Axpert Wi-Fi card and box.

[Gerswan]

Hello all.

I was wondering if someone is perhaps using the wi-fi card and box described in the attached brochure.

Would like to, if possible, attach it to a Mecer Axpert MKS 5K (sol-i-ax-5p) to help “DOOM!” the float bug.

Thank you for any response.

[Youda]

Hi @Gerswan

these two cards, wifi and gprs, are logging the stats to the server located at www.power-datacenter.com

Here are the user guides:

• http://power-datacenter.com/cmc/help/GPRS.pdf
• http://power-datacenter.com/cmc/help/WIFI.pdf

 

T card uses this address for logging the data: http://www.power-datacenter.com/cmmq/dataCenter
And this address is being used for checking the existence of a new firmware: http://www.power-datacenter.com/fw/wifi/

If you try both links mentioned above, you will find that the logging link actually works, and there's even a script at that address that replies like this:

                             

For a shame, second link, the one to the firmware, does not even exist on the server:

                           

 

Based on the above, I would say that these cards will not be able to deliver a continuous stream of fresh firmware bugware for your inverter

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Youda

[Gerswan]

Thank you, Youda.

I’ve been following discussions concerning the “pv freeze” on the forum for the last two months. My system was installed two months ago and the pv panels have continuously, except for a few days maybe, disconnected between 08:00 and 9:00 in the morning. There were suggestions that a firmware update could solve the problem. When I noticed the brochure on the Voltronics website yesterday, I thought it may be a way to communicate more successfully with the inverter.

The installers supplied me with an incorrect USB cable. Once I realized that I could use my printer’s USB cable, I have been able to use Watchpower to examine the settings and change the float voltage 0.1V up and immediately 0.1V down again for the panels to connect and remain connected.  for the rest of the day. They also supplied me with a battery incompatible with the Axpert, according to some.

I downloaded the Wifi box user manual. I don’t know, however, if the Wifi box is available in South Africa and where to get it, if available. Maybe you know? (Maybe updated firmware will show up some day!)

Thank you in advance.

[Youda]

For a shame, I'm located in the Europe, so I don't have an experince with SA stores and eshops.

In my country, almost every store that sells Axperts have these boxes on stock too. Cost of the wifibox is roughly R1000 here. So, I would suggest you not to be afraid and just ask some of the major PV stores - maybe that they are not advertising it, but they have couple of these on the shelf

Other option is this, well-known seller on the ebay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/maximum_solar

This version is for Axpert aka PIP: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WIFI-BOX-for-MPP-SOLAR-Brand-inverter/132752369193

 

Speaking of the BUG, I can imagine a workaround that will automatically issue +-0.1V float voltage change every 10 minutes between 8:00-9:00 in order to unfreeze the inverter. An experienced IT guy can script this using a Raspberry microcontroller that will be connected to your Axpert via USB cable. OR, if you plan to add ICC monitoring to your inverter, then you could probably ask creators of ICC whether they would agree to implement such "unfreeze" feature in the next release of ICC.

 

To be honest, there's a years-long issue with firmware updates for Axperts and InfiniSolars as their manufacturer is not willing to publish updates for download anymore. Therefore, to get a new firmware is tougher than 4yrs ago

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Youda

[Gerswan]

I will consider the options you suggest.

It’s not possible to express my gratitude in words.

[flltech]

The firmware upgrade is actually for GPRS/WIFI firmware and not the inverter firmware. 

[Gerswan]

Thank you, flltech.

I followed the links Youda provided but the sellers don’t seem to ship to South Africa. I managed to get hold of a company near Johannesburg RSA and sent them an email. They promised to contact me during the week.

Good news, however.

I might just have managed to pin down the correct combination of bulk and float voltages as well as charge current for the battery. (Nowhere close to the settings the installer left on the inverter.) Today is the fifth day in a row that the panels remained connected all day.

The bad news is I noticed that SolatPower software has more options than WatchPower software. It does, however, not recognize the inverter via the USB port. Maybe I should use the RS232 or parallel (15 pin?) port, but I don’t have cables, yet.

In a way I’m relieved that the installer’s promises to send technicians to solve the problem were empty promises. I have learned and is still learning a lot. Solar’s not for sissies – especially when you deal with Axperts and not experts!

[Youda]

23 minutes ago, Gerswan said:

The bad news is I noticed that SolatPower software has more options than WatchPower software. It does, however, not recognize the inverter via the USB port. Maybe I should use the RS232 or parallel (15 pin?) port, but I don’t have cables, yet.

For your machine (Mecer Axpert MKS 5K Sol-i-ax-5p) only WatchPower will work.

The SolarPower software is only for the Hybrid machines....and that's the main reason why there's much more settings in it - because hybrid machines have more complicated guts.

[Gerswan]

Thank you, Youda.

Sjoe, I IS not still learning (as in my previous post above), I AM still learning!

This is how the inverter is advertised, though. Sticker on the inverter also says SOL-I-AX-5P.

Just want to make sure.

[Youda]

What a magic box - described by the seller as a hybrid and off-grid machine at the same time! Technically, it sounds like having submarine, that can fly too

The truth is that Axpert MKS is an off-grid inverter, just like 99% of Axperts. It needs WatchPower software and won't work with SolarPower SW.

 

 

Axperts, off-grid inverters from Voltronic look like this:

 

InfiniSolar aka MPI hybrid, hybrid inverters from Voltronic:

 

 

[Gerswan]

Thank you very, very much. I appreciate your sense of humour.

What is left for me to do is ask a local electrician to re-install my inverter – upside down. At least it will LOOK like a hybrid then – comparing the right most photo in the middle row to the photo of my inverter!

Maybe I could then spray paint it green to make it lithium battery compatible!

But seriously, once I was able to use WatchPower, it assisted a lot in fine tuning the settings – float voltage, bulk voltage, charge current, back to battery voltage, low battery cut-off voltage – all within the battery’s specifications. I almost feel like ordering a second battery!

I have seen a lot of complaints about the SOC % in WatchPower. Switching on the kettle made it drop to something like 50% in my case. With the present settings, no less than 98%. That’s what I wanted SolarPower for – to keep it at 100%!

[Youda]

1 hour ago, Gerswan said:

I have seen a lot of complaints about the SOC % in WatchPower. Switching on the kettle made it drop to something like 50% in my case. With the present settings, no less than 98%. That’s what I wanted SolarPower for – to keep it at 100%!

Well, SOC measurement does not happen in the software, it's done by the internal circuits of the inverter. The complaints are related to the fact, that these inverters are not really measuring SOC, but they are guessing it from the voltage of the batteries. With the lead-acid batteries, the voltage has direct relationship to the SOC as empty lead-acid battery has a very low voltage, while a full battery has a high voltage.

But with the lithium batteries, there's no such direct relation between the voltage and the SOC. Therefore, inverters are confused and constantly complaining of low voltage, or reporting 100% SoC when there's no load and 50% SoC when a kettle is being powered by the inverter.

 

If you move the low-voltage cut-off value in the configuration of the inverter to the very low voltage, the inverter will report that battery is 90% full, all the time and wont switch to the ESKOM. BUT, if the batteries will be really drained, it wont switch to the ESKOM too and will continue to discharge the batteries to death.

Therefore, it's crucial to combine lithium with a sort of BMS or a an intelligent monitoring device that can tell the inverter that it has to switch to ESKOM. I can't recall what exact type of batteries you have, but for your inverter the most popular monitoring device is called ICC. Just search for iccsoftware.co.za or centurionsolar.co.za.

BTW - based on the photo, your inverter is Axpert, off-grid box.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Youda

[Gerswan]

Thank you for the explanation on SOC.

Things are becoming more clear, but less shocking. To think I could have paid R40 000 or R50 000 more (which I stated perfectly willing to do) for an inverter doing the adjustments I am trying to do (for a very low load), by itself and accurately all the time and according to the particular load. (My questions beforehand were all answered either dishonestly or ignorantly.)

To summarize:

The back to grid voltage (which I left unchanged at default value 46.0V) seems to have kicked in correctly at one stage. The battery's internal (?) BMS, I suppose.

The low cut-off voltage (originally set at 42.0V) I changed to 40.6V (should be >40.5V according to the battery specifications).

With these settings, the bulk voltage set at 54.3V and the float voltage at 54.0V, this is what happens in the morning when the panels charge the battery:

Battery voltage and SOC% increase gradually to 54.3V (100% SOC) (also according to the multimeter attached to the battery). This is the bulk charge (?) stage I suppose.

Then there is a charge-discharge-charge stage (the absorb stage (?) I suppose) until the charging stops and voltage remains on 54.3V for a while. It finally settles at 54.0V (100% SOC) (the float stage (?) I suppose). The multimeter shows the same voltages that appear in WatchPower. The crude SOC (four LED lights) as well as the battery being fully charged (one LED quick blink, long off, quick blink) on the battery seem to be in agreement.

It was during the above “absorb stage” that the panels used to disconnect and remained disconnected for the rest of the day. With the present settings there are momentary disconnect-connect incidents during the “absorb stage” and the panels finally remain connected at 54.0V (100% SOC).

In the evenings, setting 01 on SOL (solar only), things happen more smoothly and there doesn’t seem to be an “absorb stage”.

 

Again, no disconnected panels this morning.

I will continue to monitor (although I am not a(n) SAPS member!) the value of setting 29 (low cut-off voltage). Thank you for the warning.

 

[SteveC]

Hi all,

I have one of these 'wifi boxes' and it stopped working yesterday - it's no longer uploading to power-datacenter.com. Anyone else got one? It appears the firmware updated yesterday!

 

Cheers,

Steve

[SeanM]

Greetings All 

 

I recently purchase a wifi box for my axpert and for the life of me am unable to set it up I get to the stage where is says change from AP to station but it won't. Says that you need to restart so I do but still cant change to station mode.

 

Any advice please.

 

Regards

Sean

[0 |>\/\/3|<|<3Я]

Has anyone managed to get a wifi module working with an Axpert King? Would this be recommended instead of the Centurion Solar ICC module for monitoring?

[Paul Saccani]

On 2019/08/05 at 3:34 AM, Youda said:

Well, SOC measurement does not happen in the software, it's done by the internal circuits of the inverter. The complaints are related to the fact, that these inverters are not really measuring SOC, but they are guessing it from the voltage of the batteries. With the lead-acid batteries, the voltage has direct relationship to the SOC as empty lead-acid battery has a very low voltage, while a full battery has a high voltage.

Not so, SOC is indeed done in firmware.  Hence the firmware revision incorporating "KettleComp"downloadable from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association forum.  Not sure about how to interpret that Voltronic part number.  If it has a maximum solar input voltage of 145VDC on the MPPT SCC it might be equivalent to the MPPsolar PIP5048MS, so that firmware update may be usable.  MPPsolar are another badge on Voltronic units, not a clone.  Kettle Compensation uses the discharge current to modify the SOC indication, making it dependent not just on battery voltage, but integrating the discharge current when assessing SOC.  Take a look at fourms.aeva.asn.au - unfortunately it will take some digging to find the firmware and whether or not it is usable in this case, and whether or not it will be worthwhile for the battery chemistry in question.  If the firmware is applicable to this unit, "AussieView" makes the display more usable, even if kettlecomp doesn't help with SOC indication.

hope this helps.

regards,

Paul Saccani

Western Australia

[SeanM]

Greetings All

 

I have a wifi box for my axpert machine and have managed to set it up. 

My question is this I can see all my data but am unable to see the kwh usage per hour, day and month any advise.

 

Kind Regards

Sean

 

[Coulomb]

19 hours ago, SeanM said:

but am unable to see the kwh usage per hour, day and month

Axperts don't collect that information. Infinis do, but they're a different beast. If you need or want this data, you'll somehow have to collect it yourself, or get a monitoring program to calculate it.

[Jan Wiid]

Greetings Axpert experts,

I recently got the wifi module for the Axpert(Kodak) King 5kW, but I get stuck with the setup, I can connect to the Wifi module, but cannot move to the next stage where I need to configure my own wifi for the module to use(Step 3 of the attached manual). Is there perhaps a specific firmware I should have on the King? I bought the King in February 2021, so I would hope it has the latest firmware loaded.

Any help and direction will be much appreciated.

Regards,

Jan

FCS-WiFi-Card-User-Manual-1.pdf

[Coulomb]

7 hours ago, Jan Wiid said:

I bought the King in February 2021, so I would hope it has the latest firmware loaded.

You can't assume that. Inverters typically sit in warehouses or on retail shelves for many weeks. Once the inverter is sealed in a box, they won't update the firmware.

[Jan Wiid]

Thanks Coulomb,

 

I can confirm it is 71.93 on the main, and 2.60 on the secondary.

 

I am not sure what the SCC is, but that shows as 00.00

[Coulomb]

1 hour ago, Jan Wiid said:

I can confirm it is 71.93 on the main, and 2.60 on the secondary.

That's the same combination I got mine in, which arrived about a week ago. Including "not sure" for the SCC  (You need to check during the day with panels connected.)

[Jan Wiid]

Thanks again,

We are busy with the panel installation today and will revert back

[Calvin]

48 minutes ago, Coulomb said:

which arrived about a week ago

Great news for all King owners!