diy solar

diy solar

MPP Solar All in one remote monitoring

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Rain Wrangler
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Dec 31, 2019
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I am piecing together a new 48V system that will have 48V BYD module battery bank, and would like to use one of the MPP Solar PIP-LV5048 Inverters. I need remote monitoring and control via ethernet and don't see any option on that unit for same other than connecting the USB port to a small computer near the inverter that I could see via a remote desktop product of some sort. Can anyone comment on the usefulness of the software supplied with these inverters? Possible to control all parameters of the inverter? Stable software product? (no crashing). Is the inverter interface software windows only?

Also looking at the Samlex Evo line but don't see a 48V version. And I do like the built in MPPT controllers on the MPP units quite a lot...
 
I chose that model because it is recommended for an entirely off grid system on Will's site or youtube channel. We will be running off a battery bank all the time. Don't need to parallel 9. 2 of them maybe someday.
 
I am using a hybrid LV2424 connected with a usb cable to an Intel NUC and do remote desktop to the NUC from my main desktop. WIndows version of SolarPower app works well. You can control most (if not all) the settings. The SW has not crashed on me since I started it a week ago.
 
i am not planning on spending any money on fancy hardware. i plan to use an old laptop tucked on the wall next to my LV5048 and working with either tightvnc or teamviewer to do remote desktop.
that works great inside my LAN but to do outside i will have to do much more.
i remember peggy from MPPSOLAR offering me the wifi adapter for $65. i believe that is the price still.
not sure the wifi adapter and the watchpower app will connect to their cloud service to be able to work from anywhere outside the house.
 
you can have window loaded into a raspberry pi 3+ at least) and do the same for a fraction of the cost/size/energy
 
bhavin66 said:
i am not planning on spending any money on fancy hardware. i plan to use an old laptop tucked on the wall next to my LV5048 and working with either tightvnc or teamviewer to do remote desktop.
that works great inside my LAN but to do outside i will have to do much more.
i remember peggy from MPPSOLAR offering me the wifi adapter for $65. i believe that is the price still.
not sure the wifi adapter and the watchpower app will connect to their cloud service to be able to work from anywhere outside the house.
Click to expand...
I bought a $40 laptop from craigslist for this purpose. Plugged into LV2424 with USB cable. Installed TightVNC on it. And remote from all my other computers. I love it!

BTW, I got TeamViewer to work, but had too many issues with it. Had issues with RealVNC. TightVNC was the winner!

1585308722640.png
 
I've got the LV5048 and love it. Considered using the Victron BMV-700 monitor but Watchpower software has pretty much all I need. Planning to buy the add-on WiFi module to observe data remote
 
dsp said:
I've got the LV5048 and love it. Considered using the Victron BMV-700 monitor but Watchpower software has pretty much all I need. Planning to buy the add-on WiFi module to observe data remote
Click to expand...
I saw a video where someone put a Raspberry PI on his MPP Solar to pull the data and push it to a server, where he then views it remotely. But, he didn't explain in that video how he pulled it with the PI. I added to my TODO list to discover that one day. That video was where he hooked up a remote switch to it to turn it on/off and tie that into his automation. But, IIRC, I think that is the video where he mentions the PI. He might have a dedicated video to the PI. I haven't looked for it, yet. Let me know if you find one.

But, having a PI on it solves your WIFI problem among other things. The $3 microchip he uses to turn it on/off is mind blowing, too. It has WIFI and USB and can do a million things and automatically integrates with a ton of things, such as the FOSS automation software he's using or Alexa.
 
Last edited:
erik.calco said:
Do you have documentation for installation on the PI?
Click to expand...
I followed jblance project on GitHub.
He has both projects for LV5048 and jkbms.

github.com

mpp-solar/README.md at master · jblance/mpp-solar

Python package to communicate to MPP Solar PIP-4048MS inverters (and similar) - jblance/mpp-solar
github.com github.com

DMCINC initiated the jkbms and jblance was able to come up with the necessary setup and I followed them and was able to get everything working for me.
You do need to be a bit computer savvy and able to learn Linux not much but just for troubleshooting during the setup.
I used pi3b+ since I had that lying around.
You can get a pi4b kit for about$100 which includes everything you need.


After you have setup pi with the kit and os. You just power on and follow the instructions.
Took me a day to complete the setup just because I was not following the instructions and used the provided USB cable with LV5048 instead of the USB to serial adapter.
If you don't want to spend $100 and have a old laptop then you can setup the whole thing on that you just need to install linux and start from there
I went with pi because it is tiny and less power consumption and I can stick it near the inverter and it becomes part of the install.
 
erik.calco said:
I saw a video where someone put a Raspberry PI on his MPP Solar to pull the data and push it to a server, where he then views it remotely. But, he didn't explain in that video how he pulled it with the PI. I added to my TODO list to discover that one day. That video was where he hooked up a remote switch to it to turn it on/off and tie that into his automation. But, IIRC, I think that is the video where he mentions the PI. He might have a dedicated video to the PI. I haven't looked for it, yet. Let me know if you find one.

But, having a PI on it solves your WIFI problem among other things. The $3 microchip he uses to turn it on/off is mind blowing, too. It has WIFI and USB and can do a million things and automatically integrates with a ton of things, such as the FOSS automation software he's using or Alexa.
Click to expand...
Main reason I zeroed in on pi was that watchtower is good at showing instant values and then you have to browse through logs to find out the history.
With the pi project everything is on one screen and you can see the history smack dab in your face every time you look at it. That history is what sold me on this monitoring setup.
You can do a lot of things to customize it the way you like it.
 
bhavin66 said:
I followed jblance project on GitHub.
He has both projects for LV5048 and jkbms.

github.com

mpp-solar/README.md at master · jblance/mpp-solar

Python package to communicate to MPP Solar PIP-4048MS inverters (and similar) - jblance/mpp-solar
github.com github.com

DMCINC initiated the jkbms and jblance was able to come up with the necessary setup and I followed them and was able to get everything working for me.
You do need to be a bit computer savvy and able to learn Linux not much but just for troubleshooting during the setup.
I used pi3b+ since I had that lying around.
You can get a pi4b kit for about$100 which includes everything you need.


After you have setup pi with the kit and os. You just power on and follow the instructions.
Took me a day to complete the setup just because I was not following the instructions and used the provided USB cable with LV5048 instead of the USB to serial adapter.
If you don't want to spend $100 and have a old laptop then you can setup the whole thing on that you just need to install linux and start from there
I went with pi because it is tiny and less power consumption and I can stick it near the inverter and it becomes part of the install.
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thank you! I'll look into it.
 
Anyone got LV2424 to work wit his script? I got an invalid byte response error.
 
Try to hookup with jblance on GitHub. He might respond.
Do you have the pi setup?
What cable connection are you using?
Let me know if I can be of any help.
 
Last edited:
Hi Guys.
I'm also not able to connect LV2424 inverters with a Raspi...
It doesn't matter if I try Through RS232 or USB.
I tried with mpp-solar:

root@usbpi:/home/pi# mpp-solar -s
================ Status ==================
Parameter Value Unit
ac_input_voltage 0 V

and vhusbdarm ("Virtual here" or something) to replicate USB port remotely from the Raspberry and trying to open watchpower from somewhere else doesn't work either?

Is my inverter the one with the issue?
Is mpp-solar only compatible with LV5048 and the other few listed? I just can't believe they would not all have the same language?
 
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