October 5, 20205 yr 9 hours ago, Beat said: My remote panel is powered from the inverter trough the RS232 cable. Mine is powered from RS232 at keypad to serial cable plugged to (serial to usb converter) than to laptop usb. This works at inverter or keypad, my inverter do not have usb connectors.
October 5, 20205 yr 5 hours ago, Coulomb said: It needs to be 2400/N/8/1, but Watchpower will change it if and when needed. Thanks Coulomb. But after I changed the setting in WatchPower nothing happens. When I go back to the serial settings the Baud rate is back to 19200. Locking in the Windows device managers COM port settings it was not set by Watchpower. Setting it there manually did not help. Could it be that I have a screwed up WatchPower version? Or a not working RS232 interface in the remote panel?
October 5, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Gerrie said: Mine is powered from RS232 at keypad to serial cable plugged to (serial to usb converter) than to laptop usb. This works at inverter or keypad, my inverter do not have usb connectors. I do not understand what you mean with keypad.
October 5, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Gerrie said: Sorry I mean the remote display Thanks. But I still do not understand your setup. Could you describe it little more? It is a good idea to use in technical texts for one and the same thing always the same term. Synonyms are good for literary works.
October 5, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, Beat said: Could you describe it little more? See below photo, the blue is the RJ45 and plugs into the remote display at the “Com out” port and the other end with the serial plug and converter goes to the laptop usb.
October 5, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, Gerrie said: See below photo, the blue is the RJ45 and plugs into the remote display at the “Com out” port and the other end with the serial plug and converter goes to the laptop usb. Ok, thanks. This is exactly the same setup I have but doesn't work. I use the RJ45 to 9 pin mini connector cable delivered with the MKS 5K inverter and a HL PL2303 RS232 to USB converter. I wonder if possibly that RJ45 to 9 pin mini connector cable has a wiring error. I wouldn't wonder since the USB (like printer-) cable they delivered was faulty. I had to use a spare USB printer cable to make it work. If I knew the pin out of the remote panel COM Out connector I could check this out. Would it be possible to ring your cable out and let me know?
October 6, 20205 yr 9 hours ago, Beat said: If I knew the pin out of the remote panel COM Out connector https://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?p=57914#p57914 Edit: The above is for the communications board. The remote pane COM out connector should be the same. Edited October 6, 20205 yr by Coulomb
October 6, 20205 yr 6 hours ago, Coulomb said: https://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?p=57914#p57914 Edit: The above is for the communications board. The remote pane COM out connector should be the same. Thanks for the info. I first tried the RS232 connection on the inverter communication board: It works with WatchPower, by the way with 19200 Bd. That tells me that the RJ45/D9 cable is correct and my RS232/USB adapter is working. Either the COM Out connector pinout on the remote panel is different ore its RS232 interface is faulty. How to find out?
October 6, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, Beat said: or its RS232 interface is faulty. How to find out? You could do a sanity check. Between TXD and GND you should see about -12 V. RXD to GND should be fairly high impedance, but I would not expect more than say 100 kΩ. Connecting RXD and GND should send continual breaks, which might result in some change in the output (lots of NAKs, I would imagine). 1 hour ago, Beat said: It works with WatchPower, by the way with 19200 Bd. I'd be very surprised if it was operating at 19 200 bps. Many communications boards are a bit marginal at 9600 bps (used only for flash updates). What makes you say it's operating at 19 200 bps?
October 6, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Coulomb said: I'd be very surprised if it was operating at 19 200 bps. Many communications boards are a bit marginal at 9600 bps (used only for flash updates). What makes you say it's operating at 19 200 bps? It says so in WatchPower Configuration Modbus serial setting.
October 7, 20205 yr 11 hours ago, Beat said: It says so in WatchPower Configuration Modbus serial setting. But the Modbus (RS-485) port is not used for commands; it's used for sending and receiving data to/from the battery BMS. They may use better opto-isolators on that port.
October 7, 20205 yr 6 hours ago, Coulomb said: But the Modbus (RS-485) port is not used for commands; it's used for sending and receiving data to/from the battery BMS. They may use better opto-isolators on that port. Thank you, I just learned something. I got confused because Windows has allocated exactly that COM port as mentioned in Modbus setting to the USB/RS232 adapter. Further more is confusing that Windows device manager has set for that port 9600 Bd transmission speed. I didn't know that WatchPower can be used to monitor BMS of batteries. I monitor mine with PbmTools V2.4 delivered by Averge. I have by the way an argument with them because it can only monitor the pack the RS232 cable is connected to. But I will get to that in another thread.
October 8, 20205 yr On 2020/10/06 at 3:17 PM, Coulomb said: You could do a sanity check. Between TXD and GND you should see about -12 V. RXD to GND should be fairly high impedance, but I would not expect more than say 100 kΩ. Connecting RXD and GND should send continual breaks, which might result in some change in the output (lots of NAKs, I would imagine). I checked this out and found that it is reversed. I get -6V on RXD and nothing on TXD. So I wired an adapter D9 male to female with 2 and 3 crossed. But it doesn't work either. I can see WatchPower periodically sending (polling) but getting no answer from the remote panel. I must assume that there is a fault within the remote panel. The panel is still under guarantee. Can I request a replacement?
October 8, 20205 yr 41 minutes ago, Beat said: The panel is still under guarantee. Can I request a replacement? It sure sounds that way. It doesn't work as advertised.
February 5, 20242 yr On 2016/02/04 at 5:27 AM, Coulomb said: Ah. I figured it out myself, thanks. https://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?p=60727#p60727 I can't see how the inverter's firmware version has anything to do with this. When you change JP1 and JP2, the dry contact terminals are wired straight across the inverter start switch. This allows remote starting of the inverter, at the expense of losing the generator start (relay output) function. I suppose if you needed both, you could make up a small board that plugged into the JP1 and JP2 headers, giving access to the remote start switch without disturbing the relay outputs. Or much easier, just solder some wires to the inverter start switch, and use any sort of switch (or relay contacts) to start the inverter. With all the spare wires in the comms connector, I wonder why they didn't put the remote switch facility on that connector. Maybe it's because the remote switch has battery positive (via one diode) on one side, and they deemed it safer to use separate cables. http://forums.aeva.asn.au/uploads/689/Power_switch.png Hi, I've just found this post after thinking to mod my inverters in a way to be able to (wireless) remote on/off them in a reliable way. It's a pretty old post and maybe someone have found out in the meantime some additional information about this. Here is my situation: I'm running 6 of these 6.5kW inverters (I'm about sure that these are re-branded Axpert Max MKS2-6500 models with different firmware and modified 2 MPPT with 500Voc each) in US 120V/240V split phase setup and want to be able to wireless remote turn the units on and off (via smart home controlled relays, e.g. WiFi or Z-Wave or ZigBee, etc.). My first idea was to add a remote smart finger (something like this) to be able to push and release to buttons remotely. But this is an ugly solution and I would like to insert the remote feature into each unit seamless. My second idea was to unsolder the existing push switch and replace it with a dry contact WiFi relay (e.g. Shelly Plus 1, reflashed with Tasmota to use it via MQTT) and insert a new momentary push button in the existing cutout in the display case (connected to the Shelly relay) to still be able to switch the units manually, also. But it's very less space in the display case to make these changes and it would be a lot of work for 6 of these devices. In your post you've mentioned JP1 and JP2 jumpers to be able to change the inverters dry contact relay's behavior. Instead of using it as the typical generator start/stop it may be used to remote switching on/off the unit itself. This would be a nice solution! You've also attached an electronic schema - but it looks like it does not match my display unit. This is how the unit is described in the manual to be sure that I talk about the right inverter... This is how the inverters are looking in real life: Here is a picture from the PCB (underneath the display). The RJ45 port (11) is on the lower right side and the silver push button left of the RJ45 socket. The jumpers JP1 and JP2 are on the left side, shown with their default positions. In the schema in your post is an "U13" mentioned as an opto-coupler, but in my situation the U13 (just below the RJ45 connector) is just a 5V voltage regulator - because of that, I think the schema in your post has nothing to do with the display PCB, or it's just not matching my unit?! Maybe someone have additional information about this display PCB, e.g. a complete schema or description; maybe the pinout of the LCD connector 11 (RJ45); maybe the functions of the unused connectors on the button left and top left side? Have someone successfully changed the JP1 and JP2 jumpers to change the relay behavior to implement a remote on/off; do I have to change both jumpers? If yes, how is the behavior if the remote chosen on/off state is different to the one with the power push button - is the power button just wired in parallel with the internal dry contact relay (after it's behavior changed with JP1/JP2)? Unfortunately, I don't have a spare display unit to "play around" with it in more detail... I still hope to be able to find a way to reliable turn the units remotely on and off (all 6 at the same time) while not loosing the possibility to still use the manual power switch. Thank you in advance.
February 7, 20242 yr On 2024/02/06 at 1:25 AM, fmeili1 said: The jumpers JP1 and JP2 are on the left side, shown with their default positions. Those jumpers seem a loooong way away from the power switch, with its PCB routing to keep those pins away from the others. I think one of those switch wires has battery positive, and you generally don't want battery positive connecting with other stuff. But they might have a 6 layer board, or maybe they can run that across with just 4 layers, but my suspicion is that the jumpers don't do what they do in earlier models, i.e. reassign the relay terminals to become switch terminals. Have you tried the jumpers in the opposite position? If so, can you switch on the inverter by shorting the external relay pins, when the switch is off? On 2024/02/06 at 1:25 AM, fmeili1 said: do I have to change both jumpers? If yes, how is the behaviour if the remote chosen on/off state is different to the one with the power push button - is the power button just wired in parallel with the internal dry contact relay (after it's behaviour changed with JP1/JP2)? I'm guessing, but I'd say 99% sure you have to change both jumpers. I would guess that the intention is that the switch is then in parallel with two of the "relay" terminals. It would be so nice if they told us how it actually works, wouldn't it? But you should be able to figure out what's going on with a multimeter on "beep" resistance range. Sorry I can't be more help. I don't actually have a removable display handy.
February 14, 20242 yr On 2024/02/07 at 12:28 AM, Coulomb said: Those jumpers seem a loooong way away from the power switch, with its PCB routing to keep those pins away from the others. I think one of those switch wires has battery positive, and you generally don't want battery positive connecting with other stuff. But they might have a 6 layer board, or maybe they can run that across with just 4 layers, but my suspicion is that the jumpers don't do what they do in earlier models, i.e. reassign the relay terminals to become switch terminals. Have you tried the jumpers in the opposite position? Not yet. I don't want to risk a damage so I hesitate to just try this without knowing what would happen. I don't have a spare unit in case something will be damaged. On 2024/02/07 at 12:28 AM, Coulomb said: If so, can you switch on the inverter by shorting the external relay pins, when the switch is off? I'm guessing, but I'd say 99% sure you have to change both jumpers. I would guess that the intention is that the switch is then in parallel with two of the "relay" terminals. It would be so nice if they told us how it actually works, wouldn't it? But you should be able to figure out what's going on with a multimeter on "beep" resistance range. Sorry I can't be more help. I don't actually have a removable display handy. Unfortunately I was not able to find any documentation about this board. When I'll find some time, I'll try to do as you've mentioned to use a multimeter to find out a bit more about how the relay, JP1, JP2 and the power button are wired. Thanks for your help!
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