Warren

Hi all I replace my inverter a while back and connected to the RS232 to USB port. Everything was working fine. It then just stopped working. I noticed at that time my windows had updated. I am a programmer and wrote my own windows service to monitor and store data. It was working well. I tested my USB to RS232 using a loop back plug and it is fine. The software just will not connect anymore. Please has anybody else had this issue or can point me in the correct direction or even a way to test the inverter to make sure its not faulty. I don't believe it is. TIA

Hi All I have some values returned from my Axpert. I am not sure what these values are. Can you guys help me out. Battery Voltage from SCC and SCC Charging which shows a value of 00502 Thanks

Axpert 4KW - 5KVA

Main CPU Version 00052.30 Second Cpu Version 00001.24

So I got watchpower working. I re installed it. I also tried aicc trial but it displays nothing on the summary screen

I did thanks

I am writing my own just have not had much time to spend on it.

Hi All My watchpower software is not logging data. I have checked the following. The port is opened succefully. The page on the app does refresh but data not being logged Ran my own software app I am developing and it is returning data and communicating no problem Does anybody have an idea why? I did notice over the last few days the systry icon kept on popping up with a message related to updates but if I check for updates it says I have the latest version. I updated my java on my pc to the latest too as watchpower was written in java.

Hi all I am planning to add to my current battery bank. Currently I have 4 x 12VDC in series to get required 48VDC for inverter. Batteries are 100AH. I would like to add another bank in the same configuration and then in parallel to up the amps, and yes I know its not good to add new batteries to an older bank. My current bank is not to old yet. Less then 50 cycles. So I have the following questions What effects will I have on charging the 2 series banks in parallel? Should I put the newer series bank infront of the old ones to allow them to start charging first and reduce the strain on the older ones? Can I use a Victron balancer with my axpert and if so how many do I need as I see they only support up to 24VDC? Awaiting your expertiese and any advice, pros and cons.

I have a VT system with 200 lister geyser. The geyserwize controller I have also has a setting to allow water from freezing. Its stupid for our climate as in the last 8 years I have never had water freezing in the collector on the roof so in winter it stats to cycle at night and then starts to pinch the hot water.

//TO SENDSerialPort sp = new SerialPort(); sp.PortName = "COM3"; sp.BaudRate = 2400; sp.DataBits = 8; sp.Parity = Parity.None; sp.StopBits = StopBits.One; sp.Open(); sp.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(DataReceivedHandler); sp.ErrorReceived += new SerialErrorReceivedEventHandler(DataErrorReceivedHandler); ProtocolCommand.command = "QPI"; byte[] tx = ProtocolCommand.GetBytes(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(ProtocolCommand.QPI), CRC16.Calculate(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(ProtocolCommand.QPI)))); sp.Write(tx, 0, tx.Length);//RECIEVE RESPONSESpublic void DataReceivedHandler(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e) { var sp = sender as SerialPort; MemoryStream _rxBuffer = new MemoryStream(); bool _gotResponse = false; if ((sp != null) && (!_gotResponse)) { while (sp.BytesToRead > 0) { byte b = (byte)sp.ReadByte(); _rxBuffer.WriteByte(; if (b == 0x0d) { _gotResponse = true; break; } } } _gotResponse = false; _rxBuffer.Position = 0; SetText(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(_rxBuffer.ToArray())); Datalogger.insertRecord(ProtocolCommand.command, Encoding.ASCII.GetString(_rxBuffer.ToArray())); _rxBuffer.Dispose(); } Hope this helps

Thanks Edmund & Chris. This makes me feel a lot better. My batteries seem to be charging okay as they are still working great with the load I have on them. I played around with the settings last night and from what I found is that when you are on utility it displays battery 100 %. I am assuming that means you have 100 % capacity from the utilities and not from the batteries as I saw it bypassed my batteries after charging them for a few seconds. I don't think they thought it out when they wrote the watchpower software I reverse engineered the watch power software so I can see the code. There is sa lot of code that looks like it is not used eg work in progress. I found a whole bunch of extra protocols commands which are not in the protocol PDFs. I am still going through them to see what the do. I believe as Edmond said the inverter has a temp sensor it could be one of these u known protocols I found Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated.

Hi Chris I was reading through the pdf for my batteries. Apparently even though they are sealed batteries they do have one way pressure valve which allows for venting if they are excessively charged. I have been running them with these settings all day. I am a bit concerned as the LCD charging status on the inverter has been showing its still charging. If I turn the utilities on to charge it shows charging for a few seconds then shows all 4 bars for battery charged. As soon as I go back to battery power it shows 2 bars. I assume the batteries are charged just not sure. The status shows my batteries are at 52 % capacity. Is this possible or is there something I should be concerned about. When I used the default battery settings for AGM the batteries it would charge to 100% capacity with no problem in a day. See attached thumbs.

Hi Chris Can you explain a bit what you mean as I do not understand fully.

Hi ChrisThis is the PDFs for my battery. https://www.dropbox.com/s/lxlu762gaoyi1rk/6fm100p-x____vision_100ah_12v.pdf?dl=0 They are very close in specs except for a couple of subtle differences. I'm sure the values you gave me will work too. Thanks for your help. Really appreciate it.

Hi I am not sure what to set it to. I have 4 time 100ah batteries in series. Each battery has 6 cells. Battery brand Vision 6FM100P-X. I am not sure what to set the following to Floating charging voltage : currently set at 54 volts Bulk charging voltage(C.V. voltage) : currently set at 56.4 volts Battery cut off voltage : currently set at 42 volts Please can someone help me

So I tried to set the cut off voltage to 48 vdc but it will not let me. It returns a message setting = false.

Hi Scott That makes sense. thanks. One question. where are you declaring and getting the values for _gotResponse and _rxBuffer. These look like properties set someware.

Hi all Have a few generic questions for all the boffens on this forum. My Axpert 5kva software displays the battery capacity in percentage value. Does this value represent the total discarge and drain of the batteries. So in other words I must only use up to the 50 % mark. The floating voltage is 54vdc and the cut off voltage is 42vdc so a difference of 12vdc. Does the 42vdc mean the batteries are completely drained. If a 105ah battery with a current draw of 1 amp will take 105 hours to drain completely then how does it work when you have 4 x 105ah in series. I know the inverter software wattage used is not accurate and I know that the Efergy monitor is not accurate either but does say in the documentation on the web that it is about 5% to 10 % out. Which one out of the two is more accurate as I see the inverter software fluctuates erratically. Does anybody know how to caclulate the battery capacity in percentage left over in the batteries.

Thats great I am glad I could assist as it is frustrating when you are stuck. I am now stuck with the problem where the eventhandler sometimes reads only half the data for example Protocol QPIGS request (000.0 00.0 230.3 50.0 0298 0228 005 408 where it is supposed to return (000.0 00.0 230.3 50.0 0298 0228 005 408 50.80 000 086 0049 0000 054.6 50.74 00004 00010110 00 00 00010 110?` I know why it does it just not sure how to get around it. It reads the receive buffer before it has completed buffering. So I need to find a way to see when the response is complete. I think it has to DTR but I need to do some more research

To be honest and blunt I dont really care if it is a bit inaccurate as long as it works and I dont drain my batteries to fast and I have lights when loadshedding starts and I also have a ROI.

I must admit that the efergy monitor is quite accurate from my calculations between amps drawn and voltage which I tested a few years ago as I was doubting the accuracy myself at one point.

I realized that the batteries were charged so I scanned through the decompiled watchpower and it looks like a bug in the software. I am trying to map out all the logic faults hardware and software wise. It just takes time which I don't really have. I only get to play with the software late at night or on weekends. Very tough life when you do programming for a living and then get home and carry on. lol

The other possibility is and I'm assuming you are using a sub to rs232 connector is that I have heard dome of them don't work properly but then again you are receiving data back with the coms sniffer. I cannot think of anything else. Sorry. I hope you get it right as I struggled too for a few days till Scott helped me figure it out. ?