I climbed up and I am back on single string of 6 panels, she is already much happier.  And I understand better now about the 2nd string, and realise I would need a similar number of panels to make that option worth while.   Thanks all.

I helped my friend with a 60 panel installation last year, and he has also just responded that he is losing generation due to the heat.  It should be cooler after today's 40C, so I'll see if she is less sun-shy tomorrow. 

Anyway I have to delay the firmware until I can find a windows machine and some gloves to use it  

I suspect the models 'II' and 'I' distinguish the twin vs single, but here they only seem to be marketing the single (maybe dropping the 'I'), and the 'E' is the removable display vs the newer ugly round glowing disco things.  I was a bit disappointed when that tiny bar started glowing on mine!  Probably that's why the fans have to run all night    Maybe I try to find a passive cooled unit once I bricked this one

 

@Coulomb Is there a different firmware file for the removable 'WiFi only' display please?  Maybe I can find some strings in there to help with my WiFi utility I started.  So far I worked out port 58899 on 192.168.88.n subnet.  I see a 'set>server...' message, and can trigger a 'rsp>server=1;' but then I think I got a bit stuck.

 

14 minutes ago, whitehexagon said:

I suspect the models 'II' and 'I' distinguish the twin vs single, but here they only seem to be marketing the single (maybe dropping the 'I')

Not marketing; I is with old chipset, II is with new chipset; and twin is different of this 2.

 

ah ok thanks! then I have to get it off the wall and check the chip.

Just been measuring up for extra panels but I think I actually need a bigger roof top...

18 minutes ago, whitehexagon said:

 

ah ok thanks! then I have to get it off the wall and check the chip.

Just been measuring up for extra panels but I think I actually need a bigger roof top...

You should read carefully what i written few posts ago; flashing a firmware is not a joke;

pay attention that such inverter have 2 firmwares: one for communication& parameters ( remote display) and one for own management.

Edited July 12, 20233 yr by Solar RO

On 2023/07/12 at 6:10 PM, whitehexagon said:

I suspect the models 'II' and 'I' distinguish the twin vs single, but here they only seem to be marketing the single (maybe dropping the 'I'), and the 'E' is the removable display vs the newer ugly round glowing disco things.

On 2023/07/12 at 6:27 PM, Solar RO said:

Not marketing; I is with old chipset, II is with new chipset;

Err, as far as I know, Voltronic never talked about an Expert Max I or Max 1. The original Maxs had the removable display, they are now called the Axpert Max E, and the IIs are the ones with the round colour display in three sections.

Both of these can come in Twin versions; these have two AC outputs.

I believe that they can also come in Duplex variants, which have two AC inputs.

Firmware seems to be different for all these variants.

On 2023/07/12 at 6:10 PM, whitehexagon said:

Is there a different firmware file for the removable 'WiFi only' display please?

Sorry, I don't know. WiFi and Bluetooth for Voltronic inverters are still a mystery for me. I suspect that there is a third processor on these models, and you get the firmware for that chip (a 40 pin chip, possibly an ARM variant with built-in support for WiFi or Bluetooth), and that version number should appear in the U3 data page. But I often seem to see 00 00 or 88 88 as the U3 version number, which seems to indicate that this chip is not present, or at least the firmware version number has not transferred. I also have no idea how you would reflash the firmware in this chip, and I've never seen a firmware update file for these. Maybe 88.88 is the actual version number of (one of the) wireless firmware(s).

I do know that the wireless chip, if present, talks to the display processor over one of the 4 RS-232 ports. And it should communicate its version number via a "VERFW:" command, similar to the way that 145 V max solar charge controller MCUs send their version number to the DSP. That version number is indeed initialised to "00.00".

So my wild guess is that they use a slightly different wireless chip and antenna for WiFi versus Bluetooth, and that as yet, there is no way to update the firmware for that chip. Hence, there would be no simple way to change from WiFi to Bluetooth or vice versa. And if you're missing both, there isn't much you can do about it. But again, these are wild guesses.

[  Edit: Duo → Duplex ]

Edited October 23, 20241 yr by Coulomb

I switched the panels into their summer configuration of ~25deg (winter I have them steeper).  I hadnt changed them thinking I'd have energy to spare in summer...  Anyway I get a slightly better 2.1kW (up from 1.9kW) full sun day.  But another cloudy day yesterday was giving brief highs of 2.7kW (and 250V vs 225V).  So I decided to try the firmware 57.61.

So I followed instructions, opened up the inverter, identified 2809 chip (thanks to great pictures in the thread below, thanks!).

I spliced a 1k resistor into the serial cable.  Borrowed an old WinXP machine, checked com port (only COM1), and checked the software was running.  All good, removed all the house load and solar input just in case, connected the serial cable and started the update... 'UPG YES' appeared, and then the house power shut down...  along with the PC and monitor... I guess I needed a laptop   Anyway she has been rebooted and is luckily running fine.

 

 

 

So I tried the 11k inverter update again using another win7 machine I borrowed, with my existing USB/RS232 FTDI adapter.  No luck, and when I checked under the melted cover I can see why! (attached).  So I took an old FTDI used on some arduino projects and soldered up a serial port, also no luck.  But I read 3.3V might be too low, switched it to 5V, and still no luck, just says failed to open serial port.  So I guess I order a new USB/Serial adapter to try.