Solar Assistant to Luxpower via RS485

[Electric_Blue]

Solar Assistant v2025-03-09 now talks to EG4 Lux-based inverters by way of RS485. Owners of these inverters (read: ME and my 18K) are no longer tied to the wifi dongle. Now I can put my inverter online with my ethernet dongle, or not.

 

[mciholas]

Nice!

Wifi is not a great tech for reliable telemetry.

Only thing I would suggest is also carry ground to the RS485 adapter. This will reduce the chance of noise causing bit errors on the RS485, and also reduce the chance of damaging the adapter.

The common mode range of RS485 is usually limited to a range from about -5 volts to +12 volts. Outside that, damage becomes more likely. Tying the grounds will fix that.

Mike C.

 

[Wes975]

Solar Assistant v2025-03-09 now talks to EG4 Lux-based inverters by way of RS485. Owners of these inverters (read: ME and my 18K) are no longer tied to the wifi dongle. Now I can put my inverter online with my ethernet dongle, or not.


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Solar Assistant v2025-03-09 now talks to EG4 Lux-based inverters by way of RS485. Owners of these inverters (read: ME and my 18K) are no longer tied to the wifi dongle. Now I can put my inverter online with my ethernet dongle, or not.


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Are you using the meter 485B & 485A pinouts for communication? If so - does that allow you to use the dongle at the same time? I know using the INV485 wont let you use them both at the same time per the manual. Looking for clarity.

 

[Electric_Blue]

Yes, I am using the pinouts. Yes, using the pinouts you can keep using the wifi dongle. The INV485 RJ45 is the only one that is shared.

 

[Fisherguy66]

Crap no meter pinouts on the 6000xp

 

[RARankin]

Yes! Thanks for the heads up, just swapped by FlexBoss21s over. Now it doesn't have the constant disconnect/reconnects it had over WIFI.

I ordered the ethernet version of the EG4 adapter (its super cheap right now for some reason?) so I can finally not have stupid WIFI networks and open bluetooth out there.

 

[Wes975]

Yes! Thanks for the heads up, just swapped by FlexBoss21s over. Now it doesn't have the constant disconnect/reconnects it had over WIFI.

I ordered the ethernet version of the EG4 adapter (its super cheap right now for some reason?) so I can finally not have stupid WIFI networks and open bluetooth out there.

Just bought the ethernet adapter - much cheaper than the last time I looked.
Also waiting for my USB / RS485 adapter to show up (lost my good one somewhere in the electronics black hole).

 

[cheekzilla]

Whoa, the ethernet adapter used to be like $200 and now it's $50

 

[Fisherguy66]

Perhaps EG4/SS/CC should tell other retailers to stop fleecing customers

EG4 Ethernet Adapter

Enhance your EG4 inverter with stable, wired monitoring. Replace WiFi for secure, dependable connectivity at your off-grid setup. Easy install today!

thecabindepot.ca

EG4®Ethernet Adapter

Monitor your EG4 18kPV or 6000XP Inverter through a wired connection with the Ethernet Adapter, replacing the need for a WIFI Monitoring Adapter. This wired ethernet connectivity ensures a stable and secure monitoring connection, providing dependable and consistent monitoring for your inverter...

canadianoffgriddepot.com

Do we really have to become the 51st state to get cheaper prices
Lets see how long before they adjust the price.

 

[Wes975]

Saw the increase on other items - mades sense to pull out the plastic immediately.

 

[golazo]

Crap no meter pinouts on the 6000xp

is the same battery port connection...you need use the rj45 splitter to connect the battery and the solar assistant




RJ45 Splitter

 

[Fisherguy66]

is the same battery port connection...you need use the rj45 splitter to connect the battery and the solar assistant

View attachment 285065


RJ45 Splitter

Interesting. Have you tried this? Does it still share the same rs485 bus with the hdmi wifi dongle? Do you have both running together?

 

[RARankin]

Well, don't get too excited about the ethernet version of the dongle - so far the one I had installed lasts about 24 hours prior to going offline and needing a reset.

 

[marionw]

Nice!

Wifi is not a great tech for reliable telemetry.

Only thing I would suggest is also carry ground to the RS485 adapter. This will reduce the chance of noise causing bit errors on the RS485, and also reduce the chance of damaging the adapter.

The common mode range of RS485 is usually limited to a range from about -5 volts to +12 volts. Outside that, damage becomes more likely. Tying the grounds will fix that.

Mike C.

I exclusively use isolated RS485 Converters (waveshare) and do not connect the ground. I only connect +A and -B. I have 150ft of cat5 cable between my batteries using the orange-white/orange pair for the batteries (one RS485 Converter) and the brown-white/brown pair for the inverter (one RS485 Converter) (same cat 5 for both). I have never had any communication issues or loss of communications. Where ever possible you do not want to connect the grounds of different devices. Most battery to battery communications and closed loop communications between Inverter and BMS do not use any ground.

 

[ChrisG]

There is another thread about this for 6000xp. Several have RS485 to SA working using the CT1 port and others have the hdmi port pins figured out.

J

Thread 'EG4 6000XP/18Kpv Custom RS485 Dongle Connector'

Apr 8, 2024

Problem: Both the EG4 6000XP and 18Kpv wireless dongles are highly insecure, broadcasting an unsecured network and Bluetooth open connections. For connection to Home or Software Assistant, this dongle relies on a special "debug" mechanism on port 8899 to retrieve data, which are not open for the *wired* device. The devices support retrieving data via an RS485 connection to this endpoint and this is the recommended approach.

Solution: My roommate, an electrical engineer, has designed an integrated HDMI to micro-USB connection for RS485. I am currently running an early version of this...

• jsmithtx
• Replies: 150
• Forum: Software

• 

 

[Fisherguy66]

There is another thread about this for 6000xp. Several have RS485 to SA working using the CT1 port and others have the hdmi port pins figured out.

J

Thread 'EG4 6000XP/18Kpv Custom RS485 Dongle Connector'

Apr 8, 2024

Problem: Both the EG4 6000XP and 18Kpv wireless dongles are highly insecure, broadcasting an unsecured network and Bluetooth open connections. For connection to Home or Software Assistant, this dongle relies on a special "debug" mechanism on port 8899 to retrieve data, which are not open for the *wired* device. The devices support retrieving data via an RS485 connection to this endpoint and this is the recommended approach.

Solution: My roommate, an electrical engineer, has designed an integrated HDMI to micro-USB connection for RS485. I am currently running an early version of this...

• jsmithtx
• Replies: 150
• Forum: Software

• 

Yes been following and posting in that thread also. I'm just curious if the batt comms port can share the rs485 with the wifi dongle as shown in the pinout for batt comm port.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Yes been following and posting in that thread also. I'm just curious if the batt comms port can share the rs485 with the wifi dongle as shown in the pinout for batt comm port.

When I tried it, the RS485 didn't work. The battery side and the inverter side seem to be isolated. Possibly different baud rates?

 

[Fisherguy66]

When I tried it, the RS485 didn't work. The battery side and the inverter side seem to be isolated. Possibly different baud rates?

Oh so you tried pins 1/2 on the batt comm port? Maybe they are disabled and only the CAN works.

 

[wpns]

When I tried it, the RS485 didn't work. The battery side and the inverter side seem to be isolated. Possibly different baud rates?

On the battery side, the inverter is the master, and the batteries are the slaves, on the inverter side, the dongle (or your interface, one or the other, but not both) is the master and the inverter is the slave.

Plus, yeah I think the baud rates are different

 

[Adam De Lay]

Oh so you tried pins 1/2 on the batt comm port? Maybe they are disabled and only the CAN works.

Yeah, I think I shared that in the little video that I made on that as well.

 

[Fisherguy66]

Yeah, I think I shared that in the little video that I made on that as well.

Well that blows I guess that last option to try is the optical splitter. They seem cheap enough might give it a try.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Well that blows I guess that last option to try is the optical splitter. They seem cheap enough might give it a try.

You don’t want to use the CT1 port?

 

[Fisherguy66]

You don’t want to use the CT1 port?

I just rewatched the vid yea I totally missed/brain farted where you made the splitter and tried the batt port. Yea the CT1 port is the last option but I'd still like to run the eg4 alongside SA. Maybe the splitter will do it on the CT1.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Yeah the CT1 connection is between the dongle and the comms board. I would imagine any connection will override the dongle.

 

[Fisherguy66]

Yeah the CT1 connection is between the dongle and the comms board. I would imagine any connection will override the dongle.

Yea its a crapshoot but for how cheap this splitter is I still might give it a try.