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Monitoring my All-In-One

Shotgun

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Apr 28, 2021
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I bought one of the PowMr units. You should not. No. Really. You shouldn't.

But, if you did, you might find, like I did, that you have no way to monitor it. Well, now you do. . . mostly.

This project is based loosely on the SolarShed project. I just simplified it as much as I could. I haven't figured out all of the registers, yet, but I think I have the most important. Take a look, and let me know if you find it useful.

 
I just looked at the manuals posted by @Will Prowse .
I get the sense that PowMr is not on the up-n-up. Their manual looks just like the one posted, except with less information. And my emails to their support line, asking for help with which register addresses hold which information was met with:

Regret to tell us the code isn't open sourcing. We don't supply the technology support for secondary development. Our R&D team foucs on new technology and feature.They can't do anything about the MOD field unless bulk order. Please understand it.

Alex(Sales Manager) was able to tell me that the 5V line on the RS-485 connector will support up to 2W. I'm going to use that to drive a RaspberryPi Zero to run this script and the InfluxdB.
 
Hello,
I Just got my own kind of up and running and was wondering if you could share more information on this, EG, how / where are you plugging in your RPI and if it requires a cable, where did you obtain it?

The only information I am getting from the seller is "buy the wifi module" and "use the phone app"
 
My system isn't running as of right now. The RPI Zero uses a 32-bit processor, and that is not compatible with the software I was using. I don't want to run a pc just to monitor the system, so I have no monitoring right now.

I powered the PI Zero from the inverters USB port, using the printer style USB cable, into one of the converters that allows devices to connect to a cell phone. There isn't enough power from that port to handle the larger RPIs.
 
Is this the PowMr 5000w or 3000w All-in-one you are discussing? It doesn't just run on the Watchpower software like the LV2424s?

I have 3 of those and they've been fine. I really just set them using my laptop one time and the monitoring I do is via the BMS...bluetooth on my cell.

You can't do something similar with the PowMr units? They look about the same from their shell. You know how these Chinese manufacturers are. It's usually all the same stuff in a different package. Or even just a differently labelled package. Are you sure the Watchpower software doesn't run it? Should have come with a CD, but it's all downloadable for today's world.
 
Hate to revive an old thread but I just went through all of this. Are you talking about the POWMR LVM Series? Can I assume you have tried this software linked below from there official website?


Seems to be some debugging software from SRNE which the official SRNE software seems to work for these as well. Linked below is for the SRNE HF series of Hybrid Inverters. As mentioned should work for POW MR LVM SERIES and SRNE HF SERIES liek HF2430


Hopes this helps someone, also baud rate is 9600 not 19200. Use a regular printer cable and install the ch340 drivers. Screenshots of working programs.
 

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Hate to revive an old thread but I just went through all of this. Are you talking about the POWMR LVM Series? Can I assume you have tried this software linked below from there official website?


Seems to be some debugging software from SRNE which the official SRNE software seems to work for these as well. Linked below is for the SRNE HF series of Hybrid Inverters. As mentioned should work for POW MR LVM SERIES and SRNE HF SERIES liek HF2430


Hopes this helps someone, also baud rate is 9600 not 19200. Use a regular printer cable and install the ch340 drivers. Screenshots of working programs.
Thank you for the information, really appreciate the info!

Yes, I have a LVM series POWMR. the POW-LVM3K-24V Specifically.
This software worked!

It is Buggy as HECK, but it WORKED! I have data!!!

I am so happy, you have made my day.

Its extremely Cludgy right now, as I have to use a super convoluted setup, but I have data!

Thank you SO much for reviving the thread with valuable information!

FYI, I had to get the latest CH340 driver. - found here

I would still love to be able to log everything using a raspberry pi as currently I have a EEEPC Set up over Ethernet right next to the inverter, which is running USB Redirector Back into a windows 10 machine which then runs this software.

But this is so much better than nothing.

Thank you!
 
Is this the PowMr 5000w or 3000w All-in-one you are discussing? It doesn't just run on the Watchpower software like the LV2424s?

I have 3 of those and they've been fine. I really just set them using my laptop one time and the monitoring I do is via the BMS...bluetooth on my cell.

You can't do something similar with the PowMr units? They look about the same from their shell. You know how these Chinese manufacturers are. It's usually all the same stuff in a different package. Or even just a differently labelled package. Are you sure the Watchpower software doesn't run it? Should have come with a CD, but it's all downloadable for today's world.
i tried both Watchpower and Solarpower, neither detect the unitunfortunately, nothing populates.
 

May have spoken too soon. the software Works, but is extremely buggy.

Unsure if its my unit or the software. Data stops flowing after a few seconds or maximum minutes. Tested with 3 machines and local connection as well. Also tested with multiple USB Cables, over windows 7 and windows 10, and 4 driver versions for the CH340. only baudrate 9600 functions as mentioned previously.

Not sure where to go from here...
 
I would concur my unit also does not work with solar power or watch power at all. I have tried the version from GrowWatt and MPP. Seems something is different. I even tried using the RJ45 port to serial instead of the USB. No luck.

Only the TWO previous softwares discussed above seem to be working (one seems to be an internal dev software even though it's still offered on the official growatt website and the latter a bit more polished and offered on the SRNE website) .. well in addition to what I've found below. Actively obviously looking to increase the knowledge base around these models in hopes of a proper solution. Maybe just build a custom app?.. I see lots of PCL modbus apps for industrial machines look pretty awesome and not to far off since they just read certain addresses from memory.

To continue this thread in an odd way I have attempted this on my phone and with "modbus monitor" on the Google Play store and my usb adapter I was able to connect directly to the HF2430 inverter, same printer cable and get live data from the machine. Keep in mind this is far from usable...

The android app uses decimal so use a hexadecimal conversion and you will be able to pull your settings. I was able to discover the proper memory address locations after installing the iPower application on the computer. In the C:\program Files\iPower\XML folder they have files with the values listed. Open file on notepad, example is 0xe001 for max PV charger current. Convert that to decimal aka 57345, send that command through modbus monitor. You will get reply, as shown in my first image, discard the stuff not needed in the reply such as station number and slave 0103. All we need is 0258, conver that to Hex and you get 600. Divide by the rate listed in the XML file and 60 is the correct setting for my inverter, it's 60a. I was able to verify this with all of the settings, one by one and they match what's setup. For some reason I'm having an issue sending setting parameters but that's probably just me being dumb. I'll sleep on it.

I only wish to recycle an old Android phone via the printer cable and use some type of software to change settings as I cannot see my screen since I have installed on such a tight location. Photo attached. Also the $15 pi is now $100...

Maybe I will look into running a raspberry Pi with Victron Venus OS or I have reached out to Solar Assistant to see if that is compatible it looks like the latest reply from them is that they are building support for the HF2430 series. Regardless maybe a pie is in my future.

Also got a direct reply from Scott @ SRNE with the latest version of the Windows energy storage monitor software showing 2.1 but I can't see any difference between the 1.6 version I linked earlier other than branding. Let me know if there's any desire for this.
 

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Also got a direct reply from Scott @ SRNE with the latest version of the Windows energy storage monitor software showing 2.1 but I can't see any difference between the 1.6 version I linked earlier other than branding. Let me know if there's any desire for this.
Thank you for the information, I would definitely want to try the new version of the software, as 1.6 is just so buggy it's unuseable.

I'm also interested in the solar assistant app thing. At this point I'm wondering if maybe my ch340 controller might be defective. Do you happen to know the pinout of the rj45 port for serial? Or can I just use a usb to rj45 serial thingy like the one I have for my tracer mppt from epever?

Thanks.
 
Get a 2nd ch340 cable for sure, they are cheap and I have at least one cable that the connection breaks depending on how I have the cable bent/wired, usually it breaks internally where I bend it alot. Shouldn't need to worry about the pin out on either cable but for the rj45, I believe that is for connecting to the canbus of your bms as it appears the inverter has different communication protocols, (pace, rata, allgrand, 0liter, pct, etc..) from what I can see.

Also keep in mind the Tracer MPPT communicates somewhat differently, I expect you to use WatchPower and the rj45 on that model. For the POWMR and SNRE we are talking about in this thread use the USB! Also please do not hijack this thread!

I have uploaded the latest version of iPower v2.1 below, also the ch341 serial driver I have been using. Also note this driver gets installed with iPower. Check the main install folder in C:\Program Files\iPower\ch341ser.exe



Install the program above and drivers, connect your cable and confirm in device manager that baud is 9600. Then open iPower, if everything is connected you should see an address1 under standalone inverters, go to the communication tab and ALSO make sure it says 9600, both of these need to agree. Now go back to main iPower tab and confirm the com port then click open comm, info will flow within 2-3 seconds. If the PC goes to sleep you may need to hit the search devices button, then click com and confirm and finally open comms. Annoying but seems to be 100% for my connection.

To recap there are a few ways to access the data on this version of inverter at this point.

1. iPower 1.6 - Windows OS (from SNRE website)
2. iPower 2.1 - Windows OS (from Scott @ SNRE)
3. Modbus - Android (only rudimentary HEX/Decimal commands)
4. SNRE Debug Program - Windows OS (from POWMR website)
5. Solar Assistant - Raspberry Pi (Currently adding Support for this model, email @support for updates)

Further more I have compared the differences in iPower 1.6 and iPower 2.1, it does not appear much has changed. I have attached a screenshot showing the changes. One such change was in the information file, they simply stopped a value from showing in the program. This is a minor revision without ANY functionality changes. Another was an update to the help pdf files, also the uninstaller and firmware update utility had binary changes. Nothing much..

If I was dreaming about the best software solution would it be SolarAssistant or integration with Venus OS?
 

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Has anyone else got a Malware Warning from MPP's supplied SolarPower Monitoring Software?

 
Get a 2nd ch340 cable for sure, they are cheap and I have at least one cable that the connection breaks depending on how I have the cable bent/wired, usually it breaks internally where I bend it alot. Shouldn't need to worry about the pin out on either cable but for the rj45, I believe that is for connecting to the canbus of your bms as it appears the inverter has different communication protocols, (pace, rata, allgrand, 0liter, pct, etc..) from what I can see.

Also keep in mind the Tracer MPPT communicates somewhat differently, I expect you to use WatchPower and the rj45 on that model. For the POWMR and SNRE we are talking about in this thread use the USB! Also please do not hijack this thread!

I have uploaded the latest version of iPower v2.1 below, also the ch341 serial driver I have been using. Also note this driver gets installed with iPower. Check the main install folder in C:\Program Files\iPower\ch341ser.exe



Install the program above and drivers, connect your cable and confirm in device manager that baud is 9600. Then open iPower, if everything is connected you should see an address1 under standalone inverters, go to the communication tab and ALSO make sure it says 9600, both of these need to agree. Now go back to main iPower tab and confirm the com port then click open comm, info will flow within 2-3 seconds. If the PC goes to sleep you may need to hit the search devices button, then click com and confirm and finally open comms. Annoying but seems to be 100% for my connection.

To recap there are a few ways to access the data on this version of inverter at this point.

1. iPower 1.6 - Windows OS (from SNRE website)
2. iPower 2.1 - Windows OS (from Scott @ SNRE)
3. Modbus - Android (only rudimentary HEX/Decimal commands)
4. SNRE Debug Program - Windows OS (from POWMR website)
5. Solar Assistant - Raspberry Pi (Currently adding Support for this model, email @support for updates)

Further more I have compared the differences in iPower 1.6 and iPower 2.1, it does not appear much has changed. I have attached a screenshot showing the changes. One such change was in the information file, they simply stopped a value from showing in the program. This is a minor revision without ANY functionality changes. Another was an update to the help pdf files, also the uninstaller and firmware update utility had binary changes. Nothing much..

If I was dreaming about the best software solution would it be SolarAssistant or integration with Venus OS?
Solar Assistant works with SRNE?
 
Solar Assistant works with SRNE?
I'd like to know this too. I am tires of malware and chinese lack of response to anything. They sent me the video on how to connect the SRNE inverter with the wifi dongle, 8 times now. its connected, just no data in their app. Says controller id offline always but its actually connecting to an IP address in China. hmmm
 
This thread is the closest i've seen to what i am working for. The firmware discussed on this iPower / Energy Storage Monitor software for Powmr - the firmware portion appears to be only usable with a local file. Does anyone have the current firmware for the sunsmart sp5k? Need to resolve fault code 42 so i can parallel my inverters.
 
Would anyone know how to know how I can diagnose if the CAN port on my POW-LVM3k is working? I have my JK BMS connected to a RSP4b running VenusOS and it automatically picked up the serialBMS but when I installed the Can hat using Kevin Windrems code it doesn't automatically show it. I can see packets being received (RX) and sent (TX) but nothing happens. Is there a debug method I can run on VenusOS to see what's being transmitted from the PowMr or does it require connecting to a computer? In either case can you share the command to display the data being received so I can even understand if the data being sent is usable?

Also does all the computer software suche as the ones listed above by Anon008 only run on PCs and not Mac?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
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