Solar Dashboard Project

[xion2000]

Copy of my log from that day attached Jonathan

[xion2000]

All appears to be working well now Jonathan with the data collection to HA set at 4 items.
A couple of questions / requests for future firmware revisions
1. The facility to add Username & Password to MQTT settings
2. The ability to select which items are displayed on the dashboard from the settings menu such as turning off Load Watts, Volts & Amps (I do not use the load output from my Charge Controller) rather than disabling them on the main screen each time.
3. Add "Battery State of Charge" which I think is the only item the Epever software displays but the SolarDashboard does not

[Istvan]

Hi
I've got my logger up and running with an Epever charger, the only issue is that I get the "Troubling Developments! I Wasn't Able to Check for Improvements. Don't You Want Me to Improve? Please Connect me to an Internet Enabled WiFi" message. It's strange because Cloud connection is working (mostly. not right now).
Suggestions?

FW version is:
Version: 4.0-2d5693-2021-03-24-04-38
Update Channel: stable
Controller Type: epever-rs485

I would also add to xion2000's 3rd point the two temperatures, device and battery, it would be nice to see them as well.

Since there is no way to connect another device to the charger how do you guys proceed when you need to change something in the configuration?
If there's no better solution, I'm thinking about routing the AB lines trough a relay to switch comm to my RS485-Ethernet converter.
Please advise

[jonathan]

Hi Istvan,

The troubling developments message is due to not being able to communicate with update server.

You should be able to connect the ethernet converter as well, since RS485 is a bus. You'll need to fashion a custom wire.

[shizenyasuya]

I have the same "troubling developments" message on my dashboard. I am able to access it remotely via the cloud service, but it looks like the update channel in settings is set as N/A. Also, I can't seem to adjust my settings remotely. Is this intentional so people can't remotely hack my device? do I have to be on the same wifi network or connected in AP mode to change dashboard settings?

Yes you must be locally connected to change those settings. The "troubling developments" message occurs when 5 attemps at contacting the update server failed on startup, but there may not be any problem currently.

[fredivar]

Hi
I've got my logger up and running with an Epever charger, the only issue is that I get the "Troubling Developments! I Wasn't Able to Check for Improvements. Don't You Want Me to Improve? Please Connect me to an Internet Enabled WiFi" message. It's strange because Cloud connection is working (mostly. not right now).
Suggestions?

FW version is:
Version: 4.0-2d5693-2021-03-24-04-38
Update Channel: stable
Controller Type: epever-rs485

I would also add to xion2000's 3rd point the two temperatures, device and battery, it would be nice to see them as well.

Since there is no way to connect another device to the charger how do you guys proceed when you need to change something in the configuration?
If there's no better solution, I'm thinking about routing the AB lines trough a relay to switch comm to my RS485-Ethernet converter.
Please advise

Hi Istvan
I use this Epever module to connect things together:https://www.epever.com/product/accessor ... on-module/ It can connect to two masters (Charger + Inverter) and two Slaves (Snektek + Remote monitor?). I have seen that if all these are connected together, the charger might not be able to deliver enough current to all connected modules, so at least, the Snektek dashboard need separate power from microusb connector.
However, for a long time my Snektek have not been able to connect to Cloud since updated from FW 3.xx to 4.xx. No matter what I do, I only get local access..

Have now purchased Epever's own new Wifi module: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003649502832.html
which have possibility to connect to Epevers own cloud: https://iot.epsolarpv.com/login.html but App (Android) is a bit buggy and not able to connect yet to cloud with this either.
Best regards
Fred

[jonathan]

I have the same "troubling developments" message on my dashboard. I am able to access it remotely via the cloud service, but it looks like the update channel in settings is set as N/A. Also, I can't seem to adjust my settings remotely. Is this intentional so people can't remotely hack my device? do I have to be on the same wifi network or connected in AP mode to change dashboard settings?

Yes you must be locally connected to change those settings. The "troubling developments" message occurs when 5 attemps at contacting the update server failed on startup, but there may not be any problem currently.

Yes you must be locally connected to change those settings. The "troubling developments" message occurs when 5 attemps at contacting the update server failed on startup, but there may not be any problem currently.

[jonathan]

However, for a long time my Snektek have not been able to connect to Cloud since updated from FW 3.xx to 4.xx. No matter what I do, I only get local access..

Hi Fred, if you're there I can try to help you with the cloud access.

[Screwy39]

Hi all I need to pick the hive mind. I have an epever 4210 and a mt50 monitor. I have breadboarded the solar dashboard to get a feel for it and seems to work great. The issue I have is I have added 3 rj45 connectors in parallel to make a mini hub to have all 3 units plugged in. It seems to work other than every now and then the mt50 brings up an error that later disappears. I am guessing this is due to the master/slave side of things? Which units are masters and which are slaves? If the dashboard is a master and it’s clashing, is it possible to add to the settings menu the option to choose one or the other or is that question showing my lack of understanding of electronics and rs485? Thanks in advance.
Luis

[jonathan]

Hi all I need to pick the hive mind. I have an epever 4210 and a mt50 monitor. I have breadboarded the solar dashboard to get a feel for it and seems to work great. The issue I have is I have added 3 rj45 connectors in parallel to make a mini hub to have all 3 units plugged in. It seems to work other than every now and then the mt50 brings up an error that later disappears. I am guessing this is due to the master/slave side of things? Which units are masters and which are slaves? If the dashboard is a master and it’s clashing, is it possible to add to the settings menu the option to choose one or the other or is that question showing my lack of understanding of electronics and rs485? Thanks in advance.
Luis

Hi Luis, the master is the unit requesting information and the slave is the epever. In this case there are 2 masters. The errors are due to collisions on the bus. Caused my the masters talking over each other. How often does the mt50 error out?