I am told that it is on there to do list and might happen soon. Their techs are feeling the pain just as bad. Everytime they make a change on a system remotely they have to wait 5 minutes to see the result. It's making service calls longer than they need to be.As a non-programmer, I'd be happy if Sol-Ark could give us an app that can read data from Wi-Fi or Ethernet that refreshes often. My current method is to just look a the Web Page for the Plant and refresh it when I want to see what the status is. Same for the PV app.
I can save you some time and tell you straight up that the Canbus port will not work for Solar Assistant once you go out of 00 mode. The Sol-Ark stops sending all available data on the port and switches into battery subroutine that just communicate with the battery pack number selected. Does not matter if you try Pins 6,7,8, or 1,2,3. Same thing.well this sucks, i have 12k outdoor with a single can/rs port and i have batrium bms with lithium mode 00 so solark doesn't send any data if its not in batt mode 01...
first i will try to figure out pinouts if any of them are live on that "future modbus" port, if that doesnt work (i think it wont) then i think it would be possible to make the rs232 dongle splitter and sniff the data with usb/ethernet rs232 and send it to HA nodered etc, i have done this before with some network equipment and don't recall having any issues so maybe its possible to still have pv-pro and gather data via the same port...
yep thanks tried and tested all of these options and you are correct, even fought with parallel ports.... even busted out my smelliscopeI can save you some time and tell you straight up that the Canbus port will not work for Solar Assistant once you go out of 00 mode. The Sol-Ark stops sending all available data on the port and switches into battery subroutine that just communicate with the battery pack number selected. Does not matter if you try Pins 6,7,8, or 1,2,3. Same thing.
The Modbus/RS485 port is also not going to work as it is disabled for some reason.
It will be interesting to see what the splitting of the RS232 produces. Please keep us updated.
You know if it works (I think it will since rs323 is just analog interface) we can totally capture commands from pvpro and rewrite whole parameter set interface and not be beholden to Chinese soft provideryep thanks tried and tested all of these options and you are correct, even fought with parallel ports.... even busted out my smelliscope
ordered y cable and rs232 to eth box will mess with this probably next weekend or two
Meh, there are somethings that I just refuse to let a Chinese company have access to. Like all those security cameras that they have flooded Amazon with. They all require App activation with GPS on. No Thanks!You know if it works (I think it will since rs323 is just analog interface) we can totally capture commands from pvpro and rewrite whole parameter set interface and not be beholden to Chinese soft provider
well thats exactly why, use their dongle to copy commands it sends to change values in the inverter, write your won front end and you can disco their dongle and still have ability to change parameters like work mode/ time remotely (i need remote since solark is at my cabin not the house and i prefer the chinese to not have the access)Meh, there are somethings that I just refuse to let a Chinese company have access to. Like all those security cameras that they have flooded Amazon with. They all require App activation with GPS on. No Thanks!
As far as keeping my Inverter data, I don't really care, just so long as it's backed up properly. Their ability to possibly mess with my Inverter settings is kind of limited as any major change like AC voltage or Frequency change would require the Inverter to be manually rebooted. I guess they could do stuff but it would be silly of them to try it, as that would ruin the whole Global Chinese Inverter market and the solution would be easy, just unplug the dongle. Who would want a Growatt, MPP or Deye unit if they knew the Chinese had already tried to shut them down for political reasons.
If it makes you feel better I know Sol-Ark is not as relaxed about it as I am and from what I have heard they have plans to solve this issue in 2022 as well as speeding up the update time.
what is the baud rate etc for rs232? or are you plugging in to the wifi dongle port but it still uses rs485?I have mine hooked up
I have mine hooked up with RS232 cable to where Sol-ark WiFi dongle goes, so not in my case.
Yes but for something like that to happen it would catastrophic for Chinese businesses selling goods to America. The Chinese need the money, there is no upside for them doing something like this. It would be a minor annoyance for us but could put an end to China being able to sell products in America.well thats exactly why, use their dongle to copy commands it sends to change values in the inverter, write your won front end and you can disco their dongle and still have ability to change parameters like work mode/ time remotely (i need remote since solark is at my cabin not the house and i prefer the chinese to not have the access)
I am using this cable to connect serial port that's normally used by WiFi dongle to the RPi running SA image.what is the baud rate etc for rs232? or are you plugging in to the wifi dongle port but it still uses rs485?
i looked at this solar-assistant and it seems its everything i want for the most part except it runs on PI only, HA integration, you can even change system work mode, good grafana charts... how do you like it ? seems cheap enough that i might try anywayI am using this cable to connect serial port that's normally used by WiFi dongle to the RPi running SA image.
Are you saying it needs a Rasberry PI and are you talking about this? :i looked at this solar-assistant and it seems its everything i want for the most part except it runs on PI only, HA integration, you can even change system work mode, good grafana charts... how do you like it ? seems cheap enough that i might try anyway
Can you also run the Dongle and PV-Pro at that the same time using a Y cable?I am using this cable to connect serial port that's normally used by WiFi dongle to the RPi running SA image.
I like Solar Assistant mostly for the speed. I find PV-Pro to have a lot better graphing system and a lot more options that you can control. Also the Web Version of it is very polished and it never loses my Data. The big down side is waiting 5 minutes for every update. I am trying to get the best of both worlds. I have SA running on a 10" Wall mounted tablet in my kitchen so we can always see instantly how much PV is being generated and what the loads and battery SOC are like. For my daily or monthly analysis of how things are performing I use PV-Pro. The downside is that I had to give up my battery closed loop communication so I could use the Canbus port.i looked at this solar-assistant and it seems its everything i want for the most part except it runs on PI only, HA integration, you can even change system work mode, good grafana charts... how do you like it ? seems cheap enough that i might try anyway
so i fingered it out and hooked up txdata rxdata and ground from the serial cable to home assistant via usb-rs232 (got solar assistant license and installed) for the msot part both are receiving data, but i think there is some kind of handshake happening and probably only 1 device can talk back to the inverter aka change settingsI like Solar Assistant mostly for the speed. I find PV-Pro to have a lot better graphing system and a lot more options that you can control. Also the Web Version of it is very polished and it never loses my Data. The big down side is waiting 5 minutes for every update. I am trying to get the best of both worlds. I have SA running on a 10" Wall mounted tablet in my kitchen so we can always see instantly how much PV is being generated and what the loads and battery SOC are like. For my daily or monthly analysis of how things are performing I use PV-Pro. The downside is that I had to give up my battery closed loop communication so I could use the Canbus port.
@bixelps does this output from rs232 same as you get from modbus? i got your integration installed but it doesn't seem to get data, i can confirm my HA is getting data from the usb, it looks like this:Home Assistant integration already available here:
https://github.com/pbix/HA-solark-PV
You do have the Battery Mode set to 00 and unchecked?Hi all,
I’m offgrid and have a solar-ark 12k outdoor. I have been trying to get 485 data from it without success for use with Home Assistant. I would like to create a few automations with the data to optimize my solar usage.
Thanks to @bixelps for creating the HA integration. Now if I could only get data to it. When trying to test with modpoll and the DSD TECH SH-U11F USB-RS485 converter connected to the sol-ark (modded CAT6 cable) and my laptop via usb only results in time out errors and thats it.
I have followed all the documents linked in this thread for pinouts and inverter settings.
I have a lead acid battery bank and am not using a BMS, so the “Canbus” port is free to use. Also the firmware is up to date.
I also tried the JBtek USB to RS485 Converter and CERRXIAN RS485 to Ethernet RJ45 TCP and get the same results, no response from the sol-ark (time out).
I have read this thread and ones linked several times thinking I have missed something but to no avail.
I think about @poldim post about how his just started working after a shut down and adding wires to the smart load breaker and it makes me wonder if having something connected to that breaker enables it somehow. I currently don't have anything connected as my gen set is connected to the grid input.
Very frustrated and any suggestions are appreciated.
As far as using the dongle port to get the data, I rather not. I use and like PV pro and the utility it provides for remote monitoring, firmware upgrades etc.
Thank you all for the information in this thread. It has been at least educational.