Solar Assistant setup question

[donb108]

I'm still working on my shed project (EG4 3K w/ 8 370watt panels) and want to use Solar Assistant for monitoring. Sorry if this has already been answered, but can't find it. I'll be buying an Orange PI, a usb-to-serial cable for the serial connection, and I already have the micro-sd.

What powers the Orange PI? Does it come from the RJ45 serial connector on the EG4-3K, or do I have to get a separate power source?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BB18HRLD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AQKZFX2TD59JB&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8HDS2K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2VPXM5R5067ZO&psc=1

PS - Finally got the panels mounted on the back wall of the shed. They're on hinges so I can tilt them up if needed.

 

[MajicDiver]

What powers the Orange PI?

Mine came with a power supply that plugs into 120 ac. Some people have power directly from dc battery power though - there are multiple treads discussing that somewhere on the forum

 

[timselectric]

I ordered mine with a 48vdc power supply. And it's fed directly from my battery bank.

 

[marionw]

Is you buy the Orange PI preloaded from Solar Assistant it will come with a power supply which is a DC to DC converter that will connect to your battery bank (with an inline fuse) and the output will power the PI.

Make sure your USB Serial cable has the right end. Many inverters use the squarish looking USB Type B connector.

If there is an RS485 for monitoring (usually for a WIFI dongle) you could use that with the appropriate USB to RS485 converter.

The PI is powered though a USB Type C (long oval). Either a brick/wall wart or a 5 Volt USB Cube (one that plugs into an outlet similar to cell phone chargers). Just get one that can deliver 2 to 3 amps at 5 volts.

 

[donb108]

Wow, thanks for all the answers! I ordered the Orange PI and cables separately, thinking it would be a lot less expensive; in hindsight, probably would have been better to get the kit. I'll power the Orange PI from a wall-wart until I get the direct battery connection installed.

By the way, this video shows a minor, but fatal, difference in cables. I ran across the FTDI issue on a project years ago.

Buck converter:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QRRM3Z6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Skypower]

I run one of these. It runs much cooler and seems to be more efficient than the ones that comes with the kit. It has plenty of reserve to run a power hub too. Be sure to fuse both negative and positive leads close to the battery, because the negative of most buck converters are not isolated. Little wires don’t play well if accidentally shorted to many things. https://a.co/d/7F5FdS2

 

[marionw]

You are correct. Oftentimes the lack of documentation sucks. Serial ports generally come in two flavors; RS232 and RS232-TTL. The RX and TX wires for a plain RS232 operate around 12vdc whereas the RS232-TTL operate between 3.5vdc and 5vdc, hence different converters.

Most inverter (and for that matter batteries) do not tell you the type of port (RS232, RS232-TTL or RS485) for the WIFI dongle, much less give you the pinout. I do not know and the EG4 3Kw does not provide the best documentation on the WIFI port, so good luck with this.

Let us know how this turns out...

 

[donb108]

I run one of these. It runs much cooler and seems to be more efficient than the ones that comes with the kit. It has plenty of reserve to run a power hub too.

I was looking at this one, but I didn't see a way to connect it to the Orange PI. How do you plug it in?

I do not know and the EG4 3Kw does not provide the best documentation on the WIFI port, so good luck with this.

Right, I'm hoping that's handled by the cable supplied with the inverter; I don't see any pinouts mentioned in the manual. As I recall, the industry standard is to use pins 2/3/5 for transmit/receive/ground (and flip 2/3 if it doesn't work). Hopefully, it just works.

 

[Skypower]

I have the older Pi (Solar Assistant kit). It had a different power plug. I cut the cable from the other power supply and discovered that there were only two wires, a red and black. I confirmed voltage and polarity from the old power supply and knew that I could just splice the new power supply to the plug. I’ve got no clue how the “C” is wired to a power supply ( sense wires in addition to power?). The USB extension cord will have many wires and weird colors but a wall wort/power supply might just have two, simple.

 

[donb108]

I received the parts and did the setup in the house before trying it in the shed. All went well, so I moved it out to the shed (about 100 feet away). It worked there also; just plugged in the cables and it started working (using the wall wart).

I was surprised that it was able to connect to my home wireless system, I thought that I would need a network cable to the shed.

 

[Skypower]

I received the parts and did the setup in the house before trying it in the shed. All went well, so I moved it out to the shed (about 100 feet away). It worked there also; just plugged in the cables and it started working (using the wall wart).

I was surprised that it was able to connect to my home wireless system, I thought that I would need a network cable to the shed.

You have a very good WiFi network, little noise, and not much in the way. Wouldn’t have a chance here

 

[marionw]

For many who don't have good WIFI there are WIFI repeaters that can beam a signal from point A to point B, some are good for a quarter of a mile or more.

 

[donb108]

For many who don't have good WIFI there are WIFI repeaters

That's the first thing I looked at, but then realized I may be installing devices that need an Ethernet wire (cameras and others). So, that led to researching a wireless access point, which led to WDS (wireless distribuiton system), which led to replacing aging network parts, which led to ditching all that and running an Ethernet wire, which led to using fiber optics instead, which started a small holy-war on a popular open wireless forum.

After all that, I just plugged it in and it worked. I'll probably do the fiber optic project this winter.