I just pulled the trigger on a Samlex EVO 4024 for my van build and I'm wondering if there's any chance of getting data out of it through Modbus.
@Steve_S, I read one of your posts that indicated you were working on something but you had to sign a NDA. Have you made any progress with your project? Anyone else had any experience pulling data from the EVO? I'd love to use something like a Rpi or Arduino to put together a custom data dashboard.
I'm also wondering, if Modbus is too much trouble, if it would be possible to use a wifi SD card in the evo-rc remote control. It'd be interesting to see if you could retrieve the log files while the evo still has control of the card.
Thanks!
Samlex does not make the ModBus protocol stack available to the public. Yes I had to go through the legal process & sign off an NDA to get access to the information. I cannot make that info available unfortunately. The software I am using (Node-Red) is not capable of hiding restricted code by compiling it. IF you want to probe the system you can BUT YOU ARE WARNED that if you mess up any resulting damage will not likely be covered by Samlex. IF you write to any ModBus port (it is BiDi) and do it wrong... well you don't want to go there.
I can say this much.
IF using a Raspberry PI, an RS232/485 HAT can be used to access the port.
Plug one end of the RJ45 cable into Comm 1 or 2 on the EVO, -at the other end of the cable (cut off the RJ45 connector) and wire D+ and D- (pins 4, 5) and ground (pin 7 or 8) to 485 port, aka the PI serial HAT. The MODBUS comms ports are serial RS485 running at 9600 8/1 and none for parity.
The remote can be used at the same time no problem, it’s also 485 MODbus, -but it has as well 12 Volts to power the remote and a pin for turning on (on/off): It’s handy
initially having the remote, as you can view the values already decoded on the screen or on the SD card and compare to what you are pulling from your HMI. Once you have your HMI up and running and figured out you can do just about everything from there.
(HMI referes to the software I am building)
The remote uses RJ45 straight through here’s the pins looking at the remote jack port:
I think that this is as much as I can provide withouut crossing the line of technicality. But again I have to warn you, if you mess with this stuff on your oown, you are on your own if you mess up the inverter. Do NOT expect Samlex to replce hardware if you mess it up.
Lastly, Contact their TECH SUPPORT give them the model, serial number, and firware versions as shown on the EVO RC-Plus and see if there is an update Firmware so you are up to the most current versions. Yes, they do update the Firmware on their products.
OH YEAH.. the SD-CARD ... Be certain to follow the proper Mounting / Dismounting (loading / unloading) procedures from the RC-Plus, failure to do so can corrupt the stored data. It is finicky. Logs CAN get huge if sampling too often.