theoriginalgiga
New Member
Of course, also verified I'm not neutral bonded in multiple locations as well.
Signature Solar refuses to honor a warranty for a defective product! (And Solar Assistant Discussion)
- Thread starter theoriginalgiga
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theoriginalgiga
New Member
One thing that hasn't been mentioned about solar assistant is it can be integrated with home assistant. You can build protocols and controls around the data. Say you don't want to run your ac when your battery is below say 50% you can set limits for that. Or if you're producing extra solar, instead of having it go to waste you could swap your water heater from gas to electric (would be a big win in a travel trailer). Monitoring the on board temp probes when the temp gets tol high or low, kick on fans or heaters for the battery room. The more data you can tap into the more you can automate.
A great example, I'm building temp probes that tie into home assistant for my trailer so when I'm out and it's hot during the day it turns on the ac to say 76. I like it chilly out but I'm also cheap so when the temp outside falls below 76 it'll shut off the ac and fire up my exhaust fan and blow cool air into the trailer until it his 65, at that point it'll shut off the fan. And in the morning run the fan until it's above 76 in the trailer and shut off the fan and turn on the ac. All of that can be scripted in home assistant. Now tie battery status into that if you're running a system off grid you can see how powerful that can be.
Another example, say you have a solar array further from your house/out of line of site and it's snowing. You can monitor the input of the solar, compare to your average and if it's below the average it can email you that the panels are inhibited.
Or say you have a remote getaway that's powered by solar but has internet. It can tell you there's a problem and you can setup systems to maintain critical items (say a fridge) to shed load to all but that and message you there's a problem.
All I'm saying is theore data you have the more you can tinker and do crazy cool things with
A great example, I'm building temp probes that tie into home assistant for my trailer so when I'm out and it's hot during the day it turns on the ac to say 76. I like it chilly out but I'm also cheap so when the temp outside falls below 76 it'll shut off the ac and fire up my exhaust fan and blow cool air into the trailer until it his 65, at that point it'll shut off the fan. And in the morning run the fan until it's above 76 in the trailer and shut off the fan and turn on the ac. All of that can be scripted in home assistant. Now tie battery status into that if you're running a system off grid you can see how powerful that can be.
Another example, say you have a solar array further from your house/out of line of site and it's snowing. You can monitor the input of the solar, compare to your average and if it's below the average it can email you that the panels are inhibited.
Or say you have a remote getaway that's powered by solar but has internet. It can tell you there's a problem and you can setup systems to maintain critical items (say a fridge) to shed load to all but that and message you there's a problem.
All I'm saying is theore data you have the more you can tinker and do crazy cool things with
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
I love home assistant but I am right at the edge of my abilities with it.
I am going to need a link to what ever fourm the home assistant guys go to to start getting my learn on.
theoriginalgiga
New Member
This should be a good start for you.
The complex stuff well you're gonna have to spend time on the subreddit if it's still around and the tech articles. I'm starting out myself so we're in the same boat. Also to quote my friend who has his whole house wired up with HA, for remote sensors or connections you can buy rebuilt if you can find it, if not, skip the arduino go straight to the esp32. Way more processing power, more flash and has wifi and Bluetooth on chip and you can still use arduino programming libraries to make it work.
BE WARNED, if you start down this path you'll have a dinning table full of wires and sensors and other small bits. You'll spend HOURS researching what is the best for your application only after buying it realize there's something more fitting for cheaper. You'll burn up components and spend countless hours trying to get code working only to realize you've missed a comma somewhere. Your kids will learn countless new words not meant for their ears. The world of custom electronics is vast, seemly cheap yet expense and frustration at levels you never thought possible. But the highs of building that one thing thatffinally works that you can't buy is amazing.
May God and your SO have mercy on your soul.
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
I tried getting into home assistant several months back. I actually watched this video above ^, but man oh man is it SO MUCH WORK. It is an incredible amount of skill you have to learn and understand too, if you have no idea what you are already doing.
theoriginalgiga
New Member
Tell me about it! Just figuring out the technical portion of the sensors to get proper reporting has been a nightmare. On top of understanding electronics, you need to know how to code in a few languages and getting it all to talk.... So challenging.
DVD
New member and getting older
Come on boys and girls. Can we keep with the facts, not heresay. That SA has been reported in a number of inverter failures whether explained or unexplained is well noted. I’m an idiot in such matters but “Read the posts” before you connect an SA. Then make a judgement as to whether the risk/reward equation works out.
If you are an expert (real, not self defined) on what SA does and does not do in its communication with any inverter then go ahead.
If you are an expert (real, not self defined) on what SA does and does not do in its communication with any inverter then go ahead.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Say what?
It's been reported to create issues numerous times with no proof. I'd think SS would have posted a video if it's really happened repeatedly...
The manufacturer / SA tech support say they have never seen these problems either.
I ran SA for almost a year on a TP6048 (voltronic inverter, 6000ex brother) with zero issues. I'm now running it on an SRNE inverter with zero issues.
I've only seen the orange pie as the one to create issues.
Personally I think SA is frown upon by some because it samples data at a faster frequency and let's you see a lot more....
Done ranting, good morning.
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
Maybe we should split the solar Assistant / home assistant out of this thread and onto its own and maybe finally get a few of us here really working on some stuff together, I agree with the above it is fantastic and frustrating all at the same time.
If I were a distributor I wouldn't offer a warranty if people were using SA.
I'm surprised SS or anyone else would. But if they are seeing 60V on that port when they shouldn't, and that's before using SA, it's defective.
I don't think SS should offer any support for SA either.
I'm surprised SS or anyone else would. But if they are seeing 60V on that port when they shouldn't, and that's before using SA, it's defective.
I don't think SS should offer any support for SA either.
That sounds awful to use. Does someone have a more expensive system that works without tinkering?
Sounds like someone could replace the whole thing with a few timer switches to automate the loads and a few CTs and monitoring hub like the emporia. Would work everytime and be dead simple.
If you need to automate your loads it sounds like you don't have enough solar or batteries.
dmkjr
Solar Enthusiast
I was going to ask this today -- but it seems you do it -- was it acceptable or a bad idea to use different battery manufacturers, if the AH was the same?
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
It does not matter the manufacturer, or capacity, so long as they are the same chemistry, they will play nice with each other.
I haven't seen any thing different other than SOH, only thing that was a little taxing was learning the different BMS interfaces. I also slapped 2x 305 ah built systems and it all seems to work well(the 305s all charge at a higher rate and are the last ones to finish charge, my charge finish is always the eg4s, then the jackiper, the overkill, trophy, and build 305s last. About 20 min to 30 min difference t0 100%.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Could you elaborate on the why?
I noticed @HighTechLab advertises this splitter to add functionality for SA. I wonder if CC is seeing any of these claimed SA failures with the MPP or any other inverters they sell.
RJ45 Splitter | Current Connected
The RJ45 Splitter creates two ports from one plug! Equiped with one male RJ45 plug that splits into two female RJ45 ports.
www.currentconnected.com
That appears to be the case based on what the op found.
I can't argue that, SA has excellent support the few times I have contacted them.
dmkjr
Solar Enthusiast
Curious on different capacity -- if they are all tied to the same bus bar and one is larger capacity, wouldn't that affect the other batteries discharge? Or are you thinking the BMS will just kick in and cut off the battery? I don't run my batteries below 20%. So if I had a battery with save 30% more capacity than the rest, wouldn't those smaller batteries attempt to run under my desired 20% or until the BMS kicks in?
theoriginalgiga
New Member
So here's my hot take on it. Working in IT almost all commercial equipment use a serial rs232 connection through an rj45 connector. After going through the manual twice reading the sections on plugging into the rj45 port and there being no mention it uses non standard wiring or calling it a proprietary dongle any person would assume they're using the industry standard for wiring, which they aren't. If EG4/SS (as stated before they're owned by the same person) had disclosed this fact, that would make a world of difference but they didn't so if my assumptions I made are right, at best there's negligence involved from the vendor which puts it on them for damage to the dataplane due to lack of circuit protection and non standard wiring. At worst with voltage leakage on the port could have hurt someone and lack of isolation is astounding to me.
With all that being said should SS/EG4 support SA? Of course not, it isn't their technology, they shouldn't have to configure it etc. Should SS/EG4 deny warranty because someone plugged a dongle into the rs232 port and a little Linux based machine which amounts to basically a computer with fancy software because of an undocumented proprietary wiring that isn't documented or warned about in the manual? Hell no. Having a port with no proper protection is a huge miss on the vendor.
What EG4 needs to do is either update their documentation clarifying that it uses a proprietary dongle and must be used or else they'll void the warranty or, more desirable, properly isolate the dataplane and rewire the port to industry standard and add isolating protection measures.
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
If you have a 900ah battery in parallel with a 100ah battery, then the 900ah battery will provide 90% of the load, and the 100ah will provide 10% of the load.
You could parallel 1,000ah with a 1ah if you want. It does not matter because they discharge at the same "C" rate.
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