.
2D Wiring
Live and Neutral Bus Bars
Add a Bus Bar from Wiring & protection in the 2D simulator. Choose Live (L) or Neutral (N), adjust from 2 to 12 terminals, and rotate the bar. The separate, editable busBar.svg uses the updated silver artwork without labels or terminal numbers. Selection outlines, click targets, and selection controls fit the visible bar at every rotation. All terminals share one conductor for branch distribution, including load calculations, wire currents, and protection paths. Reducing the terminal count removes wires only from deleted terminals; disconnect wires before changing the conductor type.
Appliance Wiring
Single-Cord Connections in the 2D Simulator
AC extension outlets now include a center terminal for one appliance cord. Appliance and fan inspectors offer One AC cord or Two wires (L / N), with both conductors modeled inside each cord. Existing two-wire circuits stay compatible; disconnect wires before changing wiring mode. Socket load totals, cable losses, and saved circuits include cord connections.
Circuit Sharing
Your Shared Links in One List
Open Menu → Shared list in the 2D simulator to find the links created with your signed-in account, including circuits whose workspace tabs you have closed. Each entry opens the shared circuit in the current browser tab and has compact Copy and Delete icon buttons with tooltips and accessible labels. A checkmark confirms when a link has been copied. The list matches the Share circuit dialog, with consistent controls and a scrollable layout. Deleting a link asks for confirmation, revokes its URL, and keeps the workspace circuit. The list is also accessible from locked circuit previews.
Simulator Controls
Box Selection and Group Editing
Hold Ctrl and drag on blank canvas to select components with a box, or Ctrl-click to adjust the group. Drag any selected component to move the group with its internal wires and junctions. Copy, paste, or delete the group, and undo each edit in one step. The Instructions guide lists Ctrl + left-click and Ctrl + left-drag alongside keyboard shortcuts.
PV Wiring
Adjustable MC4 Branch Connectors
Build parallel PV arrays with separate positive and negative 2-to-1, 3-to-1, or 4-to-1 MC4 branch connectors. Adjustable artwork and terminals support inline string fuses, rotation, and resizing, with branch currents, contact losses, and connector rating warnings.
Mobile Simulator
Select Before Moving Components
On screens 700px wide and below, dragging from an unselected component pans the canvas without selecting it.
Simulator Controls
Dedicated Sharing and Link Revocation
Circuit sharing now has a dedicated button above the AI Assistant toggle. Opening it does not store circuit data; Create link performs the initial share, while Copy, Update link, and Revoke link remain separate actions.
Breaker Modeling
1-Pole and 2-Pole Power Breaker Options
Power breakers can now be configured as 1-pole or 2-pole devices from the inspector.
AI Assistant
Gemini-Powered Circuit Analysis
The simulator now includes an AI Assistant that analyzes live circuit state, suggests component adjustments, and answers solar PV design questions. A model selector lets users choose from nine Gemini models including Flash, Flash-Lite, and Pro variants.
Wire Editing
Wire Alignment and Curves
Dragging a selected wire bend now snaps it into precise horizontal or vertical alignment with blue full-canvas guides.
Community Feedback
Signed-In Feature Suggestions
The Contact page now lets signed-in members submit focused feature ideas. A server-authoritative lifetime allowance of five submissions per account keeps the queue useful and protects API and database capacity.
Payments
QR Ph Checkout for Paid Access
The paid plan now opens a PayMongo QR Ph checkout for a one-month PHP 100 payment, with signed webhook confirmation and server-authoritative paid access before the public website launch.
Responsive Inspector
Stable Canvas While Resizing the Inspector
On screens up to 1200 px wide, dragging the bottom node inspector upward or downward now keeps the circuit at its existing canvas position instead of re-centering it on every height change. On phones, the Drag to resize hint also appears above the bottom control row on a higher display layer so it remains visible.
Canvas Navigation
Stable Canvas Position While Inspecting
Opening, closing, or collapsing a node or wire inspector no longer shifts the circuit across the screen. The existing canvas pan and zoom position stays visually anchored during inspector layout changes, while normal browser resizing continues preserving the viewport center.
Circuit Safety
Circuit-Wide Wiring and Protection Report
An always-visible Safety report now checks the complete modeled circuit for dangerous wiring, incompatible equipment terminals, unsafe voltage and current settings, conductor stress, and missing or failed protective devices. Findings are grouped by category, explain the possible consequence and corrective action, link directly to the affected component or wire.
Hybrid Inverter
Canvas MPPT Boost Control
Hybrid Inverter nodes now show an interactive MPPT BOOST checkbox directly on the canvas graphic, with clear ON and OFF states for beginners. Clicking it updates the same hardware capability exposed in the inspector, and boost operation remains enabled by default.
Simulator Workflow
Import Circuits Directly into New Tabs
The circuit-tab add menu now includes an Import action that validates a JSON circuit, opens it in a separately named tab, and keeps the current canvas available. The original Menu import remains available for replacing the active circuit.
Simulator Workflow
Multi-Circuit Workspace Tabs
Chrome-style tabs now let users keep several circuit designs open in one simulator session. Each tab preserves its own nodes, conductors, canvas zoom, and pan position while switching, can be renamed by double-clicking with a visible 32-character limit, and maintains an individual saved checkpoint that survives reloads. Saved tabs also restore their own viewport after a browser refresh without treating zoom or panning as a circuit edit
Preset Library
Two-Location Wall-Switch Lighting Preset
A new AC-controls preset demonstrates three 5 W LED lamps independently operated from either of two three-gang, two-way wall switches. The reference circuit includes a 230 V utility source, AC MCB, paired traveler conductors, switched-live paths, and a shared neutral return.
AC Controls
1–4 Gang Wall Switch Terminal Wiring
The simulator now includes a configurable and independently resizable one- through four-gang AC wall switch, with compact automatic widths of 60, 96, 132, and 168 px respectively and an 80 px default height. It has a square-edged wall plate, labeled gradient rockers, mounting holes, clear gang and terminal text, and raised brass terminals that stay aligned with the plate edge and connected wires at every size. Every rocker is a real two-way SPDT contact between COM, L1, and L2; visible terminals can be joined directly on the canvas and connected AC wires show calculated current labels.
Specific Appliances
Powered LED Light Bulb
The Specific Appliances library now includes a compact 100 × 138 px, resizable 5 W AC LED light bulb with a 110–240 V operating range and 50/60 Hz compatibility. Its electronic-load model contributes real and apparent power to upstream calculations, and the bulb changes from gray to a visible yellow glow only when valid power is actually delivered.
PV Shade Safety
Configurable Solar-Panel Bypass Diodes
Solar panels can now be modeled with three substring bypass diodes or with no bypass protection. Mixed series strings use the selected hardware in the nonlinear PV calculation: protected shaded substrings are diode-clamped, while unprotected shaded substrings can become reverse biased, absorb power, lose output, and raise a critical hot-spot warning. The inspector also flags missing and mixed bypass protection as not recommended.
Surge Protection Coordination
SPD Failure Trips Its Backup Breaker
Lightning-surge tests now distinguish normal SPD ride-through from a post-surge short-circuit failure. A compatible connected AC or DC MCB/MCCB stays closed during a protected 8/20 microsecond impulse, then trips and latches if the SPD exceeds Imax, reaches its modeled energy end of life, or uses the forced short-circuit test condition. RCBO devices are not treated as the primary SPD backup disconnector.
Breaker Modeling
Five Hardware-Specific Breaker Categories
Power breakers can now be configured as DC MCB, DC MCCB, AC MCB, AC MCCB, or AC RCBO devices. Each category provides relevant applications, current limits, starting trip settings, AC/DC compatibility, a matching canvas faceplate, and backward-compatible handling for saved circuits. RCBO nodes also compare pole-current imbalance and support a configurable residual-current trip test.
Breaker Visualization
Power Breaker Handle Shows ON and OFF
The redesigned two-pole power breaker now appears consistently in the parts sidebar and canvas, defaults to a clearer 50 × 90 px size, aligns all four wire terminals with their visible screws, and moves its linked blue handle to match the live ON or OFF state, including protection trips and forced-open type mismatches.
Current Visualization
Stable AC Flow Through Breakers and Sockets
Animated AC current now follows the detected power source instead of depending on the order in which each wire was drawn. Pulses remain directionally consistent through closed breakers, extension sockets, and appliance branches, including circuits whose wire endpoints were connected in reverse order.
LVD Power Modeling
Realistic Low Voltage Disconnect Losses
Low Voltage Disconnect nodes now model editable on/off quiescent current, input-voltage-dependent electronics consumption, on-state path resistance, voltage drop, and I²R conduction loss. New and legacy LVD nodes default to 40 mA on, 3 mA off, and 0.02 Ω, with self-consumption included in connected battery drain and runtime estimates.
Surge Protection & Grounding
Compact Two-Conductor SPD and Ground Nodes
The simulator now includes resizable two-conductor Type 2 surge protective and protective-earth nodes with dedicated SVG artwork used in both the parts library and canvas. New SPD nodes start at a compact 50 × 90 px, remain adjustable down to 40 × 60 px, provide functional positive, negative, and PE terminals, and include an 8/20 µs test trigger that calculates let-through voltage, diverted current, absorbed energy, grounding voltage rise, cartridge wear, and Imax failure. A saved 0–100% setting, defaulting to 50%, now controls the visual opacity of green protective-earth conductors without changing their electrical behavior.
Automatic Source Transfer
Realistic Break-Before-Make ATS Behavior
The Automatic Transfer Switch now qualifies normal and emergency AC sources, observes editable transfer, return, and open-transition delays, and prevents the two sources from being paralleled.
Personal Canvas Preferences
Choose Your Minimum and Maximum Zoom
Users can set and save canvas zoom limits from 10% to 500%. The selected limits apply to the mouse wheel, touch gestures, minimap controls, and circuit recentering.
Automatic Source Transfer
ATS Node, Inspector, and Simulation Introduced
PVAlign gained its first two-source ATS node with automatic and manual operation, source monitoring, editable ratings and delays, inspector controls, and load-side switching.
Safety Visualization
Optional Safety Icons on the Canvas
Users can enable visual safety-state icons from Settings to identify supported warnings and unsafe operating conditions directly on simulator nodes.
Solar Panel Modeling
More Accurate and Customizable Panel Configurations
Solar panel configuration data and editing behavior were refined to improve model accuracy and make custom module setups easier to represent.
Current Visualization
Animated Current Flow
An optional current-flow animation was added to connected wires, with a persistent Settings control so users can choose between a static or animated canvas.
Battery Calculations
Battery Power and Current Limits Corrected
Battery bus power calculations and current-limit handling were corrected to improve how available battery power is distributed and reported.
Inspector Workspace
Collapsible Desktop Inspector
The component inspector can now collapse on desktop, leaving more room for circuit wiring while retaining quick access to the selected node's controls.
Simulator Alerts
Unified Safety and Operating Alerts
Separate warning banners were consolidated into one prioritized simulator alert so the most important supported condition is easier to find and dismiss.
Battery and Controller Settings
Expanded Discharge and Power Controls
Battery discharge current, internal resistance, minimum state of charge, controller output checks, and automatic panel Pmax calculation gained more detailed controls.
Learning Experience
Step-by-Step Video Guide
The homepage gained short simulator clips for clearing, placing, wiring, editing, copying, branching, loading presets, and changing environmental conditions.
PV Combiner Redesign
A Clearer, Resizable Combiner Box
The PV combiner uses a hardware-style SVG, keeps the same appearance as string inputs are added, and supports adjustable width and height without changing its default size.
Protection State Feedback
Live Fuse Heating and Trip Timers
PV combiner and MC4 fuses report Normal, Heating, Melting, and Open states, show a larger temporary countdown before opening, and warn when continuous current exceeds the selected rating.
Expanded Protection Wiring
Breakers and MC4 Fuses Work Together
Power breakers can connect to PV combiner inputs, and MC4 fuse connectors can feed breakers, making it easier to build realistic protected PV wiring paths.
Persistent Preferences
Save Simulator Settings in the Browser
Simulator display and interaction preferences can be saved to browser storage and restored when the user returns.
PV Protection
MC4 Fuse and PV Combiner Nodes Introduced
PVAlign added compact MC4 fuse connectors and a multi-string PV combiner with independent fuse states, current accumulation, voltage checks, and supported breaker connections.
Breaker Protection
Timed Overload Curves for Power Breakers
Power breakers gained persistent inverse-time overload behavior alongside instantaneous short-circuit protection, making delayed trips visible during simulation.
Electrical Measurement
Expanded Battery Multimeter Readings
Multimeter output now includes battery-bank capacity and stored-energy information in addition to supported voltage and current measurements.
Workspace Controls
Instructions Modal and Redo Shortcut
A simulator instructions panel was added to the menu, and Ctrl+Y became available as a redo shortcut alongside the existing editing controls.
Hybrid Inverter Control
State-of-Charge Source Transfer
Hybrid inverter settings gained battery state-of-charge thresholds for transferring supported loads between battery-backed operation and the utility source.
Control Hardware
SPDT Relay and DC Contactor Nodes
PVAlign added isolated relay-coil switching and a high-current DC contactor with pickup and dropout behavior, contact limits, inspector controls, and wire-physics support.
AC System Modeling
Configurable AC Frequency
Grid and hybrid-inverter frequency settings were expanded, allowing frequency compatibility to influence supported motors and AC loads.
Household Loads
Specific Appliance Nodes
Rice cooker, washing machine, television, electric kettle, and other configurable appliance models expanded the available household load library.
Battery Protection
Low Voltage Disconnect Node
A configurable LVD node introduced battery-voltage thresholds, hysteresis, delay estimates, current limits, and supported protection states for DC circuits.
Battery Inverter
Sizing and Terminal Controls
The battery inverter gained expanded sizing, current-limit, surge, efficiency, voltage-window, frequency, standby-power, and terminal controls.