The VE.Direct cable provides a virtual comport on your PC, so if you wanted to try a hack and you have a PC with a serial port the pin-outs are as follows;

VE_1 to SER_5

VE_2 to SER_2

VE_3 to SER_3

....have a fire extinguisher handy!

I would love to hear comments from more electronically minded people on the feasibility of this hack, the PC that I intend using happens to have a serial port but I would love for someone else to confirm this before I blow some stuff up

 

11 minutes ago, pilotfish said:

but I would love for someone else to confirm this before I blow some stuff up

hi @pilotfish, you have me chuckling as i believe i am even more electronically challenged than you...

would the easiest not be for someone on the forum to check on their cable - sorry for the inconvenience - which ve-direct pin goes to which usb pin/pins?

it might just spare guys like you and me from toasting some valuable equipment.

i mean are we not in the solar game to save a couple of bucks?

The VE.Direct cable has serial>USB conversion built in, and galvanic isolation - it is worth the R400 charged for it in the USofA but the R600 charged in RSA seems like a bit of profiteering (I am assuming that the guys selling are approved agents with profit built into the R400 already).

The "hack" that I am proposing is to communicate directly with the BMV via a serial port on the PC (not USB) - so this will be a homemade device and not intended to replicate the VE.Direct cable.

9 minutes ago, pilotfish said:

The "hack" that I am proposing is to communicate directly with the BMV via a serial port on the PC (not USB)

you see, even at this basic level i got my wires crossed...

sort-of reminds me of the girl who got the red handbag as a present and was out to get the ferrari to match - in this case its just a matter of everything  being blue...

30 minutes ago, pilotfish said:

t is worth the R400 charged for it

I also used to lament the cost of this cable, but this was back in the day when suppliers were charging as much as R1000 for it. Kid you not. These cables are accessories and should preferably be sold at cost or close to cost. When we told our story (there were a couple of us, it was at a training day) to someone from Victron his response was "I'll just make a note of that, they aren't getting any Christmas presents this year". So now most people sell it at the more reasonable price of around R450. The upstream price also dropped from 35 euro to 29.

At the lower cost, it seems justifiable for me. The cheapest I could get away if I did this myself, would be around R120 or so for a simple usb->ttl converter. Then you still have to solder up the wiring, not mess up the voltages (some vedirect stuff is 5V, some is 3.3V, the official cable adapts properly), and if you want to have the equivalent you need to add some circuitry to drive an opto-coupler or two, or you need to buy an adum1201 chip (which is in itself R80 or so), or look at something similar (R40 or so)... I'm pretty sure by now you see that you might as well spend another R100 and just get the real thing!

2 hours ago, gabriel said:

whilst we pay > zar600.

Get another supplier. Such as this one. Also talk to Current Automation, they are often the cheapest. You could also talk to OnTrack solar. I'm sure all three of these will do better than R600.

On 8/13/2017 at 11:45 PM, plonkster said:

Also talk to Current Automation, they are often the cheapest.

indeed they are, they are well represented through sa, thanks again plonkster!