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Axpert 5 kVA patched firmware 72.70c


Coulomb

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1 hour ago, ebrsa said:

Has anyone upgraded to 72.70c firmware yet and what was your experience with it. I am hoping to upgrade later today.

Yip, i've been using it for almost a week and it seems to be working great. I do have one issue but i'm starting to think its not related to the firmware.... I'm still investigating on my side, i suspect the ICC software has a bug. 

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I just upgraded and all seems fine. Had a fright when Reflash crashed. Device manager picked up COM2 which worked in the past but could be the cause of the Reflash crash. Changed to another USB port on my netbook and Win7 picked it up as COM1 and Reflash worked fine. Maybe something to look out for, I just don't know. Perhaps @Coulomb or @weber will have a view on the matter.

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3 hours ago, ebrsa said:

I just upgraded and all seems fine. Had a fright when Reflash crashed. Device manager picked up COM2 which worked in the past but could be the cause of the Reflash crash. Changed to another USB port on my netbook and Win7 picked it up as COM1 and Reflash worked fine. Maybe something to look out for, I just don't know. Perhaps @Coulomb or @weber will have a view on the matter.

I'll advise to ensure that your usb-to-serial cable com port is changed to COM1. Always check in the Device manager. 

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You only need it to be COM1 for reflashing SCC firmware. I've been doing a lot of main firmware reflashes in the past two months, debugging the patches. And I find that maybe one time in 5 or 10 it seems to get stuck sending the first packet. I know it's gone wrong when I see it telling me it will take 10 minutes or more, instead of the usual 8 minutes and some seconds. At that point I stop the reflash, cycle the power to the inverter, and restart the reflash. It seems like the inverter was in the wrong state somehow when the reflash started. But it's nothing to worry about. It always reflashes properly after cycling the (battery) power to the inverter.

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Thanks @weber for your reply. The inverters were connected to batteries only for the flashing. I rebooted the netbook but also disconnected the batteries and reconnected to ensure a fresh restart for the inverters. All was well then. In the past I have never had any problems when using COM2 but did use only COM1 as required when flashing SCC firmware which thanks to your and @Coulomb 's efforts is no longer required. @PurePower I did check the COM port with Device Manager but with the first USB port used, only COM2 was available. When I plugged the RS232 to USB converter into another USB port, only COM1 was available. I don't find the weird Win7 behavior strange having had to deal with the idiosyncrasies of Microsoft products since MS-Dos saw the light of day some 36 years ago.

Edited by ebrsa
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  • 2 months later...
On 11/7/2017 at 10:44 AM, Coulomb said:

My colleague Weber and I have been working on a new version of the patched firmware. It's still based on 72.70. since that's the latest firmware that we have files for. For various reasons, he's been doing the majority of the work on this patch. It's been an amazing job: some 5 weeks of work, over 60 individual patches, and there is a complete new charge control mode called dynamic current limit control. The latter is complex enough that it has its own manual.

For users with lead acid batteries, the dynamic current limit probably won't be of much interest, but for users of paralleled systems there is a bug fix that should improve charging.

There is a quicker transition from line (utility, bypass) mode to battery mode, but I'm not happy with that part of things yet, and I am still investigating. But transitions are under a minute now, and it seems to me that they were much slower than that in both standard firmware and patched firmware before now.

Finally, it's no longer necessary to update the SCC firmware, which was always a bit more of a hassle for users than the DSP firmware.

It's beta software, so please try it if you're keen. But if you're cautious or not very confident about changing firmware, hold back for the "production" release, which will be called 72.70c, and will hopefully only be a week or so away.

Details are on this AEVA page: http://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?p=65938 . [ Edit: It's now released. See the release post instead. ]

[ Edit: removed the word "Beta" from the start of the topic title.  ]

Does this frimware have the Litium Iron support and battery equalization option?

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thanks Bwana Chris.
      I am aware about the Li-Ion charging system.  I have two systems with different banks hence why I was asking. On another note, have you noticed with the expert MKS units, that the panels sometimes go off by itself and that the only way to restore their activity is by doing a "restore to default" setting via Watch power?

 

Cheers

s

 

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3 minutes ago, Shiggi Patel said:

  I have two systems with different banks hence why I was asking.

There are two version's of Coulomb's firmware. One for LiFePO4 and one for other chemistries (Lead Acid, Lead Crystal etc.)

5 minutes ago, Shiggi Patel said:


 On another note, have you noticed with the expert MKS units, that the panels sometimes go off by itself and that the only way to restore their activity is by doing a "restore to default" setting via Watch power?

That is unusual. I have seen the MPPT reset but this only that a couple of seconds

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  • 11 months later...
17 hours ago, kobus joubert said:

It indicates LC1 72.70c on the panel.  Should be LF1 72.70c for my Pylontech.

Exactly.

17 hours ago, kobus joubert said:

Now this is the thing when people sell something and don't know their products.

The sold me an inverter flashed for Lead Acid batteries but supplied me Li-Ion batteries in the kit.

If your inverter came with patched firmware, then it's a clone. I hope that you are able to re-flash it; some clones can be re-flashed; others don't seem to be able to.

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2 hours ago, kobus joubert said:

Give it a go or live with it as is.

Definitely give it a go. As far as I know, when the clones fail to update, the Reflash Tool simply fails to progress. Cycle the battery power on the inverter to restore normal operation.

While unlikely, it's even possible that the clones that don't update are due to operator error, or incompatible USB to RS232 adaptors.

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20 hours ago, kobus joubert said:

Should be LF1 72.70c for my Pylontech.

I should have mentioned earlier: you should go for the LFP version of 73.00e; I guess that's not so obvious these days with all the different firmware versions.

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  • 2 months later...

 

Chris -

I am completely new to this.

Please help:

I have two Axperts - 5kva (4000w). 

One is using firmware 52.30. The other 72.70c. The obviously do not want to talk to each other in parallel.

I need to upgrade the 52.30. That much I have figured. I think. 

I need reflashing software? Where do I get that from?

Then I will need to connect to the unit. My laptop does not have a serial port. There is a cable - one end looks like a printer and the other USB. Can I use that?

Thanks

 

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15 hours ago, Johan Conradie said:

I have two Axperts - 5kva (4000w). 

One is using firmware 52.30. The other 72.70c. The obviously do not want to talk to each other in parallel.

Not totally obvious; I had to look it up myself in the Parallel Compatibility post on AEVA. A lot of the 72.XX firmwares (XX ≥ 40) are compatible with each other, and even to 73.00. But alas, 72.70 is in a category of its own. 

Quote

I need to upgrade the 52.30. That much I have figured. I think. 

Well, it depends if you want to stay with 72.70c on the other one, or indeed if you can update the other one at all. It happens that one of the common clone models comes with patched firmware version 72.70c, and many or most of these can't be updated at all. You should first find out Do I Own a Clone?

If your inverter with 72.70c is a clone, then you have only one choice, you have to update the other one to patched firmware version 72.70c.

If you can and want to update to the latest firmware for both machines, you would update both to patched firmware version 73.00e. See Can I update my firmware, and if so to what? 

Quote

I need reflashing software? Where do I get that from?

All the software you need is in one .zip file. You need a Windows computer. 

Quote

Then I will need to connect to the unit. My laptop does not have a serial port. There is a cable - one end looks like a printer and the other USB. Can I use that?

You need the cable that came with your computer, with a DB-9 at one end, and an RJ-45 connector at the other (it has 8 gold fingers, with wires going to only 3 of them). You will also need a suitable USB to RS232 adapter. It's all in the Firmware Update Instructions

You can find links to the firmware update files from the first page of the PIP-4048 and PIP-5048 Inverters page.

You will need either

Patched firmware version 72.70c  (it's marked as obsolete firmware in the index, but in some cases you still need it.)

or

Patched firmware version 73.00e .

[ Edit: 72.70e → 72.70c. Added links for patched firmware. Added note re 72.70c obsolescence. ]

Edited by Coulomb
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11 hours ago, Coulomb said:

Not totally obvious; I had to look it up myself in the Parallel Compatibility post on AEVA. A lot of the 72.XX firmwares (XX ≥ 40) are compatible with each other, and even to 73.00. But alas, 72.70 is in a category of its own. 

Well, it depends if you want to stay with 72.70c on the other one, or indeed if you can update the other one at all. It happens that one of the common clone models comes with patched firmware version 72.70c, and many or most of these can't be updated at all. You should first find out Do I Own a Clone?

If your inverter with 72.70c is a clone, then you have only one choice, you have to update the other one to patched firmware version 72.70c.

If you can and want to update to the latest firmware for both machines, you would update both to patched firmware version 73.00e. See Can I update my firmware, and if so to what? 

All the software you need is in one .zip file. You need a Windows computer. 

You need the cable that came with your computer, with a DB-9 at one end, and an RJ-45 connector at the other (it has 8 gold fingers, with wires going to only 3 of them). You will also need a suitable USB to RS232 adapter. It's all in the Firmware Update Instructions

You can find links to the firmware update files from the first page of the PIP-4048 and PIP-5048 Inverters page.

You will need either

Patched firmware version 72.70c  (it's marked as obsolete firmware in the index, but in some cases you still need it.)

or

Patched firmware version 73.00e .

[ Edit: 72.70e → 72.70c. Added links for patched firmware. Added note re 72.70c obsolescence. ]

Thank you for the time you took to give me a complete and seemingly uncomplicated answer. Newbies have a lot to learn 😉 I really appreciate that. I have downloaded the firmware and I have bought a cable (hopefully) the correct one. 1st May is the day to sit and do this. 🙂

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6 hours ago, Johan Conradie said:

Thank you for the time you took to give me a complete and seemingly uncomplicated answer. Newbies have a lot to learn 😉 I really appreciate that. I have downloaded the firmware and I have bought a cable (hopefully) the correct one. 1st May is the day to sit and do this. 🙂

 

 

6 hours ago, Johan Conradie said:

Thank you for the time you took to give me a complete and seemingly uncomplicated answer. Newbies have a lot to learn 😉 I really appreciate that. I have downloaded the firmware and I have bought a cable (hopefully) the correct one. 1st May is the day to sit and do this. 🙂

Hi, the inverter is, as far as I read your posts I have a clone (52.30) 😞  If that is really bad or not, I am not sure.  So, I bought the cable. It connects fine. I have set it to COMM1. Up to there, everything worked fine. Then, the sad message: "Cannot open serial port". Ouch. Any other magic suggestions?

Edited by Johan Conradie
grammar
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7 hours ago, Johan Conradie said:

Hi, the inverter is, as far as I read your posts I have a clone (52.30) 😞 

I've not heard of a clone that comes with 52.30, so I suspect that one will be upgradeable. Clones only started coming out in 2015, when 52.30 was obsolete. Firmware updates were freely available back then, so why not clone the latest?

Quote

If that is really bad or not, I am not sure. 

Some of them seem to be fine. But the hassle is, some can't be updated.

Quote

the sad message: "Cannot open serial port". Ouch. Any other magic suggestions?

* Are you sure that it is the USB to RS232 adapter that is COM1? Check that it goes away in Device Manager when you pull the USB plug.

* Is COM1 (or whatever your USB to RS232 adapter turns up as) the serial port selected in the reflash tool?

* Are the cables correct? It should be PC → USB-to-serial-adapter → DB-9-to-RJ45-cable → inverter (COMMs port, not the USB port).

* You could try the other inverter, even though I suspect it (the one with 72.70c) won't update.

* You could try talking to the inverter with the WatchPower software (either from the provided CD rom, or from this page. That would at least tell you if the serial port is communicating. Don't use the USB port, since this won't test the serial port you need to use with the reflash tool. NOTE: WatchPower runs in the background and ties up the serial port. It will also run automatically when you reboot. So when attempting to use the reflash tool, you now have to exit WatchPower not by closing the window, but via the system tray (see the firmware upload instructions for details).

It's so hard to debug these things over a forum with an 8 hour time zone difference. Keep trying, I'm pretty sure your older inverter with 52.30 will update.

Edited by Coulomb
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10 hours ago, Coulomb said:

I've not heard of a clone that comes with 52.30, so I suspect that one will be upgradeable. Clones only started coming out in 2015, when 52.30 was obsolete. Firmware updates were freely available back then, so why not clone the latest?

Some of them seem to be fine. But the hassle is, some can't be updated.

* Are you sure that it is the USB to RS232 adapter that is COM1? Check that it goes away in Device Manager when you pull the USB plug.

* Is COM1 (or whatever your USB to RS232 adapter turns up as) the serial port selected in the reflash tool?

* Are the cables correct? It should be PC → USB-to-serial-adapter → DB-9-to-RJ45-cable → inverter (COMMs port, not the USB port).

* You could try the other inverter, even though I suspect it (the one with 72.70c) won't update.

* You could try talking to the inverter with the WatchPower software (either from the provided CD rom, or from this page. That would at least tell you if the serial port is communicating. Don't use the USB port, since this won't test the serial port you need to use with the reflash tool. NOTE: WatchPower runs in the background and ties up the serial port. It will also run automatically when you reboot. So when attempting to use the reflash tool, you now have to exit WatchPower not by closing the window, but via the system tray (see the firmware upload instructions for details).

It's so hard to debug these things over a forum with an 8 hour time zone difference. Keep trying, I'm pretty sure your older inverter with 52.30 will update.

 

10 hours ago, Coulomb said:

I've not heard of a clone that comes with 52.30, so I suspect that one will be upgradeable. Clones only started coming out in 2015, when 52.30 was obsolete. Firmware updates were freely available back then, so why not clone the latest?

Some of them seem to be fine. But the hassle is, some can't be updated.

* Are you sure that it is the USB to RS232 adapter that is COM1? Check that it goes away in Device Manager when you pull the USB plug.

* Is COM1 (or whatever your USB to RS232 adapter turns up as) the serial port selected in the reflash tool?

* Are the cables correct? It should be PC → USB-to-serial-adapter → DB-9-to-RJ45-cable → inverter (COMMs port, not the USB port).

* You could try the other inverter, even though I suspect it (the one with 72.70c) won't update.

* You could try talking to the inverter with the WatchPower software (either from the provided CD rom, or from this page. That would at least tell you if the serial port is communicating. Don't use the USB port, since this won't test the serial port you need to use with the reflash tool. NOTE: WatchPower runs in the background and ties up the serial port. It will also run automatically when you reboot. So when attempting to use the reflash tool, you now have to exit WatchPower not by closing the window, but via the system tray (see the firmware upload instructions for details).

It's so hard to debug these things over a forum with an 8 hour time zone difference. Keep trying, I'm pretty sure your older inverter with 52.30 will update.

Hi, the screen says COMM1 has been opened, but it does not do the update. Since I have really too little knowledge and a forum is, as you say a difficult place to sort these issues out: I am fearful of breaking / bricking. I will do some re-wiring and spread some of the load in order to balance both inverters out. That way I will be able to use the ± 10Kva available but in a different way. I thank you kindly for the time you have spent with me. Sad that it did not work out. Rather safe than sorry. Best wishes.

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