The Problem
Chilicon Power, a company that Generac acquired in 2021, built a home automation and monitoring platform for solar panel installations across the U.S. Their system collected real-time performance data from microinverters and presented analytics through dashboards for homeowners and installers. However, the platform was built on an old Django codebase that was difficult to scale, enhance, or fix bugs. With an increasing list of features and technical issues that were constantly piling up, the client needed external support to scale and stabilize their platform.
Our Solution
We collaborated with their team and provided hands-on support within their legacy Django-based IoT system. We took time to understand their code and safely extend the existing codebase with smooth integration of new features. We navigated technical debt, fixed long-standing issues, and implemented the requested improvements to keep the system reliable for both end users and solar installation teams.
What We Did
Legacy Code Integration
We patiently understood their current legacy code, its structure, and dependencies written in an old codebase. After that, we confidently started development by working alongside their engineers to debug and document the essential parts of the platform that were expected to be updated in the future.
Feature Enhancements
We completed a continuous set of feature requests from them. Those features included configuring more solar panels, rearranging panel layouts, and expanding installers’ setup functions. We worked for several months and made sure that all updates maintained data reliability for thousands of solar installations across the USA.
Bug Fixes and Maintenance
We fixed various parts of the front-end and backend codes that were causing bugs in real-time data graphic visualization, panel configuration, and user settings. Our efforts made the system robust, bug-free, and scalable for both homeowners and the technical teams using this resource.
See What Our Clients Think About Our Services
Check out what one of our top clients has to say about Idea Maker.
PlaneFax
Aviation Marketplace Platform
The team was very responsive and easy to work with. They are professional, talented, and experienced team. They were able to meet all our requirements.
Idea Maker is distinguished for their personalized collaboration and white glove services. The team is dependable and reliable, sticking to the project's plan, offering feedback, and pushing back on the right things.
The way they understand the requirements we present to them is fairly solid. Both in terms of bringing their own interpretation in nailing the requirements and their design sense. By the time we launched, I had gotten significantly more value from our collaboration than what we had discussed in the original specs.
This is a boutique development firm where the Founder is directly involved with the project and the primary contact. This is unlike many development firms where you are simply handed off to developers that are not stakeholders. This is an important distinction that results in much better project accountability.
I have never had a site like this built before. I felt that Idea Maker and Tom had built numerous sites like this, and they were pros.
Idea Maker's portfolio is what drew us in. Their design style was in alignment with what we were after. We had initial consultations with 3 companies that we had narrowed it down to. Once we had our initial meeting with Tom at Idea Maker we knew we had the right choice to make. Their communication style works well for us.
Their customer service is excellent — they’re incredibly accessible and available, which I appreciate. Furthermore, they have enough experience and bandwidth to fulfill all my needs. They’re one of the best vendors I’ve worked with.
Let's Talk About Your Project!
Tom Kwon
CEO
If you’re interested in discussing how we can collaborate to meet your goals and overcome challenges – whether on the technical side or the business side – I’m just a message away. Let’s dive into a conversation!
Some of Our Awards and Recognitions
