Sunsynk LSW-3 data logger

[Paul Greeff 16]

I have the 8 kW Sunsynk with the wifi data logger.

 

It works very well, and the visibility is amazing. We've already managed to reduce or shift our consumption and we've only been on solar for 5 days now.

However, I am concerned about the intermittend connectivity of the module. In the attached image you will notice it responds to ICMP and then disappears. This cycle happens over and over. The time on and off appears to be random.

 

It seems to do this regardless of whether it is connected to my laptop, my phone (whether I'm in the same room or not) and even when I put a wifi router two meters from the data logger, it seems to do the same.

 

My question is whether this is normal for the module, i.e., does it perhaps drop the wifi, focus on collecting the data and then only activates wifi when it has something to send to the portal, or is this a problem? 

 

Regards

Paul

 

 

[Kalahari Meerkat 49]

It should be more consistent, if it stops responding, that's not right... I had some strange ones as well, a few days ago... but... doing a ping end up with...

64 bytes from 192.168.1.205: icmp_seq=23625 ttl=255 time=2.262 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.205: icmp_seq=23626 ttl=255 time=1.627 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.205: icmp_seq=23627 ttl=255 time=2.353 ms
^C
--- 192.168.1.205 ping statistics ---
285773 packets transmitted, 285295 packets received, 0.2% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.072/2.502/2164.709/11.507 ms

I was trying to see whether I could, get the second server that can be configured by way of the web front end, to talk to a local machine, but no luck this far, but then again, I ain't got no clue...

[Kalahari Meerkat 49]

Maybe talk to it, via the IP address assigned to it from  your AP rather than using its own AP... this may be betterer

[Paul Greeff 16]

Thank you Kalahari Meerkat

 

Regardless of how I talk to it, this intermittend connectivity occurs. I've done a reset on the unit, and it seems this happens whether it is connected to my wifi after it has been configured, and also during configuration when connected to my phone or laptop.

 

For example, I had a continuous ping and sent 173696 packets, of which 50648 came back. 

 

Have you tried a longer period? I've had times where pings go on for minutes and then times where it is on and off frequently.

 

Edited February 9 by Paul Greeff

[Kalahari Meerkat 49]

The ^C in my scenario had 285773 transmitted, that's 79-odd hours worth (1 per second) with 285295 responses, so 478 ICMP echo responses going missing over 3+ days...

Unless you have a really noisy environment (RF wise), I guess it could be that there is something wrong with your WiFi stick...

[Paul Greeff 16]

Perfect, thanks boet. Your test is most telling, I will take it up with the installer and see what we can do about it.

 

Oh, and attached you can see one of the messages on Solarman. Frequently it reads "Devices Partially Offline" and "Offline."

[Paul Greeff 16]

I set up a wifi router right next to the dongle. I have a suspicion it is interference of sorts. 

So far the connection is a lot more stable, but of course it could just be enjoying a good run. 

[Kalahari Meerkat 49]

@Paul Greeffon my MacBook if I select Alt+Mouseclick on the WiFi Icon, it will show the connection, but also noise/signal level, there should be similar options available under WinDoze, I'd imagine, if that is your choice of O/S and I am assuming you have a laptop with WiFi around, then go with it, to where your Sunsynk + data logger are and check the RSSI vs Noise.

Here under OS X a very close by AP, RSSI=-29dBm and noise=-78dBm, that's very noisy, but at nearly 50dB signal to noise ratio, that noise level, I can ignore. Basically you're ideally looking for a signal to noise ratio of 30dB or more, then all should be ok. You may also want to check it more often, sometimes there are sporadic noise sources that aren't around all the time, like a cell phone charger that may only be plugged in at times and it possibly being a source of noise. A lot of guys blame LED lights as noise sources, of course this is nonsense, but if there is no decent filtering on the invariable switch mode power supply running these, the power supply for 220V LED lights can cause quite a bit of RF interference.

[Paul Greeff 16]

The signal to noise ratio on my end was always perfect but I cannot see what the noise floor is for the logger. I suspect the PLC I have in the same room as the Sunsynk feeding Internet to the cottage is causing interference. When the PLC is not on the circuit, which passes right next to the wifi antenna on the logger, the logger works without incident and problems correlate remarkably well with the Netflix habits of my folks in the cottage when the PLC is supplying their Internet.

I added the wifi router right under the logger and now the problem is solved. However, I will note here that the wifi router does not see an increased noise floor or note any link quality issues, so it might just be input of the logger thats wide open.

Edited February 16 by Paul Greeff

[Kalahari Meerkat 49]

t

Ok @Paul Greeff, one more suggestion, make up a serial cable and move the logger further away from everything and closer to where the AP is, it is 12V and you can probably run even a 10m cable without too much trouble, since, I think, this lot only runs a 9600baud, but not 100% certain of this.

[Paul Greeff 16]

Yes, I like that suggestion a lot. Very good idea, thanks. I probably wont need a lot of distance for this. I have quite a few serial cables lying around, this should be a quick fix.