Thank you for making my point!!! Not everyone can easily create an interface. I wouldnt have a problem with Canbus or any other protoicol if there were an industry standard.
Sol-Ark Inverters 8 and 12K
- Thread starter Super Fly
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I learned that SolArk has proven the BMS from the following makers work with their system:
Pylontech
Dyness
Discover
Blue Ion and
Storz
Digging around, it must have been the JK BMS I had the protocol for and not the Heltec. I'll request it.
From my very quick search it looks like these are all battery systems? Not stand alone BMS
ArthurEld
Solar Wizard
I think there is a JK BMS that is exactly the same as the Heltec. I also saw some JK items on the Heltec site.
They might be related
I think Im realizing I do not have the money to compete with what you are looking at. All those systems look like they cost about 5x what a DIY EVE cell battery would cost.
BobH
New Member
@solardad mentioned on 2nd Life Storage forum that "Batrium can tailor communication protocol for a number of inverters so my hope is that one of those will work with the Sol-Ark (Sol-Ark mentions they support 'Sundraft v4' which I believe is open source based on SMA inverters which is one of the inverter profiles that you can select in the Batrium software)." - https://secondlifestorage.com/showthread.php?tid=9226&pid=68035#pid68035 Sooooo. it may be possible to use the Batrium ($$$!) BMS system and use the Sundraft v4 protocol to talk the the Sol-Ark, but no one has reported that working. If I ever pull the tirgger on a grid-tied residential system with battery backup, I'll be looking at Batirum as a contender for the BMS. Buy once, cry once (hopefully).
That is what I have stated previously.
The idea here is that @curiouscarbon is a firmware developer, and with this information they might be able to help us determine if a more DIY friendly solution will be able to communicate on the same bus.
curiouscarbon
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It’s annoying and less accessible to hack stuff together, when there’s a solution waiting right on the shelf. Budgets are budgets, and I personally want my money going towards good battery chemistry, not ambiguous nascent BMS protocol hell (ahem, opinion). There’s a low chance I might solve this for myself, and it seems others have need for a battery babelfish as well.
Open source is good, even if nobody makes the design because it’s DIY or challenging?
People get pretty philosophical, but it’s as simple as having a single “may i charge?” and a single “may i discharge?” ports on devices would make integration easier for end users. Requiring CAN Bus opens the CAN of worms of cards to the chest hidden protocol garbage.
Open source is good, even if nobody makes the design because it’s DIY or challenging?
People get pretty philosophical, but it’s as simple as having a single “may i charge?” and a single “may i discharge?” ports on devices would make integration easier for end users. Requiring CAN Bus opens the CAN of worms of cards to the chest hidden protocol garbage.
curiouscarbon
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basically yea i wanna have compatibility but absolutely no ecosystem lock in and no canbus protocol match premium. and i’m willing to do some DIY. and willing to share code and circuit designs if they happen.
(re)doing the job of industry people is silly, but to me it’s better than paying businesses to hide critical operational details from me. the standard is still emerging..
(re)doing the job of industry people is silly, but to me it’s better than paying businesses to hide critical operational details from me. the standard is still emerging..
Perfect description of what is needed!
Love the pun! ?
It is definitely unfortunate that we adventurous types end up having to push the design of some products to their natural end.
In a way we are helping decide which protocol is VHS and which one is Betamax. When we blaze the path through this wilderness and come back here to inform many others which product has the best compatibility, a lot of people who are only now considering solar will stand on our shoulders to use our research and information to drive the industry to a standardized format.
@BobH I heard from Sol-Ark and they suggested the following setting (Batrium Watchmon 4 to Sol-Ark 12k via CAN Bus) but it didn't work for me:
The pinout for the inverter's CAN port is CANH = pins 2 & 3, and CANL = pins 5 & 6. The inverter already has termination, so you shouldn't need to worry there. For the inverter to talk to the batteries in CAN bus mode, it needs to have "BMS Lithium Batt" enabled and set to "02".
I need to get back to my contact to see if they have other ideas. The problem is that both Batrium and Sol-Ark are not talking directly. At least Sol-Ark has been open to working with an end user is making this communication work.
On a related note I have been trying to sort out the monitoring data that the Sol-Ark produces and writes to the Powerview site, https://esem.cc/stations/management . The site is ok but the update frequency is crap, every 5mins. too slow especially now that I have the Batrium reporting via NodeRed to a Grafana dashboard:
Long story short the Sol-Ark is just a rebadged DEYE inverter with a few tweaks to the UI I think. The sister to the Sol-Ark is the SunSynk which is sold in South Africa and has a strong online following. I stumbled across a site where the users are able to read the inverter data directly. Just came across the info last night so I have not had a chance to dig in but I am excited to possibly be able to read / store / graph the inverter data REAL TIME like I did for the battery side.
https://powerforum.co.za/topic/6875-software-for-sunsynk-pylontech-combo/#comment-84896
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curiouscarbon
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I read that thread and got lost about the time MQTT and Grafana were mentioned. I know that's software speak, because its like Greek to me. I'm certainly impressed!
I have done some simple Arduino stuff on the NodeMCU, so I recognized the esp8266 part number.
It would take me quite a while to figure out how to set that up.
The best thing I saw was the CAN protocol for the SunSynk was posted. When I clicked it, it said that the attachment was not available. Did you happen to download it?
I read that thread and got lost about the time MQTT and Grafana were mentioned. I know that's software speak, because it's like Greek to me. I'm certainly impressed!
I have done some simple Arduino stuff on the NodeMCU, so I recognized the esp8266 part number.
It would take me quite a while to figure out how to set that up.
The best thing I saw was the CAN protocol for the SumSynk. When I clicked on the link, it was not available. Did you happen to download it?
fisherus
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Gentlemen, Gentlemen, It can easily be fixed with a lot more money, a little more ingenuity and a huge demand by the buyers but, unless these three things line up, work around what is available and make it work. My Sol-Ark 12k can only charge to a minimum of 63V but my batteries were made for 64.8V. By controlling the maximum cell amperage through my BMS, I am not going to be concerned about one cell. If the charging or inverter show any minor amp overflows or under flows, the Sol-Ark 12k will issue a warning and can be programmed to shut down. I am using DALY BMS'S I had DALY make and they seem to be doing what they are supposed to in the trial runs I have made.
Very true.. I just like stats and graphs... ?
What's not to like?!
A visual representation of your battery status, charge and load values makes it very quick and easy to know if your system is doing fine, or in trouble.
It seems like a lot of work to get there, but I see the value of being able to assess the status in a couple seconds rather than having to look at numbers and look for trends.
ArthurEld
Solar Wizard
I'm finally getting started with the permit. Once it's approved I will have the panels, rails and the SolArk delivered.
My installer is available.. I'm anxious to get the panels up and the net metering going.
I probably won't have batteries online until next year.
@ArthurEld Not sure how involved you plan on being with the build the installer will perform but I suggest reviewing the install plan to ensure the array setup "makes sense". I have come across setups that the installer just took the easy way with a setup and did not take into account shading or mppt upper voltage limits so the system was handicapped. Good luck. You are going to like the Sol-Ark.
ArthurEld
Solar Wizard
Thanks Solardad. I have been planning this solar setup for a couple years. I've had about 20 quotes from installers.
Most of them wanted to put all of the panels on the west side of my house. That side does get the most sun and it will be getting the sun in the afternoon when I will be using my air conditioning the most. I keep changing the panel layout because I want the best possible and I want to get the energy at different times of day. One thing I don't like about putting panels in different directions is it means more holes in the roof for wires.
I am going to have to stop changing my mind and get this done. Getting involved and understanding the entire process is a lot of work. I enjoy learning all of the details but it takes a lot of time. Most people wait until after their solar is installed to start learning all of the details
edit- I shouldn't have said ALL of the details. I still have a LOT to learn.
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