October 7, 20196 yr Hi I recently bought and MPP PIP 5058MK inverter and also the wifibox and a small wifi card See Pictures) unfortunately, the wifi card did not come with any cable for power and the manual that came with it did not mention anything about it How do I get this thing powered on? what cables do I need? Thanks
October 7, 20196 yr 3 hours ago, hancock said: I recently bought and MPP PIP 5058MK inverter Do you mean a PIP-5048MK? Equivalent to an Axpert King 5 kW? Or perhaps there were two typos and it's a PIP-5048MS? Quote and also the wifibox and a small wifi card See Pictures) Um, that looks like a small RS-232 card for an Axpert MKS. Nothing WiFi about it. In fact, it looks exactly like the 2014 card in this post, right down to the part number. Except that yours is missing the power connector. 3 hours ago, hancock said: unfortunately, the wifi card did not come with any cable for power and the manual that came with it did not mention anything about it How do I get this thing powered on? what cables do I need? I think you've been provided the wrong card. I'd take it up with your supplier. The card in your photos is (I believe) powered through the HFPW+ and HFPW- pins of the 2-pin connector, which strangely isn't populated on your board. Maybe it can be powered through the HFPW+ and GND connections on the 6-pin connector. But your PIP-5048MK (if that's what it is) has the serial port built in, and I don't think it has the 6-pin plug for that card (as the PIP-5048MS would). It's all very odd.
October 7, 20196 yr Author Hi Coulomb Yes its the PIP-5048MK model AKA Axpert King I was sent the wifi box and this wifi card (which I have been starring at and wondering what am i suppose to do with it) see pictures I can connect the wifi box directly to the inverter with the supplied cable but there is no wifi acces point to connect to when I check for wifi on my system as described in the manuals The way I see it now seems the wifi card is meant to be powered on (unfortunately no cables supplied with it) and a LAN from my router connected to the port LAN on the wifi card Contacting MPP Taiwan already but their response time is abysmal
October 7, 20196 yr 23 minutes ago, hancock said: I was sent the wifi box and this wifi card (which I have been starring at and wondering what am i suppose to do with it) see pictures I think they sent you a 2014 comms card for an Axpert MKS 5K-48 instead of a 12 V plugpack. 23 minutes ago, hancock said: I can connect the wifi box directly to the inverter with the supplied cable Yes. That seems to be the intention. Quote but there is no wifi acces point to connect to when I check for wifi on my system as described in the manuals Err, you have to supply the WiFi access point. Does your computer have a WiFi enabled router? If so, that's your WiFi access point. The black box is so that your inverter can talk WiFi; it's assumed that you have a computer that already connects to WiFi. So this is a way to connect your inverter to your computer, over longer distances than is convenient with RS-232. If your computer was close to the inverter, you could connect the two via the supplied cable (and almost certainly also using a USB to RS232 "cable"). Quote The way I see it now seems the wifi card is meant to be powered on (unfortunately no cables supplied with it) and a LAN from my router connected to the port LAN on the wifi card No, that's not a WiFi card (see the link in my previous post). The black box is all you need to connect your inverter to WiFi. The RJ-45 (8-pin) connector on that small PCB, which looks like an Ethernet connector, is actually the RS-232 port, just like on your PIP-5048MK. It's so confusing that they use an RJ-45 socket (usually reserved for Ethernet) for RS-232 (which usually uses a D9 connector, as the WiFi box does). As a point of interest, those comm boards (the one that I believe you have been supplied in error) are difficult to obtain. A few forum users have had their comm boards blow up, and have asked where they can obtain them. So you might be able to sell that comm board; I assume that MPPSolar doesn't want it back, as it would probably cost more than the board is worth to ship it.
October 8, 20196 yr Author Hi Coulomb Thanks for he help so far. you have been wonderful Just a final question, please. according to the manual which I have screen grabbed and attached below, how do I go about creating and connecting to an access point named "wificard.net"? Do I need a separate router for this? I know you were mentioning something like that in your previous post but I just couldn't wrap my head around it Not usually the brightest one in the room when it comes to techy things 😁 Thanks
October 8, 20196 yr 2 hours ago, hancock said: according to the manual which I have screen grabbed and attached below, how do I go about creating and connecting to an access point named "wificard.net"? It all depends on your computer setup. I run Windows 10, and I can click this button (outlined in yellow) to get WiFi settings: But you might be running a Mac or Linux or something completely different, but there should be something comparable. The idea is that when the WiFi card is running, it will appear in the list of local SSIDs (names of WiFi connections). I'm currently connected to Telstra18... , my HP Envy WiFi printer is below that, then there is a thing called "waifs2" (a WiFi box, long story). You should see "wificard" without the quotes somewhere there, say for example in place of "waifs2". Click on that, connect to it, and then use one of "wificard.net" or "192.168.1.1" without the quotes in the address box of your web browser on your computer (Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, whatever you use). When I tried "wificard.net" here on my computer using my real Wifi enabled router, I was treated to some free spam. But when the Wifi box serves the page, it should be the config page, as depicted in the instructions. So your web browser becomes your interface to configure the WiFi box. If you connect to the internet by some box that doesn't have WiFi, then yes, you will have to get one. But I assume you would have one, that's why you want to connect your inverter via WiFi. Edited October 8, 20196 yr by Coulomb
October 8, 20196 yr Author This is the problem I am having...... I had already connected the wifi box with the cable supplied to the inverter and I used a spare DSTV adapter as power but I wasn't seeing any SSID as "wificard" among the listed wifi's on my windows 10 laptop. I have contacted MPP Taiwan and they said I should get a 12V 1A adapter as power. Hopefully I should get one today and keep you posted Thanks once again
December 31, 20196 yr Did you manage to get this wifi box to work? I have the same problem, the wifi box powers up and green light stays on, but I can't find it in my wifi list on my laptop, so no ideahow to connect. Anybody on here with experience with these units?
January 1, 20206 yr Author 15 hours ago, Cor said: Did you manage to get this wifi box to work? I have the same problem, the wifi box powers up and green light stays on, but I can't find it in my wifi list on my laptop, so no ideahow to connect. Anybody on here with experience with these units? Hi @Cor you need to open up the WiFi box with a screw driver and change the jumper from “1-2” position to “2-3” position to manually reset the box to default as stated in the manual
January 2, 20206 yr On 2020/01/01 at 7:23 AM, hancock said: Hi @Cor you need to open up the WiFi box with a screw driver and change the jumper from “1-2” position to “2-3” position to manually reset the box to default as stated in the manual Thank a million for the reply. Ok I have done this and can now see the Wifibox. Unfortunately I have another problem now. I connected my laptop to the Wifibox with the Wifi card network Typed in 192.168.1.1 It takes me to the setup menu. I changed the time zone. Then I go to Network configuration and at add, I fill in the SSID, change the security and enter my internet password. I then tick the station mode and apply. I then power of the wifibox and power up again. After a while the wifibox’s green light stop blinking and stays on. Unfortunately when I connect to my own network and then type in 192.168.1.1 it does not find the wifibox again. I know it is connected to my network, because if I switch off my router, the green light on the wifibox starts blinking, but when switched on I cannot connect with the wifibox on my network. I have tried this on three different wifi networks and get the same result with all three. Any ideas?
January 4, 20206 yr Author On 2020/01/02 at 2:54 PM, Cor said: Thank a million for the reply. Ok I have done this and can now see the Wifibox. Unfortunately I have another problem now. I connected my laptop to the Wifibox with the Wifi card network Typed in 192.168.1.1 It takes me to the setup menu. I changed the time zone. Then I go to Network configuration and at add, I fill in the SSID, change the security and enter my internet password. I then tick the station mode and apply. I then power of the wifibox and power up again. After a while the wifibox’s green light stop blinking and stays on. Unfortunately when I connect to my own network and then type in 192.168.1.1 it does not find the wifibox again. I know it is connected to my network, because if I switch off my router, the green light on the wifibox starts blinking, but when switched on I cannot connect with the wifibox on my network. I have tried this on three different wifi networks and get the same result with all three. Any ideas? Hi @Cor Unfortunately I have since moved away from using the wifi box and settled with ICC software. I remember I had similar issues and had a marathon email sessions with MPP Taiwan. part of the pdf on how to configure the wifibox setting they sent to me is attached for your use. PS: Make sure you input correctly in the wifibox homepage setting your home internet SSID and password word for word Wifi box & card quick setting(EN).pdf Edited January 4, 20206 yr by hancock grammar correction
January 4, 20206 yr Thanks Hancock. I have eventually established that I do have the wifibox connected on my internet. How I did this was to log into my router and looked on all the devices on the network and found the wifibox. I could then see what address it uses, in my case it is 192.168.1.103 . I could then log into the wifibox through my wifi network. Unfortunately I still can't get any data from the data center. I linked my device, but there is still something wrong. As you say I am in a marathon of emails with the tech support at MPP Solar. If I get it sorted I will report back. Maybe it will help someone else in the future.
January 21, 20206 yr Ok just a quick update on my struggles with getting data through the wifi. Ok it seems there was a problem with my inverter. It had the generic serial number as it is manufactured. However it needs to have a unique serial number, as can be seen on the barcode on the side of the inverter. I had to download some software, a Communication tool, that u then connect your pc to the inverter and program the unique number. Unfortunately u need a special cable, a RS232 cable to connect. U get that with the wifi box, but it does not fit your computer. So I had to get a DB usb cable, that connects with the supplied RS232 cable and was then able to program the unique serial number. You can connect your PC with the inverter with a micro usb cable, you can do settings etc, BUT you can't change the serial number with that cable. That took us a very long time to realize. I could then couple that serial number on the data center and can now log into the data of the inverter over the internet. I am sure if I was not not so technically challenged it would have been a lot easier, maar nou ja, so leer ons. I hope this will help someone else that might have the same problem one day.
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