6000xp went off line

Brucey said:

The new versions are secured out of the box?

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From what I'm seeing, that's a solid NO--quite the opposite, the most insecure possible.

Quattrohead said:

This is only for the older 18k dongle not the new version and the 6000XP version.

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Well that's terrible. For half a second I had a tiny bit of hope I could use the dongle. But SA is working on the RS485 for it and I can pull data off it via my 'home grown' solution.

I was already seriously pondering getting the ethernet dongle - this is pushing me closer to pulling that trigger - argh - seems a bit crazy the wifi hotspot remains active and open...

I bought these for a wireless ethernet connection for my Outback Radian to Router.. Works from my garage on the first floor to the router on the second floor. Comes from the box so that it just needs to be plugged into an outlet and each plug has a CAT5 cable to the device.

AZ Solar Junkie said:

I was already seriously pondering getting the ethernet dongle - this is pushing me closer to pulling that trigger - argh - seems a bit crazy the wifi hotspot remains active and open...

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Ethernet dongle doesn't work with SA. The LocalConnect functionality doesn't work, which is what SA currently uses. That said, they are possibly 2-3 months away from having an RS485 approach that will bypass wifi/wired entirely.

If you want to make an RS485 connection to the 6000XP inverter, you will use two of the four wires that are part of the wireless/wired connection. Refer to the XP manual, section 8.2.

Simply remove the covering box on the outside of the inverter, which will reveal a small card that is plugged into the wire coming out of the inverter. If you disconnect this connection, you'll see 4 wires -- the RS485 connection is wires BLACK (B) and WHITE (A). I ran two wires into a USB RS485 adapter into these two and then connected directly to the inverter and made a MODBUS request for the device data.



Note that the small card there is only to "bridge" the connection between the connector and the wires -- you can insert the wires directly into the connector but keeping them in was a bit harder.

The protocol spec has been attached by the EG4 folks here. As I noted earlier in this thread, wombatt (@solarhombre) talks already to a similar spec, so I am working with its creator to look at what we can do to leverage it.

I also spent a lot of time talking with the SA folks and they have begun working on an RS485 approach to getting data from this inverter as they realize the wifi is not a good long-term strategy (and wired doesn't work at all). But it is a few months out. SA does NOT work via this method at the moment.

jsmithtx said:

Ethernet dongle doesn't work with SA. The LocalConnect functionality doesn't work, which is what SA currently uses. That said, they are possibly 2-3 months away from having an RS485 approach that will bypass wifi/wired entirely.

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SA won't work with a direct connection to the ethernet dongle, but it should work with both SA and the ethernet dongle connected to the same network in your home...

AZ Solar Junkie said:

SA won't work with a direct connection to the ethernet dongle, but it should work with both SA and the ethernet dongle connected to the same network in your home...

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Nope. I beat my head over this one. It won't. And it is because SA uses LocalConnect (port 8899) to get the data. That port is NOT opened on the wired ethernet dongle.

jsmithtx said:

Nope. I beat my head over this one. It won't. And it is because SA uses LocalConnect (port 8858? I believe) to get the data. That port is NOT opened on the wired ethernet dongle.

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Wow - very good to know, but it sure is weird they have different ports available/open on the ethernet vs the wifi dongle. You saved me from wasting money on the ethernet dongle

AZ Solar Junkie said:

Wow - very good to know, but it sure is weird they have different ports available/open on the ethernet vs the wifi dongle. You saved me from wasting money on the ethernet dongle

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I'm still waiting on a refund after sending my ethernet dongle back!

Why hack around on the wifi dongle connection when you have an RS485 port already built in ?

Quattrohead said:

Why hack around on the wifi dongle connection when you have an RS485 port already built in ?

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I couldn't find the *inverter* RS485 connection anywhere else (there is a port for the *battery* CAN/RS485 but I am using that for my batteries). The manual didn't specify where it was aside from that it is "shared" with the wifi connection on two of the pins. Chances are I missed it though. If you know, that would simplify it a bit.

jsmithtx said:

I couldn't find the *inverter* RS485 connection anywhere else (there is a port for the *battery* CAN/RS485 but I am using that for my batteries). The manual didn't specify where it was aside from that it is "shared" with the wifi connection on two of the pins. Chances are I missed it though. If you know, that would simplify it a bit.

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Are you using CAN or RS485 for battery communication ? If CAN, you can split the RS485 out with a splitter or open up a cat5 cable and grab the relevant pair.

Quattrohead said:

Are you using CAN or RS485 for battery communication ? If CAN, you can split the RS485 out with a splitter or open up a cat5 cable and grab the relevant pair.

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That port is explicitly for battery comms. I'm not sure it could be used for something else. That said, it seems to be a bigger pain than doing what I did and the docs (section 8.2) say it is the wifi port that shares the inverter comms. And I don't use wifi at all because it is so insecure.

It is a thought. I might do a splitter and see if I can get data from the other. But I keep the wifi entirely disconnected. The only time I'd use it would be to do a firmware update. And my current setup is just a unplug/plug and done.

Anytime my wifi resets. Which is pretty often because I'm off grid and doing lots of different work at the moment. The dongle disconnects and needs repaired.

Cheers

Zapper77 said:

If the bottom light is blinking that means it failed to connect to wifi. Try restarting your router.

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Re-started the inverter. Still not connecting. What else can I try?

Roofrunn3r said:

Anytime my wifi resets. Which is pretty often because I'm off grid and doing lots of different work at the moment. The dongle disconnects and needs repaired.

Cheers

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What kind of repair does it need? Who does the repair? Thanks

D. Abineri said:

What kind of repair does it need? Who does the repair? Thanks

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Have you tried restarting your wifi router?

D. Abineri said:

What kind of repair does it need? Who does the repair? Thank

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Apologies. Re-Paired. Like paired again with the wifi.

Zapper77 said:

Have you tried restarting your wifi router?

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Restarted Wi-Fi router is likely why it got booted in the first place. Aha!