Solar Assistant - data logger

[robby]

In yellow; can the idle draw of the inverter be changed here? Will this carry over into the calculations?
View attachment 104893

Under the same menu set for Deye/Sol-Ark I do not get CRC Verification or the other two options.
Anybody else using Sol-Ark and has those options.

 

[Kornbread]

Yes, it idles around 150w.
What's crc verification?

 

[robby]

Yes, it idles around 150w.
What's crc verification?

If it is what it typically is then it means "cyclic redundancy check" which is a way of checking data to see if there are any errors. I am not sure if there is some other Acronym in the Inverter world for CRC.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Anybody try one of these to power your Pi with SA? I'm wanting to do this to get rid of the need for a 120v outlet nearby.

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Adapter-Regulator-Step-Down-Transformer/dp/B09GKBGMPB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

[robby]

Given the non existent supply of Pi's right now and the reviews on that product, I would not take the chance.

 

[houseofancients]

Anybody try one of these to power your Pi with SA? I'm wanting to do this to get rid of the need for a 120v outlet nearby.

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Adapter-Regulator-Step-Down-Transformer/dp/B09GKBGMPB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

nope, using a POE hat and POE switch ( also used for the wifi ap's , phones etc

 

[Samsonite801]

Anybody try one of these to power your Pi with SA? I'm wanting to do this to get rid of the need for a 120v outlet nearby.

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Adapter-Regulator-Step-Down-Transformer/dp/B09GKBGMPB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I used this one and it works on an RPi:

8-60V to 5V Micro USB Adapter Voltage | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 8-60V to 5V Micro USB Adapter Voltage at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

The voltage range does look even wider for the one you linked to, mine is still 8-60v... Just make sure you get the one with the Micro-USB if that's what's on your RPi. Since mine had to come from China, I ordered 4 to have some spares, but I haven't had a failure yet.

 

[Samsonite801]

Anybody try one of these to power your Pi with SA? I'm wanting to do this to get rid of the need for a 120v outlet nearby.

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Adapter-Regulator-Step-Down-Transformer/dp/B09GKBGMPB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Be mindful though, looks like yours would come from China too. Click on that seller in Amazon and see their business address:

Amazon.com Seller Profile: XWST

Detailed Seller Information​

Business Name: huizhoushi xinweikeji youxiangongsi
Business Address:
陈江五一大道西29号B栋四楼
惠州市
仲恺高新区
广东省
516029
CN


So shipping will take longer, may want to order some spares too...

 

[Lt.Dan]

Given the non existent supply of Pi's right now and the reviews on that product, I would not take the chance.

Doesn't have to be this one in particular. Just curious if anyone is using a DC to DC converter to power theirs direct from battery.

nope, using a POE hat and POE switch ( also used for the wifi ap's , phones etc

I wish I could use POE, but getting an ethernet cable to this location would be a big chore. Not impossible though.

This looks interesting: https://www.amazon.com/UCTRONICS-Po...lja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Instead of a full POE hat, because I already have a case on my Pi.

I used this one and it works on an RPi:

8-60V to 5V Micro USB Adapter Voltage | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 8-60V to 5V Micro USB Adapter Voltage at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

The voltage range does look even wider for the one you linked to, mine is still 8-60v... Just make sure you get the one with the Micro-USB if that's what's on your RPi. Since mine had to come from China, I ordered 4 to have some spares, but I haven't had a failure yet.

That does look super similar. But my Pi 4B requires USB-C.

I would buy the one direct from Solar Assistant, as its not too pricey, but its out of stock

SolarAssistant

solar-assistant.io

 

[Samsonite801]

That does look super similar. But my Pi 4B requires USB-C.

I would buy the one direct from Solar Assistant, as its not too pricey, but its out of stock

SolarAssistant

solar-assistant.io

Yeah I had wondered since you posted one with the USB-C if maybe you had a newer RPi or something with it. I haven't seen the newest RPi's with USB-C yet, all mine are the old plug. Cool...

These converters do work, and even on 12v or 51.2v no problem. I built a DC box fan with this principal too, has DC motor with wide range input (boost/buck converter on it) so can run on a car or on a home battery bank... Takes most any voltage you'd ever through at it..

 

[Kornbread]

In yellow; can the idle draw of the inverter be changed here? Will this carry over into the calculations?
View attachment 104893

I went to change the self consumption value and the setting disappeared. What? Didn't update or anything.

 

[robby]

I went to change the self consumption value and the setting disappeared. What? Didn't update or anything.

It's not even there in the settings when you select Sol-Ark or Deye as the Inverter.

 

[dejavu]

Does this work with Growatt lithum battery systems as well? I have the SPH6000 and the Growatt gbl16532 batteries.

 

[Kornbread]

Looked but didn't see that specific model. Their changelog shows a lot of batteries. Here's their site https://solar-assistant.io/

 

[dejavu]

Looked but didn't see that specific model. Their changelog shows a lot of batteries. Here's their site https://solar-assistant.io/

Thanks @Kornbread although my inverter model is listed but my battery is not, it should still be able to provide information available from the battery to the inverter just will not be able to USB the USB data harvest option?

 

[dejavu]

USB to RJ45 RS485 Serial Programming Cable for Delta IFD6500 Communication RS485 Adapter Converter Cable Support Win10 (6feet) https://amzn.eu/d/izVLeS0

Does anyone know if this all in one cable will work.?

 

[dejavu]

For anyone using the Solar Assistant with a SPH growatt inverter, can you kindly confirm if your pin 1 and 5 works for you in the ethernet connector or you had to use 4 and 5 as stated in the Solar assistant guide. https://solar-assistant.io/help/growatt/configuration

 

[wayne530]

Thanks

Yeah, one could backup just the DB with like pg_dump command (if it's Postgres), but as far as I knew, I cannot even log in a Putty SSH to the Solar Assistant OS (they don't give us a root password, unless someone knows how to enable it), I never tried it with a keyboard/monitor on the local console to see if it has a login prompt or just enters a UI desktop mode or console-only prompt...

If I could get a root login # prompt I could go in and poke around to see what kind of DB they use like Postgres or SQLite or whatever, formulate a command to dump the DB to a file... I'd also have to know the DB password as well.

But for now, the simplest way to backup the DB is whole OS, SD card image... I usually do that anyway on all my RPi installs for safety in case I hose them later. It's so simple to do and adds the extra security to know you can recover easily...

Solar Assistant uses influxdb and grafana. The files are easily accessible. There are two small changes you can make to the OS's filesystem in order to enable ssh. I find it extremely valuable to see the logging information whenever there's an issue and you simply cannot access it without ssh. Feel free to pm me and I can provide some instructions. If there's broad interest, I'm happy to write something up for the forum.

 

[wattmatters]

Question on battery comms - it's new to me.

Now that I have a couple of generic server rack batteries, can I somehow connect these directly to Solar Assistant for tracking / viewing of more detail on their performance?

I'm using an RPi 3b.






At the moment I have a Victron Smartshunt providing the whole of battery pack data into Solar Assistant.

It doesn't look like I can mix a couple of different battery data inputs but it would be great if it were possible to have the detail from the server rack batteries as well as the smart shunt data (which could be assigned just to the Lead bank).

 

[wayne530]

Question on battery comms - it's new to me.

Now that I have a couple of generic server rack batteries, can I somehow connect these directly to Solar Assistant for tracking / viewing of more detail on their performance?

I'm using an RPi 3b.

View attachment 107904


View attachment 107905

At the moment I have a Victron Smartshunt providing the whole of battery pack data into Solar Assistant.

It doesn't look like I can mix a couple of different battery data inputs but it would be great if it were possible to have the detail from the server rack batteries as well as the smart shunt data (which could be assigned just to the Lead bank).

Solar Assistant told me this wasn’t possible (smart shunt + battery), but I asked 4-5 months ago. Regarding the battery comms - their website has a list of supported protocols. You’ll need to find out which BMS is being used in your server rack battery in order to know how to configure the dip switches and wire up the comms.