EPSolar Tracer Dashboard: Instructions for creating a dashboard to monitor your epsolar tracer setup

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Instructions for creating a dashboard to monitor your epsolar tracer setup

UPDATE

I've recently changed how I do things as I've come across this project.

I've now slightly reworked my hardware to include a wemos D1 mini with the code from the above project, and that sends me data directly to some topics on my MQTT broker - this has made things much simpler, and updates can be more frequent. I now graph that data in node-red after storing it in a database.

Note I made a change in the code detailed above in the AddressRegistry_3100 function, commenting out the original line and adding a line from an as-yes uncommitted bug fix to allow all values to be read correctly.

void AddressRegistry_3100() {
//result = node.readInputRegisters(0x3100, 10);
result = node.readInputRegisters(0x3100, 0x12);

Original blog post below in case it helps anyone not using an MQTT broker.

This is a project that I made for a Raspberry Pi (though it would work on many different platforms) so that it could record and display data from an EPSolar Tracer A Series MPPT charge controller.

The easiest way to know if you need to read further is to simply show you what it outputs (see below).

The gauges on the left show the live status, the central column shows the charging status and the charge controller temperature, and the graph to the right shows all parameters in the previous 48 hours, and is zoomable.

A simpler version is also possible using node-red as in the example below.

If you're here, I guess you're still interested so I give you much more detail and some source code.

Step by step video - note copy the fusioncharts files across at the same time I mention phpepsolartracer library being copied across.

The first thing you need is some sort of connection to the charge controller.

I have made a wireless device that plugs into the RJ45 port on the device (care none standard wiring layout) so that I can wirelessly communicate with it.

Detailed instructions for the construction of this device can be found at Colin Hickey's Youtube channel, specifically

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Or you can make or buy a wired connection. Instructions for making one are given by on Adam Welche's Youtube Channel, specifically

Next you'll need a device to harvest the data, store it, and then to display it on request.

I had a Raspberry Pi from a previous project, so used that.

I installed the Raspbian operating system , specifically I installed the Jessie lite version.

Once that was working and updated I turned the Pi into a LEMP stack following these instructions.

I did deviate slightly from those instructions and changed the root path of the webserver, so when editing the Nginx configuration use the command

root /var/www/html;

instead of the path given by the instructions. A full copy of my configuration file is given in the comments at the end of these instructions.

Nginx is the webserver running the PHP scripting language

and MySQL as the database to store the data.

The next thing to do is to connect the Pi to the solar charge controller.

Option 1

If you've got a physical wire then when you plug the USB connector into the Pi a new device appears, in my case it appears as /dev/ttyUSB0

This connection will be useable by root, but not other users/groups, so the simplest (but most insecure) method to change this is to give full control to everyone.

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0

---End of Option 1---

Option 2

If you've built a wireless device then you will have configured it to a specific IP address and Port on your lan - we need to connect to it.

NB - I use the internal IP addresses of 192.168.123.10 for my Pi and 192.168.123.21 for my wireless device - use the IP addresses that are appropriate for the configuration of your lan, i.e., you will most likely have different IP addresses than those I use.

We need a piece of software called Socat to do that so at the Pi command prompt...

sudo apt-get install socat

After it installs we need to connect socat to our device - as a naming convention I made the tty number correspond to the lan IP I was connecting to

sudo socat pty,link=/dev/ttyUSB21,unlink-close=0,raw,echo=0 tcp:WirelessDeviceIPAddress:23&

e.g.

sudo socat pty,link=/dev/ttyUSB21,unlink-close=0,raw,echo=0 tcp:192.168.123.21:23&

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB21

---End of Option 2---

Irrespective of whether you've used Option 1 or Option 2 we need to make sure that the device is useable by non-root users, so the simplest (but most insecure) method to change this is to give full control to everyone.

So issue the command

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB21

changing the device details to those you're using

I know I've said that twice, but if you omit that stage then you can have everything set up and permissions will prevent it working.

Nearly there....

We've got a connected webserver, now we need to get the data from the charge controller and store it.

Remember we set up a mysql server, well now we need to make a database. When you set up mysql you will have configured a root user password.

Using the tool of your choice eg command line or phpmyadmin run the following sql commands to build the database (note it will delete a table called stats in the created database if you rerun the command).

CREATE DATABASE `solardata` ;

/*Table structure for table `stats` */

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `stats`;

CREATE TABLE `stats` (
`Controller` int(2) NOT NULL,
`timestamp` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
`PV array voltage` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`PV array current` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`PV array power` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Battery voltage` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Battery charging current` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Battery charging power` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Load voltage` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Load current` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Load power` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Charger temperature` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Heat sink temperature` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Battery status` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
`Equipment status` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`Controller`,`timestamp`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

I made a field Controller in the database as I may expand my system and have 2 controllers, the other fields are the ones that I chose to store from the available data from the controller - you are able to modify this as required.

We now need some PHP that speaks the same language (modbus) as our charge controller - there's a really useful library already written that does just that written by Luca Soltoggio http://arduinoelectronics.wordpress.com/ ~ http://minibianpi.wordpress.com and containing PhpSerial by Rémy Sanchez and Rizwan Kassim - the library can be downloaded from GitHub at https://github.com/toggio/PhpEpsolarTracer

Once downloaded, expand it and put it on a folder in your webserver, e.g.

mkdir /var/www/html/epsolar

and put the contents of the expanded folder into it.

Now we'll set up a script to get data from the controller and store it in the database.

Using your favorite text editor edit a file in /var/www/html/epsolar called getsolarstats.php

add the following to that file, changing 'databaseusername' and 'databasepassword' to ones that you've got set up for your database.

#!/usr/bin/php

<?php
//harvest data and stores it in a database

$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=solardata", "databaseusername", "databasepassword");

//this is planning for future expansion, this array holds the wireless device connection details

$solararray = array();
$solararray["/dev/ttyUSB21"]["ip"] = '192.168.123.21';
$solararray["/dev/ttyUSB21"]["port"] = '23';

//eg expanded system with a second controller

//$solararray["/dev/ttyUSB22"]["ip"] = '192.168.123.22';
//$solararray["/dev/ttyUSB22"]["port"] = '23';

require_once 'PhpEpsolarTracer.php';

$time = time();

$i = 1;
while (list ($key, $val) = each($solararray)) {

    $tracer = new PhpEpsolarTracer($key);

    if ($tracer->getRealtimeData()) {

        $sth = $dbh->prepare("insert into stats (`Controller`,`timestamp`,`PV array voltage`,`PV array current`,`PV array power`,`Battery voltage`,`Battery charging current`,`Battery charging power`,`Load voltage`,`Load current`,`Load power`,`Charger temperature`, `Heat sink temperature`,`Battery status`,`Equipment status`) values (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)");
        $sth->BindParam(1, $i);
        $sth->BindParam(2, $time);
        $sth->BindParam(3, $tracer->realtimeData[0]);
        $sth->BindParam(4, $tracer->realtimeData[1]);
        $sth->BindParam(5, $tracer->realtimeData[2]);
        $sth->BindParam(6, $tracer->realtimeData[3]);
        $sth->BindParam(7, $tracer->realtimeData[4]);
        $sth->BindParam(8, $tracer->realtimeData[5]);
        $sth->BindParam(9, $tracer->realtimeData[6]);
        $sth->BindParam(10, $tracer->realtimeData[7]);
        $sth->BindParam(11, $tracer->realtimeData[8]);
        $sth->BindParam(12, $tracer->realtimeData[10]);
        $sth->BindParam(13, $tracer->realtimeData[11]);
        $sth->BindParam(14, $tracer->realtimeData[15]);
        $sth->BindParam(15, $tracer->realtimeData[16]);

        $sth->execute();

        //station id
        $i++;
    }
}
?>

Change the permissions on that script so it's runable

chmod 755 /var/www/html/epsolar/getsolarstats.php

That script should be runnable now, and will pull the data and store it in the database. To do that automatically we can set up a cronjob - the following one will get the data every minute.

sudo crontab -e

Then add the following

* * * * * /var/www/html/epsolar/getsolarstats.php

Nearly there....

Our data is now being stored in the database - we can display it in one of 2 ways - the first is more detailed

Method 1

For the nice gauges I used a commercial, free to use, javascript library from http://www.fusioncharts.com/

Download it and place it in

/var/www/html/epsolar/fusioncharts

so that the folder fusion charts contains four folders and index.html

Make sure it has the correct permissions using the command

chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/epsolar

And finally, here's a highly modified version of example_web.php from phpepsolartracer

Using your favorite editor make a file index.php in /var/www/html/epsolar

change /dev/ttyUSB21 and 'databaseusername' and 'databasepassword' to ones that you've used

<?php
/*
* PHP EpSolar Tracer Class (PhpEpsolarTracer) v0.9
*
* Library for communicating with
* Epsolar/Epever Tracer BN MPPT Solar Charger Controller
*
* THIS PROGRAM COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTIES !
* USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISKS !
*
* Copyright (C) 2016 under GPL v. 2 license
* 13 March 2016
*
* @author Luca Soltoggio
* http://www.arduinoelettronica.com/
* https://arduinoelectronics.wordpress.com/
*
* This is an example on how to use the library
* It creates a web page with tracer data

* The version below is a highly modified version of that referred to by the headers above, the origninal can be found at https://github.com/toggio/PhpEpsolarTracer

*/

require_once 'PhpEpsolarTracer.php';
$tracer = new PhpEpsolarTracer('/dev/ttyUSB21');

$tracerstatus_bgcolor = "#dedede";
// $ecolor = "black";
// $battSoc = 0;
// Get Info and check if is connected
if ($tracer->getInfoData()) {
    $connection = "Connected";
    $connection_bgcolor = "lime";
} else {
    $connection = "Disconnected";
    $connection_bgcolor = "red";
}

// Get Real Time Data
if ($tracer->getRealTimeData()) {
    $tracerstatus_bgcolor = "lime";
    $equipStatus = $tracer->realtimeData[16];
    $chargStatus = 0b11 & ($equipStatus >> 2);
    switch ($chargStatus) {
        case 0: $eStatus = "Not charging";
            break;
        case 1: $eStatus = "Float (13.8V)";
            break;
        case 2: $eStatus = "Boost (14.4V)";
            break;
        case 3: $eStatus = "Equalization (14.6V)";
            break;
    };
    if ($equipStatus >> 4) {
        $eStatus = "<font color=\"red\">FAULT</font>";
        $tracerstatus_bgcolor = "red";
    }

    $battStatus = $tracer->realtimeData[15];
    $battLevel = 0b1111 & $battStatus;
    switch ($battLevel) {
        case 0: $bStatus = "Normal";
            break;
        case 1: $bStatus = "<font color=\"red\">Overvolt</font>";
            break;
        case 2: $bStatus = "<font color=\"yellow\">Undervolt</font>";
            break;
        case 3: $bStatus = "<font color=\"red\">Low volt disconnect</font>";
            break;
        case 4: {
                $bStatus = "<font color=\"red\">FAULT</font>";
                $tracerstatus_bgcolor = "red";
                break;
            }
    }

    $battSoc = $tracer->realtimeData[12];
}

//get data for the last 2 weeks
//$ago = time() - 1209600;
//get data for the last 24 hrs
//$ago = time() - 86400;
//get data for the last 48 hrs
$ago = time() - (86400 * 2);
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=solardata", "databaseusername", "databasepassword");
$sth = $dbh->prepare("select `timestamp`,`PV array voltage`,`PV array current`,`PV array power`,`Battery voltage`,`Battery charging current`,`Battery charging power`,`Load voltage`,`Load current`,`Load power` from stats where `Controller` = 1 and `timestamp` > ? order by `timestamp` asc");
$sth->bindParam(1, $ago);
$sth->execute();

//build the json array
$data = array();
while ($row = $sth->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
    $data["category"][] = date("H:i", $row["timestamp"]);
    while (list($key, $val) = each($row)) {
        $data[$key][] = $val;
    }
}

unset($data["timestamp"]);

reset($data);
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="it">
    <head>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="./fusioncharts/js/fusioncharts.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="fusioncharts/js/fusioncharts.charts.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="fusioncharts/js/fusioncharts.widgets.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="fusioncharts/js/themes/fusioncharts.theme.fint.js"></script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'zoomlinedy',
                            renderAt: 'chart',
                            width: '800',
                            height: '600',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Performance History",
                                    "pYAxisname": "Value",
                                    "sYAxisname": "PV Array Voltage (V)",
                                    "xAxisname": "Time",
                                    "pYAxisMinValue":"0",
                                    "pYAxisMaxValue":"15",
                                    "sYAxisMaxValue": "100",
                                    "sYAxisMinValue": "0",
                                    "lineThickness": "1",
                                    "compactdatamode": "1",
                                    "dataseparator": "|",
                                    "labelHeight": "30",
                                    "theme": "fint"
                            },
                                    "categories": [{
                                    "category": "<?php
echo implode('|', $data["category"]);
unset($data["category"]);
reset($data);
?>"
                                    }],
<?php
$i = 1;
echo '"dataset":[';
while (list ($key, $val) = each($data)) {

    echo '{"seriesname": "' . $key . '",';
    if (stripos($key, 'PV array voltage') !== FALSE) {
        echo '"parentYAxis": "S",';
    } else {
        echo '"parentYAxis": "P",';
    }
    echo '"data": "' . implode('|', $val) . '"';
    echo "}";
    if ($i != count($data)) {
        echo ",";
    }

    $i++;
}
?>

                            ]
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'currentflow',
                            width: '400',
                            height: '250',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Nett Current (A)",
                                    "subcaption": "-ve = from battery | +ve = to battery ",
                                    "lowerLimit": "-30",
                                    "upperLimit": "+30",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "7",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "-30",
                                            "maxValue": "0",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "0.001",
                                            "maxValue": "30",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[4] - $tracer->realtimeData[7]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'PV voltage',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "PV Voltage (V)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "100",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "9",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "5",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "90",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "91",
                                            "maxValue": "100",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[0]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Battery voltage',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Battery Voltage (V)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "10",
                                    "upperLimit": "15",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "7",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "10",
                                            "maxValue": "11",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "11.001",
                                            "maxValue": "13.8",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "13.801",
                                            "maxValue": "14.5",
                                            "code": "#f8bd19"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "14.501",
                                            "maxValue": "15",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[3]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Load voltage',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Load Voltage (V)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "10",
                                    "upperLimit": "15",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "16",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "5",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "13.8",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "13.801",
                                            "maxValue": "14.5",
                                            "code": "#f8bd19"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "14.501",
                                            "maxValue": "15",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[6]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'PV power',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "PV power (W)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "400",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "5",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "350",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "351",
                                            "maxValue": "400",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[2]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Battery power',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Battery Power (W)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "400",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "5",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "350",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "351",
                                            "maxValue": "400",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[5]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Load power',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Load Power (W)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "400",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "5",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "350",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "351",
                                            "maxValue": "400",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[8]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'PV current',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "PV Current (A)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "30",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "4",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "25",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "25.001",
                                            "maxValue": "30",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[1]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Battery current',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Battery Current (A)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "-30",
                                    "upperLimit": "30",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "7",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "-30",
                                            "maxValue": "0",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "0.001",
                                            "maxValue": "30",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[4]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function () {
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'angulargauge',
                            renderAt: 'Load current',
                            width: '300',
                            height: '200',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Load Current (A)",
                                    "lowerLimit": "0",
                                    "upperLimit": "30",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "showValue": "1",
                                    "valueBelowPivot": "1",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "4",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "9",
                            },
                                    "colorRange": {
                                    "color": [{
                                    "minValue": "0",
                                            "maxValue": "25",
                                            "code": "#6baa01"
                                    }, {
                                    "minValue": "25.001",
                                            "maxValue": "30",
                                            "code": "#e44a00"
                                    }]
                                    },
                                    "dials": {
                                    "dial": [{
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[7]; ?>"
                                    }]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });</script>

        <script type="text/javascript">
                    FusionCharts.ready(function(){
                    var fusioncharts = new FusionCharts({
                    type: 'thermometer',
                            renderAt: 'Charger temp',
                            width: '160',
                            height: '400',
                            dataFormat: 'json',
                            dataSource: {
                            "chart": {
                            "caption": "Charger Temperature",
                                    "lowerLimit": "-20",
                                    "upperLimit": "100",
                                    "numberSuffix": "°C",
                                    "showhovereffect": "1",
                                    "decimals": "2",
                                    "majorTMNumber": "13",
                                    "minorTMNumber": "5",
                                    "thmBulbRadius": "25",
                                    "thmOriginX": "80",
<?php
switch ($tracer->realtimeData[10]) {
    case ($tracer->realtimeData[10] < 10):
        echo '"gaugeFillColor": "#008ee4",';
        echo '"gaugeBorderColor": "#008ee4",';
        break;
    case ($tracer->realtimeData[10] >= 10 && $tracer->realtimeData[10] < 70):
        echo '"gaugeFillColor": "#6baa01",';
        echo '"gaugeBorderColor": "#6baa01",';
        break;
    case ($tracer->realtimeData[10] >= 70 && $tracer->realtimeData[10] < 75):
        echo '"gaugeFillColor": "#f8bd19",';
        echo '"gaugeBorderColor": "#f8bd19",';
        break;
    case ($tracer->realtimeData[10] >= 75):
        echo '"gaugeFillColor": "#e44a00",';
        echo '"gaugeBorderColor": "#e44a00",';
        break;
}
?>
                            "gaugeFillAlpha": "70",
                                    //Customizing gauge border
                                    "showGaugeBorder": "1",
                                    "gaugeBorderThickness": "2",
                                    "gaugeBorderAlpha": "60",
                                    "theme": "fint",
                                    "chartBottomMargin": "20"
                            },
                                    "value": "<?php echo $tracer->realtimeData[10]; ?>"
                            }
                    }
                    );
                            fusioncharts.render();
                    });
        </script>

        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <meta name="description" content="">
        <meta name="keywords" content="">
        <title>Power Status</title>
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <style>
            table.gridtable {
                font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
                font-size:12px;
                color:#333333;
                border-width: 1px;
                border-color: #666666;
                border-collapse: collapse;
                width: 100%;
            }
            table.gridtable th {
                border-width: 1px;
                padding: 8px;
                border-style: solid;
                border-color: #666666;
                background-color: #dedede;
                text-align: center;
            }
            table.gridtable th.connection {
                background-color: <?php echo $connection_bgcolor ?>;
                text-align:center;
            }
            table.gridtable th.tracerstatus {
                background-color: <?php echo $tracerstatus_bgcolor ?>;
                text-align:center;
            }
            table.gridtable td {
                border-width: 1px;
                border-top: 0px;
                padding: 5px;
                border-style: solid;
                border-color: #666666;
                background-color: #ffffff;
                text-align:right;
                height:17px;
            }
            table.gridtable td.bold {
                font-weight: bold;
                width: 33.3%;
                text-align:left;
            }
            table.gridtable td.head {
                font-weight: bold;
                width: 33.3%;
                text-align:right;
            }
            table.gridtable td.button {
                width: 15%;
                text-align:center;
                background-color:#efefef;
                color:#cecece;
                cursor: default;
            }
            div.centered
            {
                text-align: center;
            }
            div.inner
            {
                max-width: 650px;
                width: 95%;
                text-align: center;
                margin: 0 auto;
            }
            div.inner table
            {
                margin: 0 auto;
                text-align: left;
            }
            #chargepercentp {
                width: 100%;
                height: 100%;
                position: absolute;
                vertical-align: middle;
                left:-5px;
                z-index: 10;
            }
            #chargepercentg {
                top: 0;
                width: <?php echo $battSoc; ?>%;
                height: 100%;
                position: absolute;
                background-color:#dedede;
                margin: 0 auto;
                padding: 0;
                z-index: 1;
            }
            #container {
                position: relative;
                top: 0;
                left: 0;
                width:100%;
                height:100%;
                margin: 0 auto;
                padding: 0;
                vertical-align: middle;
                line-height: 27px;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div class="centered">
            <table style='width:97%;'>
                <tr>
                    <td>
                        <table>
                            <tr><td colspan="3" style='text-align:center;'><div id="currentflow"></div></td></tr>
                            <tr><td><div id="PV voltage"></div></td><td><div id="Battery voltage"></div></td><td><div id="Load voltage"></div></td></tr>
                            <tr><td><div id="PV current"></div></td><td><div id="Battery current"></div></td><td><div id="Load current"></div></td></tr>
                            <tr><td><div id="PV power"></div></td><td><div id="Battery power"></div></td><td><div id="Load power"></div></td></tr>
                        </table>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <table class="gridtable">
                            <tr>
                                <th class="tracerstatus" id="tracerstatus" colspan=2>-= Tracer Status =-</th>
                            </tr>
                            <tr>
                                <td class="bold">Battery status</td><td class="status" id="batterystatus"><?php echo $bStatus; ?></td>
                            </tr>
                            <tr>
                                <td class="bold">Equipment status</td><td class="status" id="equipmentstatus"><?php echo $eStatus; ?></td>
                            </tr>
                            <tr>
                                <td colspan="2" style='text-align:center;'><div id="Charger temp"></div></td>
                            </tr>
                        </table>
                    </td>
                    <td><div id="chart"></div></td>
                </tr>
                <tr><td colspan="3"><table class="gridtable">
                            <tr>
                                <th class="connection" id="connection"><?php echo $connection; ?></th>
                            </tr>
                        </table></td></tr>
            </table>
            <br>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

Make sure it has the correct permissions using the command

chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/epsolar

That's it, just point a web browser to the Pi

e.g.

http://192.168.123.10/epsolar/index.php

or whatever your Pi network address is

You should see a dashboard similar to the one pictured at the top of this blog.

Mine is in development still, and I may add/remove graphs and gauges, eg I'm not sure if a nett charging gauge is needed. I'd like to add a switch to turn on and off the load, but I've not managed to do that yet.

Things you'll want to change - each script on the page is responsible for an individual graph, and I've coloured and scaled them for my needs, you may well want to eg change the maximum deflection, and colour boundaries. Do this as required, it should be easy to identify what needs changing.

Thanks to all those that posted code and instructions that allowed me to do my little bit.

Enjoy your dashboard :)

UPDATE

I have now managed to figure out how to toggle the load - this opens up a whole raft of possibilities, including cron jobs :)

You will need to be able to issue the 'turn on load' and 'turn off load' commands.

I don't know how these commands will interact with other devices, so use at your own risk, but they work well with my 30A Tracer through the day, but at night they're not working as well, don't know if this is pv voltage related, or the low night time temperatures effecting my wireless transmitter - more investigation needed on that front.

So we need to add a couple of functions to PhpEpsolarTracer.php

    //manually turn on
    public function setLoadOn() {
        $this->tracer->sendRawQuery("\x01\x05\x00\x02\xff\x00\x2d\xfa", false);
    }

    //manually turn off
    public function setLoadOff() {
        $this->tracer->sendRawQuery("\x01\x05\x00\x02\x00\x00\x6c\x0a", false);
    }

- I added them after the function below

private function divide($a, $b) {
        return $a / $b;
    }

We'll need to add something to index.php that can handle our request to change the load status - my Pi is firewalled so there's no security to this, but don't have this publicly facing as anyone could toggle your load.

At the very top of index.php, just after

require_once 'PhpEpsolarTracer.php';
$tracer = new PhpEpsolarTracer('/dev/ttyUSB21');

add the following lines

//do this first so we can see the result in the collected data
if ($_GET["load"] == 'on') {
    $tracer->setLoadOn();
}
if ($_GET["load"] == 'off') {
    $tracer->setLoadOff();
}

That's it - just browse to your dashboard with the url

http://yourpiipaddress/epsolar/index.php?load=on

and your load will be turned on

OR

http://yourpiipaddress/epsolar/index.php?load=off

and your load will be turned off

I've added a slider to my dashboard that means I can do this automatically, and I'll be working on some additions that will mean I can easily add timed events.

Method 2

It's possible to display the data from the database in node-red.

The installation of node-red on your raspberry pi is not covered here, but you can follow the instructions given in this video to see what node-red can do and also how to install it on the raspberry pi.

One of the nice things about node-red is that it's easy to share a flow - the following uses the mysql node to get data from the database and plot it on the node-red dashboard, just copy and import the following.

[
{
"id": "540ef0ed.76002",
"type": "mysql",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"mydb": "4c3e4c8a.898584",
"name": "Solardata",
"x": 442,
"y": 1418,
"wires": [
[
"dab8ec4a.48d97"
]
]
},
{
"id": "97a4a648.fd044",
"type": "inject",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "",
"topic": "SELECT SUM((SELECT `Battery voltage` FROM stats WHERE Controller = 1 ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1) + (SELECT `Battery voltage` FROM stats WHERE Controller = 2 ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1))/2 AS `Battery Voltage`, SUM((SELECT `Battery charging power` FROM stats WHERE Controller = 1 ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1) + (SELECT `Battery charging power` FROM stats WHERE Controller = 2 ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1)) AS `Battery Charging power`, SUM((SELECT `Load power` FROM stats WHERE Controller = 1 ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1)) AS `Load power`",
"payload": "",
"payloadType": "str",
"repeat": "60",
"crontab": "",
"once": true,
"x": 209,
"y": 1347,
"wires": [
[
"540ef0ed.76002"
]
]
},
{
"id": "8d0012a4.32f418",
"type": "ui_gauge",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "Battery Voltage",
"group": "9f358bc8.315728",
"order": 1,
"width": "6",
"height": "6",
"gtype": "gage",
"title": "Battery Voltage",
"label": "Volts",
"format": "{{value}}",
"min": "10",
"max": "15",
"colors": [
"#b50012",
"#00e606",
"#ca3838"
],
"seg1": "11",
"seg2": "14.3",
"x": 1100,
"y": 1275,
"wires": []
},
{
"id": "143a1fa7.c76eb",
"type": "debug",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "",
"active": false,
"console": "false",
"complete": "false",
"x": 1041,
"y": 1476,
"wires": []
},
{
"id": "dab8ec4a.48d97",
"type": "function",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "parse data",
"func": "var voltage = msg.payload[0]['Battery Voltage'].toFixed(2);\nvar power = msg.payload[0]['Battery Charging power'].toFixed(2);\nvar loadpower = msg.payload[0]['Load power'].toFixed(2);\n\nmsg.topic = \"Voltage\";\nmsg.payload = voltage;\n\nvar msg1 = {topic:\"Charging Power\", payload: power};\nvar msg2 = {topic:\"Load Power\", payload: loadpower};\nvar msg3 = {topic:\"Voltage\", payload: voltage};\n\nreturn [msg, msg1, [msg1,msg2,msg3]];",
"outputs": "3",
"noerr": 0,
"x": 625.9794921875,
"y": 1332.0484619140625,
"wires": [
[
"8d0012a4.32f418",
"143a1fa7.c76eb"
],
[
"143a1fa7.c76eb",
"b1566728.7253b"
],
[
"91e58ef9.5d602"
]
]
},
{
"id": "91e58ef9.5d602",
"type": "ui_chart",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "Performance",
"group": "9f358bc8.315728",
"order": 3,
"width": "6",
"height": "5",
"label": "Recent Performance",
"chartType": "line",
"legend": "false",
"xformat": "HH:mm",
"interpolate": "linear",
"nodata": "",
"ymin": "0",
"ymax": "",
"removeOlder": "36",
"removeOlderPoints": "",
"removeOlderUnit": "3600",
"cutout": 0,
"colors": [
"#1f77b4",
"#aec7e8",
"#ff7f0e",
"#2ca02c",
"#98df8a",
"#d62728",
"#ff9896",
"#9467bd",
"#c5b0d5"
],
"x": 1120,
"y": 1391,
"wires": [
[],
[]
]
},
{
"id": "b1566728.7253b",
"type": "ui_gauge",
"z": "41bc4e86.a2c73",
"name": "Charging Power",
"group": "9f358bc8.315728",
"order": 2,
"width": "6",
"height": "6",
"gtype": "gage",
"title": "Charging Power",
"label": "Watts",
"format": "{{value}}",
"min": "0",
"max": "750",
"colors": [
"#00e606",
"#00e606",
"#ca3838"
],
"seg1": "",
"seg2": "700",
"x": 1105,
"y": 1323,
"wires": []
},
{
"id": "4c3e4c8a.898584",
"type": "MySQLdatabase",
"z": "",
"host": "192.168.123.10",
"port": "3306",
"db": "solardata",
"tz": ""
},
{
"id": "9f358bc8.315728",
"type": "ui_group",
"z": "",
"name": "Solar Stuff",
"tab": "ff53e552.1dc31",
"order": 2,
"disp": true,
"width": "18"
},
{
"id": "ff53e552.1dc31",
"type": "ui_tab",
"z": "",
"name": "Home",
"icon": "dashboard"
}
]

When you've imported it change the topic in the inject node to

SELECT `Battery voltage` AS `Battery Voltage`,`Battery charging power`, `Load power` FROM stats ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1

if you've only 1 charge controller, I run 2 and so my query was doing some maths and returning average figures.

You'll also need to update the mysql node with your database username and password.

Legal stuff

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html

162 comments:

Projects9 November 2016 at 08:56
No problem, ask away - I learned lots from your solar videos
ReplyDelete
Replies
chickey11 November 2016 at 02:43
Hi I've followed all the instructions and i am getting the nginx default page but can't get anything else to appear. I'm not seeing anything in the error log but can see things in the access log

192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:34:02 +0000] "-" 400 0 "-" "-"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:34:48 +0000] "GET /phpmyadmin HTTP/1.1" 200 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/54.0.2840.71 Safari/537.36"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:34:52 +0000] "-" 400 0 "-" "-"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:34:52 +0000] "-" 400 0 "-" "-"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:35:36 +0000] "GET /epsolar/index.php HTTP/1.1" 404 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/54.0.2840.71 Safari/537.36"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:35:42 +0000] "-" 400 0 "-" "-"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:35:42 +0000] "-" 400 0 "-" "-"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:40:52 +0000] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 200 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/51.0.2704.79 Safari/537.36 Edge/14.14393"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:40:53 +0000] "GET /epsolar/index.php HTTP/1.1" 404 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/51.0.2704.79 Safari/537.36 Edge/14.14393"
192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:40:53 +0000] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 200 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/51.0.2704.79 Safari/537.36 Edge/14.14393"
ReplyDelete
Replies
Projects11 November 2016 at 04:31
Ok so you webserver is working, but the line 192.168.0.93 - - [11/Nov/2016:10:35:36 +0000] "GET /epsolar/index.php HTTP/1.1" 404 133 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/54.0.2840.71 Safari/537.36"

Shows you're getting a file not found (404) for http://192.168.0.93/epsolar/index.php

check to make sure that /var/www/html/epsolar/index.php exists (look for typos) and the permissions are OK for the webserver to access it, so sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/epsolar should fix that.

Then try again
ReplyDelete
Replies
Projects11 November 2016 at 12:15
The contents of my /etc/nginx/sites-available/default is below

Make changes and then retart the server with
sudo service nginx restart

If that was the problem I'll update my instructions - I'm used to running Apache on Debian, and the root is by default /var/www/html so I've obviously changed this and not written it down.

##
# You should look at the following URL's in order to grasp a solid understanding
# of Nginx configuration files in order to fully unleash the power of Nginx.
# http://wiki.nginx.org/Pitfalls
# http://wiki.nginx.org/QuickStart
# http://wiki.nginx.org/Configuration
#
# Generally, you will want to move this file somewhere, and start with a clean
# file but keep this around for reference. Or just disable in sites-enabled.
#
# Please see /usr/share/doc/nginx-doc/examples/ for more detailed examples.
##

# Default server configuration
#
server {
listen 80 default_server;
listen [::]:80 default_server;

# SSL configuration
#
# listen 443 ssl default_server;
# listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
#
# Self signed certs generated by the ssl-cert package
# Don't use them in a production server!
#
# include snippets/snakeoil.conf;

root /var/www/html;

# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

server_name 192.168.1.10;
location / {
# First attempt to serve request as file, then
# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}

error_page 404 /404.html;
error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
location = /50x.html {
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
}

location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}

# pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
#
#location ~ \.php$ {
# include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
#
# # With php5-cgi alone:
# fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
# # With php5-fpm:
# fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
#}

# deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
# concurs with nginx's one
#
#location ~ /\.ht {
# deny all;
#}
}

# Virtual Host configuration for example.com
#
# You can move that to a different file under sites-available/ and symlink that
# to sites-enabled/ to enable it.
#
#server {
# listen 80;
# listen [::]:80;
#
# server_name example.com;
#
# root /var/www/example.com;
# index index.html;
#
# location / {
# try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
# }
#}

ReplyDelete
Replies
Unknown27 December 2016 at 05:17
Hello and thanks for sharing you project with us. I installed a quick wamp 64bit server to try to experiment your project. Still havent decided if ill go with node red or stick to simple stuff like this.

question:
- so im running this in windows - how do i create cronjob
- how do i add the ip adress and port into index php - i dont seem to get anything from the device (same setup via esp01 with port23)

Thanks in advance.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Unknown30 December 2016 at 16:33
hi again. thanks for your fast answer.
ive found that php_dio might work and i have tested the extension and works. unfortunately i dont have the time.
here the link. http://www.brainboxes.com/faq/items/how-do-i-control-a-serial-port-using-php
i hope some more experienced coder can help the few of us,
Thanks in advance.
ReplyDelete
Replies
chickey1 January 2017 at 11:31
Many thanks again for the step by step instruction, i'm up and running. I had an issue with pdo in php which took some time to sort. It's strange i had started a brand new clean installation from a new jessie image also and ran into similar issues, all good now though it's it's working ok :-)

BTW are you from the north east of england?
ReplyDelete
Replies
chickey1 January 2017 at 13:42
I'm just outside Newcastle myself, i'm about to make a second device for monitoring the output and as you say it'll prove more useful once it gets some data into it even if my panels are rather shaded in the winter :-(

Do you mind if i pop a small vid up showing off your work and link to your video? Wanted to ask first as it's unlisted.
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Unknown1 January 2017 at 15:21
hello again and thanks for trying with win.
eventually i found a romanian guy who made an extension phpser wich he developed specially for rs485 but seems even with that still the code needs to be adapted to work with. too many dependecies to work with at the time .

i think ill buy a cheap pi (i have some old industrial mini pc boards but i think they draw too much and they need both 12V and 5V) i saw older ones dont draw much current - but then its more useful to implement this web solution fully .. and get rid of the esp keeping powered just 1device at5V on the charge controller or whatever supply from the main baterry bank.
problem is time obviously i do this tests an hour per evening and somtimes extend to even03.00 in the morning being caught up in this :).
i guess ill be trying later on .
i was thinking tho .. when you said about php serial -> this wamp 3 64bit dont have it, infact its stated that it supports serial communication but very little.
also php dio is made for a line of products so they designed based on the needs so well basically need to modify the whole library to work with that in windows.
of course once that done many will use it because wamp its so fast and simple to deploy 5min and your online, many of the solar ppl i assume will run this.
Cheers and keep it going with your projects.
Thanks again, ill keep you posted if i discover some solution.
Happy new year.

http://www.thebyteworks.com/phpserial/index.html
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jimlynnjulian7 January 2017 at 09:07
Thanks for the link to the Digital Oceans page. I followed those instructions and I think the mysql software comments are out of date. I was not asked to select a password during installation, only if I wanted to accept the decrease in storage space that accompanies the installation. After the installation, anything and everything I tried to do regarding mysql failed, usually with a password error message.

"To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy
support-files/mysql.server to the right place for your system"--I have no idea what they're talking about. Can't find them.

"pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'Wallaby'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)'"--typical response

And, finally:
"pi@raspberrypi:~ $ mysqld
170107 12:06:59 [Warning] Using unique option prefix key_buffer instead of key_buffer_size is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please use the full name instead.
170107 12:06:59 [Note] mysqld (mysqld 5.5.52-0+deb8u1) starting as process 4534 ...
170107 12:06:59 [Warning] Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/raspberrypi.lower-test
170107 12:06:59 [Warning] Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/raspberrypi.lower-test
mysqld: Can't change dir to '/var/lib/mysql/' (Errcode: 13)
170107 12:06:59 [ERROR] Aborting

170107 12:06:59 [Note] mysqld: Shutdown complete"

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jimlynnjulian7 January 2017 at 09:20
Oh, and this:
"pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MySQL, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
Enter current password for root (enter for none):"
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Unknown9 January 2017 at 07:35
hello again, and thanks for the help/updates again.
Its Vali A. from the experimental server.
I can provide feedback and can say i managed to work with this on a suse linux server _ alot of the problems encountered were due to inacuraccy of instruction (suse related) and permissions, lots of them.

using suse leap 14.2 with the latest xampp instalation
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Unknown13 January 2017 at 14:32
hello again,
Question: i was looking and realized that the dials do not update as json would normally do, im missing something or this is nowrmal because its trial charts!?.
cron job doesnt seem to do the job, tried all kind of permissions and working on an automatic script now wich should be like this:
start cron job between 18.00 - 22.00 each 1m
job between 22.00 - 06.00 each 5min
job between 06.00 - 18.00 each 10sec
using a php script for self page refresh at the moment-anyway the server is on all the time.
i have the same problems with mysql and as ive read its a new security implemented feature some parameters need changing in some httpd/htaccess/conf files seems they are everywhere :).
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Projects14 January 2017 at 00:48
Hi

The page only displays live data when you load it. It produces JSON as this is the code that the gauges use. I could rework it to have a single page load and then poll via ajax for the data but that was overkill for my needs as I wanted to check the live data and then see if everything was in range, and review historic performance.

To achieve what you want with the current code add

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="10" >

between the <head></head> tags in index.php this will cause an automatic page refresh every 10 seconds.

Keep in mind that the cron job running each minute is also running, so that if they both ask at the same time you will get one of the tasks missing data due to the clash.

Permissions issues are difficult to troubleshoot, but try setting the cron jobs up as root cron jobs to see if that works for you.

Alternatively, and probably better, run as a normal user and ensure permissions are such that that user can run the scripts.

HTH
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Unknown23 January 2017 at 01:09
I am getting live data displayed but it does not seem to be writing to the database.

In the spacge error logs I see this:
[:error] [pid 1005] [client 192.168.1.127:51902] PHP Notice: Undefined index: category in /var/www/html/epsolar/index.php on line 140
[Mon Jan 23 09:04:40.276994 2017] [:error] [pid 1005] PHP Warning: implode(): Invalid arguments passed in /var/www/html/epsolar/index.php on line 140

This is line 140:
echo implode('|', $data["category"]);

Any help would be appreciated...
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Unknown23 January 2017 at 01:18
Maybe I have mis-understood how this is functioning.
The cron job that is created is writing to the database after collecting data.
The index.php is gathering the current data from the solar controller at the time of page load but using the data in the database to populate the history chart?
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Unknown4 April 2017 at 03:58
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Unknown4 April 2017 at 04:18
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Unknown4 April 2017 at 06:50
Great project!
I Know why the first (from the video) RS485 converter do not work. It's because you need to pull up the RE/DE pins if you want to transmit (TX) and delay the pull down to allow the TX buffer to be really transmitted on the RS485. But I found a simple cheap solution that will work directly from the the esp/raspberry or arduino (5V TTL compatible) boards. Because it has a leach on the TX pin witch pull up the RE/DE pins when the TX signall is detected. And is 3.3V, so no need for dual PSUs.

Link:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/R411A01-3V3-small-3-3V-Auto-RS485-to-TTL232-Converter-Board-SP3485-LvTTL-RS232-MAX3485-for/32789859586.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.2.rPd467&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10065_10068_10136_10137_10138_10060_10062_10141_10056_10055_10054_128_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10052_10053_10050_10107_10142_10051_10143_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10037_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124,searchweb201603_9,afswitch_1_afChannel,ppcSwitch_5,single_sort_0_price_asc&btsid=c98c8cf1-47f0-4085-ad22-e2a271afb4b3&algo_expid=9769ca61-b506-4060-87be-da477e9890ac-0&algo_pvid=9769ca61-b506-4060-87be-da477e9890ac

Question:
If I guess correctly I just need to comment out the IP-settings and use the /dev/ttyUSBx in the code, to use the raspberry seriall port directly. Am I Right?
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chickey4 April 2017 at 07:45
Hi if you watch all the vids it was a grounding issue, the board mentioned works great.
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Unknown29 April 2017 at 14:44
Hi what beautiful program.

I like to run this program on my Windows 8.1 computer. The standard program EPever is boring program and have issues.

I have no EPSolar Tracer A Series MPPT charge controller, but the last model ET6415BND 60amp 12,24,36,48 volt

Will this program work with my MPPT charge controller?
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Jeff18 May 2017 at 08:10
Awesome stuff, just got mine up and running this morning. I had an issue with the USB/Serial driver, but finally got around that with the instructions on the github site for the Epsolar files.

Thanks for putting this together
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bmorunning20 May 2017 at 22:24
Thank you very much for the hard work! I got my setup running after a struggle with the usb to RS-485 also. Its working great now thou. I have three controllers on my RS-485 network, do you think there is a way to have the data base record info from each one? I know that its asking for the info from controller address 1 right now, mine have 1,2,3 for the addressing. Ill do some digging and see if I can come up with something.
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chickey20 June 2017 at 06:19
Hi i just created some code which inputs the data into an influxdb which means you can then use grafana for some sweet looking and easily changable charts/dashboards. Let me know if your interested. col
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Unknown20 June 2017 at 23:10
Hi, Thanks for the basic setup, I have adjusted your code to query a new php that returns the data needed for the chart's, this allows the charts to automatically update every 5 seconds, I am also using an smart APC UPS 1500 as my inverted and have it monitoring this as well via USB, if you are interested in the code changes please let me know.
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Unknown26 June 2017 at 01:01
Great work, got mine working on the first try.

How do you get these to autostart when rebooted?

sudo socat pty,link=/dev/ttyUSB21,unlink-close=0,raw,echo=0 tcp:192.168.123.21:23&

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB21
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Unknown1 July 2017 at 10:31
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Unknown3 July 2017 at 09:14
LOL, Yeah like 5 2 minutes after I posted.

I also converted the example page to get some other info and called it mobile.php.

Works great for the phone.

I can post the code if anyone wants it
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Unknown11 July 2017 at 09:19
Anyone ever see their chart range on the left side have 100-800K readings?

To fix it I just purge out the DB and all goes back to normal
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Unknown15 July 2017 at 04:28
Wonderful. Everything works well!
wondered if there is a way to convert charger temp to Fahrenheit?
I understand the controller outputs in Celsius.
Just wondering.
thanks again for your time and patience on a great project and blog!!
John M.
KB3ISG
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Unknown30 July 2017 at 12:24
Thank you for posting this blog and the youtube video.
I am struggling with a few things.
This is all new to me so sorry if i have missed something easy.

Should this work with the epsolar rs485 to wifi?
I have it working with the windows epsolar software with out issue but wanted a better gui with graphs like you have created here.

Problem
My sql DB does not have any data. i dont believe it is an issue accessing the DB.
the epsolar wifi dongle is on 11.11.11.254 port 8088
i have used socat and it appears to be running fine
if i "cat /dev/ttydev21" i get data but it is not readable.
Should it be?
I can ping 11.11.11.254 so i believe i am connected.

Also i have the epsolar rs485 to usb cable but when i plug that into the pi i dont get a new /dev/ttyusbx

looked for the driver and found this on github
https://github.com/kasbert/epsolar-tracer/tree/master/xr_usb_serial_common-1a

but i cant make it work. make doesnt run.

Probably just my linux skills letting me down there

everything else works
I get the graphs on my web page but as no data in the sql DB they show only default values

any help appreciated

thank you in advance
Paul
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Unknown2 August 2017 at 05:47
Hi Colin i did translate yours project to German language. Not complete ready yet. But the page will translate automaticely back to english.

TThanks for the Great work and i will be happy to dothe grafana project as well.

In Hardware i did decide also to produce a german video how to do the hardware...

http://donau-grundel-schiff.de/2017/07/23/der-beste-universelle-solar-und-batteriemonitor-nicht-nur-fuer-boote-mit-video/
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Projects3 August 2017 at 09:14
Hi Daniela
This isn't Colin's blog - I just made reference to his excellent hardware solution, and he has kept me informed about his dashboard made with Grafana that you refer to - he added it to these comments so anyone interested in this area could have a look and use it if they wanted.

Thank you for posting your link here too, and your work
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Unknown3 August 2017 at 11:05
Hi Colin

because of the Webserver installation i run in major problems. It let me not do updates and upgrades!

W: Fehlschlag beim Holen von http://ppa.launchpad.net/nginx/stable/ubuntu/dists/jessie/main/binary-armhf/Packages 404 Not Found

Any solution?
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Jaudao24 September 2017 at 13:35
Hi!

I'm new to Linux and PHP.
Is there any way to get the "index.php" file saved as a .html-file instead?
This because i would like to upload the dashboard to a webserver.
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Unknown5 October 2017 at 12:37
Works great for me except one thing....stops writing data to db between sunset & sunrise, any way I could collect data 24/7 for battery monitoring??
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Unknown9 October 2017 at 05:06
hi can you make a new article how you set up this with node red and mqtt in details. i like to start with it but do not understand how it works. Thanks

Step by step...
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Unknown18 October 2017 at 09:31
Hi, this project looks really good and I am trying to replicate it but have run into a snag. I have solar panels on my narrowboat and use an Epsolar BN mppt controller. I have the epsolar remote monitor and the usb comms cable supplied with it. It all works and when connected to a windows pc, the control software works so I know that all of the hardware works. I set up LEMP on a pi3 running the last version of Jessie before Stretch was released.
The problem that I have is that the pi doesn't give the connection a ttyUSB name, it calls it ttyACM0. As you can see from the following, the pi seems to identify the device correctly. I tried setting the permissions for ttyACM0 as you described for ttyUSB0 but got an error. In the PHP code, I used ttyACM0 instead of ttyUSB0 but when navigate to index.php I get a 500 error. The database isn't populating either. So although the pi knows that the interface is there I am unable to address it, can you help?
I've pasted various bits of info from the pi, maybe there's something in there that means something to you.

George
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Unknown18 October 2017 at 09:31
[ 2.290337] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=04e2, idProduct=1411
[ 2.290347] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2.290354] usb 1-1.3: Product: XR21B1411
[ 2.290363] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Exar Corp.
[ 2.290370] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: G8495319441
[ 2.813480] systemd-udevd[147]: starting version 215
[ 3.097678] cdc_acm 1-1.3:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[ 3.098757] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
[ 3.098770] cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
[ 3.170159] gpiomem-bcm2835 3f200000.gpiomem: Initialised: Registers at 0x3f200000
[ 3.420590] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[ 3.524613] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[ 3.576141] brcmfmac: Firmware version = wl0: Aug 7 2017 00:46:29 version 7.45.41.46 (r666254 CY) FWID 01-f8a78378
[ 4.022466] systemd-journald[141]: Received request to flush runtime journal from PID 1

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04e2:1411 Exar Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$ ls /dev
autofs kmsg null raw tty19 tty38 tty57 vcs
block log ppp rfkill tty2 tty39 tty58 vcs1
btrfs-control loop0 ptmx serial tty20 tty4 tty59 vcs2
bus loop1 pts serial1 tty21 tty40 tty6 vcs3
cachefiles loop2 ram0 shm tty22 tty41 tty60 vcs4
char loop3 ram1 snd tty23 tty42 tty61 vcs5
console loop4 ram10 stderr tty24 tty43 tty62 vcs6
cpu_dma_latency loop5 ram11 stdin tty25 tty44 tty63 vcsa
cuse loop6 ram12 stdout tty26 tty45 tty7 vcsa1
disk loop7 ram13 tty tty27 tty46 tty8 vcsa2
fb0 loop-control ram14 tty0 tty28 tty47 tty9 vcsa3
fd mapper ram15 tty1 tty29 tty48 ttyACM0 vcsa4
full mem ram2 tty10 tty3 tty49 ttyAMA0 vcsa5
fuse memory_bandwidth ram3 tty11 tty30 tty5 ttyprintk vcsa6
gpiochip0 mmcblk0 ram4 tty12 tty31 tty50 uhid vcsm
gpiochip1 mmcblk0p1 ram5 tty13 tty32 tty51 uinput vhci
gpiochip2 mmcblk0p2 ram6 tty14 tty33 tty52 urandom watchdog
gpiomem mqueue ram7 tty15 tty34 tty53 vc-cma watchdog0
hwrng net ram8 tty16 tty35 tty54 vchiq xconsole
initctl network_latency ram9 tty17 tty36 tty55 vcio zero
input network_throughput random tty18 tty37 tty56 vc-mem

$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="8"
VERSION="8 (jessie)"

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Unknown19 October 2017 at 10:35
The PHP libaries are based on a document that was developed for the Modbus inside the BN and it works also for the A series what is more common. From modbus side and libaries it should work.
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Unknown5 November 2017 at 12:28
Hi Andrew,
I just wanted to thank you for an excellent project and I now have the panels on my narrowboat logging merrily away to the pi. There are a couple of things that might be useful for other potential users. The USB RS485 converter would only work with the white trace green and white trace blue wires connected. The handbook for the BN controller is the same as the A series regarding the network cable connections but the blue/green, blue/trace blue and green/trace green combinations didn't work for me. I added a line to the crontab file that would give the right permissions to ttyUSB0 in the event that the pi had to restart (always a possibility on a boat!).
I only live on board for half of the year so I set up remote access using remot3.it and now I can monitor performance remotely using the on board mobile broadband connection. My next task is to write the data to an internet database which will mean that I can view the solar info on a web page rather than by logging in through the remot3.it service. I have another pi onboard which runs OpenHab and monitors temperature sensors that I have built with ESP8266 modules using MQTT. I hope to use Node Red to generate MQTT messages which will add to the OpenHab setup. I have looked at your Node Red code but I am seeing an error in debug mode which says:
function : (error)
TypeError: Object 12.95 has no method 'toFixed'

I haven't really done anything with Node Red before so I have no idea what the error is but I'll look into it.

So once again, thanks for producing an interesting and invaluable project. It was a bit of a challenge for me with the installation being remote but I overcame that problem. Ultimately I hope to have the information visible on the internet for when I am not on board and feeding into my OpenHab installation for when I am there.

Best Regards

George
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Unknown5 November 2017 at 14:37
Hi andrew can you describe yours flash process there for the ESP8266 - 1? I did ask there if its fixed but they told me i have to compile the ESP and so i ask about yours method?

Allways a step by step procedure is prefered :-)
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Unknown5 November 2017 at 23:09
@Narrowboat Caxton i have done for Openplotter a limited Documentation. I strictly blog in German but i let run 5 translation engins that there is the documentation translated to 117 languages.. so sorry that the english is a bit ... well how should i say :-)...

Openplotter is using signal k a Marineformat server that is using and transfering also NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 and additional Canboat that is working out the secret codes of the closed NMEA2000. I am looking to make the solution here for solar to include. If you give it a try and have success tell me please. In the meantime i try with DIYpowerwalls to include grafana and influxdb. In general exists also a script for installation special for the ESP8266 a raspberry installation script that is maintained and let you easy install all MQTT and node red requirements. This save you hours and days of painfull instalation. Openplotter do use it also but Maintainer did not make full instalation... I will communicate my findings soon. You find my blog at http://donau-grundel-schiff.de
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Unknown15 November 2017 at 11:24
Hi Andrew, I finally got it all together and set up a little website to display the stats online. Could you take a few minutes to review it and let me know if there are any errors or if you think that details need clarifying please? The address is http://solar.narrowboat.us . You can contact me by leaving a comment on my boating blog at www.narrowboat.us

Many Thanks

George
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Jaudao27 November 2017 at 14:09
I'm trying to include "Generated Today" and "Max Battery voltage" into the example_web.php
Does anyone know how to?
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pcmm9 February 2018 at 18:10
Colin! great work I was able to get the Exar drivers to work with my tracer USB cable. for the record your instructions also work on the Tracer CN series of MPPT controllers. Question though, how do you get your scripts to monitor a second MPPT controller?
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pcmm17 February 2018 at 16:32
Question on setting up updating of the "dials" In the original code the dials only query once when the page loads using
-> "value": "realtimeData[4]

Can they be changed to auto updating dials using the following code
->
"dataStreamUrl": "http://localhost/epsolar/getsolarstats.php",
"refreshInterval": "10",

but how do you determine what value you are updating?

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Projects18 February 2018 at 01:56
The dials get their data from a separate request for live data when the page loads, and the graphs get data from the database, which is populated by getsolarstats running periodically (every minute for me) - basically this makes a request for live data every minute and stores it.

The original software has a minimum polling interval of 10s, so I'm guessing it will not work if a value lower than that is tried. As you increase this polling frequency, it also means that other requests for data are more likely to clash and you'll get a request that gets no data back - ie if you have a page with frequently updating figures your data logging feature may end up having gaps in the data it can retrieve.

I'm happy with 1min polling - but if you want more frequent updates, it is relatively simple to have a page eg livedata.php which your gauges use as a data source - that php page would request live data from the charge controller, get the data, parse it and return it to your chart in a format for direct update.

See https://www.fusioncharts.com/dev/chart-guide/standard-charts/real-time-charts for some inspiration.

There's also the possibility you could edit the page to to just show the dials and not the graphs, and simply put a metarefresh on the page to cause the whole page to refresh say every 15s simply pulling live data on each refresh.

HTH

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Marsotica6 April 2018 at 04:18
Hello, i'm alos want to monitor my Epsolar Tracer, with TTL-RS485 adapter, can i doit with your tutorial? have a lot of erros: getsolarstats.php not returning any data, i use wire to my controller

i have changed these:
$solararray["/dev/serial0"]["ip"] = '';;
$solararray["/dev/serial0"]["port"] = '';

but no signal, how can i test if the RS485 is working and on what port and baud rate?
/var/www/html/epsolar# ./getsolarstats.php
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Projects7 April 2018 at 02:12
Hi Marsotica

This solution does work with either the wired connector above, or the home made wifi one.

The only problem I've seen is that some wires can be recognised by your kernel as being a modem, and hence the wrong driver it used. Though in the cases I've heard about it doesnt mount as /dev/serial

I've posted the following for George above

--------
A bit of googling got me here https://github.com/kasbert/epsolar-tracer
This looks to contain a driver that you can use that will mount your device so that it's handled like a usb device, and will appear as ttyxRUSB0
device which may work with the software as you've tried to do ie replace ttyUSB0 with ttyxRUSB0 throughout. Note you have to compile the new kernel module, and disable the acm one for this to work.

The link above then manages to connect with a python script. As the page seems to be for Tracer A and BN, it make me thing the modbus may be the same, and therefore, this dashboard, and the phplibrary it uses may work.

I think this should get you connected from a pi, either with my dashboard, or at the very least with a pythons script.

----------

Pierre above got this to work on a RPi and left the following instructions

If you still have the other tracer USB cable, I got mine running using the github drivers. The problem with github is they assume that you already have the kernel headers installed which the Pi doesn't by default. you need to install the headers using sudo apt-get install raspberrypi-kernel-headers, then run the make and insmod commands. I also copied the resuolting *.ko file into the modules folder and added an endtry into the modules file. You'll also need to blacklist the ACM driver to keep it from installing.

-------------
If you did these things I think you'd be able to get it to mount as /dev/ttyUSB?? and then the change the array keys and you should connect.

Hope that helps
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a1 May 2018 at 00:46
someone is able to get it work with windows wamp?

atleast read data from tracer A
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a5 May 2018 at 07:00
every times i try, i get : unable to set parity, unable to set baudrate etc.... no working at all (win10 64bit + usb cable that work with epsolar software)
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Jaudao28 May 2018 at 08:15
I have this issue now and then, when I run the command "sudo socat pty,link=/dev/ttyUSB21,unlink-close=0,raw,echo=0 tcp:11.11.11.254:8088&"

and then run this command
"sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB21"

I get this output "chmod: cannot operate on dangling symlink â/dev/ttyUSB21â
[1]+ Done sudo socat pty,link=/dev/ttyUSB21,unlink-close=0,raw,echo=0 tcp:11.11.11.254:8088"

What does this mean, what can I do to fix this?
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Unknown21 June 2018 at 04:18
Hello

great work thank you very much for the tutorial

I have the Epsolar IT4415ND connected by the original usb cable all works perfectly just not able to clean the battery SOC it returns it constantly value 2500

did anyone solve you the same problem?

thank you for the info

RealTime Data
----------------------------------
00 PV array voltage: 98.58V
01 PV array current: 6.16A
02 PV array power: 607.35W
03 Battery voltage: 57.46V
04 Battery charging current: 10.57A
05 Battery charging power: 607.35W
06 Load voltage: 57.46V
07 Load current: 0A
08 Load power: 0W
09 Battery temperature: 26.51°C
10 Charger temperature: 36.97°C
11 Heat sink temperature: 25°C
12 Battery SOC: 2500%
13 Remote battery temperature: 48°C
14 System rated voltage: 57.46V
15 Battery status: 0
16 Equipment status: 9
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Unknown5 July 2018 at 12:06
Hi Andrew,
Perhaps you or other users can help me with the load setting on the epever. I continued to develop the node red dashboard and included a switch for the load based on your php code. It works as well as the button on the MT50 display but only when certain conditions are met. I have graphed the load voltage against the battery voltage and the pv voltage and have found the following.
If I leave the load switched on permanently, it will switch itself off when the battery voltage drops below 13.1v and will switch itself back on when the battery reaches 14.2v. There is no correlation with the PV voltage or whether it is day or night.
If the load is off and the battery voltage is below 14.1v and I switch the load on, nothing happens. Without further intervention, once the battery voltage reaches 14.1v, the load will automatically switch on so the system remembers that it had the signal. It’s a mystery to me so any help would be appreciated.

As a note to David (above). I don’t know why the SOC is displaying 2500% but don’t waste time trying to get to the bottom of it as the true reading will be meaningless anyway. The epever SOC is calculated from the battery voltage and the temperature. So in the first instance, you need the battery sensor connected. Even then the reading is meaningless unless there is no load on the batteries and they have been charged and equalised. I have a shunt on my battery bank which amongst other things, counts amps in and out of the battery bank. This is the most accurate way of determining the SOC.

Best Regards
George
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Doody26 August 2018 at 08:48
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Doody26 August 2018 at 08:51
Hi Andrew, thank you for the guide. I have had this up and running for a few months now, but I have just noticed something very strange. If I switch the load off when the Raspberry Pi is connected to the COM port on the Tracer, the load does not switch off, instead the voltage output on the load drops from say the battery charge 12.7V to 12V or thereabouts and therefore anything I have connected to the load stays powered on. If I remove the RJ45 cable from the Tracer or the USB RS485 adapter from the Pi and then switch the load off, it works fine. e.g. the load voltage drops to zero.

I followed Adam Welchs video on Youtube ref the Green and Blue wire, today I changed the wiring to the RS485 to the two blue wires in the RJ45 lead that I saw at http://www.solarpoweredhome.co.uk/

But I have exactly the same issue, are you seeing this issue at all or have any idea how to solve it. It is pretty annoying as I cannot dump the load if the Pi is connected and if I disconnect the Pi I cannot look at the charts or remotely switch the load on or off (not that it currently switches the load off that is). I only recently needed the ability to remotely switch the load on/off and hence the reason I have only just noticed this problem.
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Tony26 August 2018 at 09:07
I wanted to come by and say thank you for your fantastic work!

Your work was the genesis of my current setup. Using Node Red on the raspberry pi, I am reading, via MODBUS, all the registers in real-time. I opted this model as it gives me fast data and i didn't really need the database.

Setup:

Tracer 4210AN ---> usb to RS485 ---> Raspberry Pi ---> Node Red ---> MODBUS

I am still working on the setup, for example I want to be able to write directly to the load registers so that i can manually turn it on/off.

Thank you again!
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Unknown2 October 2018 at 16:17
Hi. Great software, and I have this running on one Raspberry Pi with no problems. But I have just done a second installation using another Raspberry but with a different model controller (info.py shows it as Tracer2215BN). So the info.py works fine, as does the windows EPEver software but running index.php from this package gives message "Timeout on reading from serial port". Driver is loaded OK and shows as /dev/ttyXRUSB0.
Any Ideas?
Cheers Andi
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Unknown7 January 2019 at 08:19
Hi, I'm new to arduino - I have NodeMCU D1 Mini (in the arduino interface I've selected NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP 12-E Module)) in the IDE. I made the change to the 3100 section as detailed in the top of your post but I'm getting nothing at all.
I've got it wired to the Mini as follows - white/blue to TX, green to RX, blue to Ground. Tried swapping TX/Rx around but nowt.
(pins 5 - blue/white,6 green and 7 blue)
Any thoughts - or did you wire your D1 differently.
I have a 30A MPPT EP Solar Tracer. I also have the MT5.
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Unknown13 February 2019 at 07:43
Hi,

please help me out here...

pi@raspberrypi:~/epeverlogger $ sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB21
chmod: cannot operate on dangling symlink '/dev/ttyUSB21'
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Doody16 March 2019 at 12:31
This is the second time I have set this up, the first time I followed this guide 100% on a Raspberry Pi 2 and it worked flawlessly. This second time I set it up on a Pi Zero and deviated from using Nginx to Apache, but I have a very slight issue on the Pi Zero in that the Fusioncharts do not show the No. below them, well the Nett Current (A) does, but the rest of the stats do not!. The dials all work and point to where they should and the performance history also works fine.

Anyone any ideas?, maybe something has changed in the latest Fusioncharts. If no one has an idea, perhaps you could post a link to a copy of Fusioncharts that works for you, so I can rule out a newer version being the problem? - I wiped my Pi 2 a few weeks ago, so lost all the files that was on it, so I don't have that version of Fusioncharts (that's assuming that is the issue).
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Doody17 March 2019 at 11:45
What a huge waste of time that was!, I "figured out" this only happened with the .fint theme, I tried all the other themes and the valuebelowpivot is shown fine, but I didn't like the layout of the other themes. I eventually found the fusioncharts.zip I downloaded last year, replaced the newer version with this older version but the result was the same. I disabled Ublock on Chromium = same result. I installed Firefox-ESR = Same result. I then installed the Midori browser and the Pivotvalue shows fine under all gauges. I used Midori on my Pi2 on my previous install of this, so this issue never cropped up then!. Not sure how to fix this - but something about Chromium and Firefox-ESR does not like dispalying the Pivot values when using the fint theme - oh well, I'm happy using Midori. If anyone else has this issue, you can try the above :-)
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motos30 March 2019 at 06:18
Good morning.
First, congratulate him on this project.
My question would be the following:
I have the following loading charger: LS2024B
It also has Standard Modbus communication protocol with RS485 interface

Thank you
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motos30 March 2019 at 06:19
Good morning.
First, congratulate him on this project.
My question would be the following:
I have the following loading charger: https://www.epsolarpv.com/product/10.html
It also has Standard Modbus communication protocol with RS485 interface
Functional without problems?
Thank you
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Nox3 December 2019 at 10:37
after following this guide,getting lost and finding my way.I Would like to say thanks to Randomsporadicprojects for this guide and i want to contribute a bit so if any of you face the same issue will come on top.

I took all the steps from this guide, but after tinkering a lot i come to the conclusion:

You need PHP, MYSQL
Always remember to change access and run permissions on any file you make.

Download the GitHub connection files from https://github.com/toggio/PhpEpsolarTracer
If you are using the usb to rj45 cable that came with the controller please download the drivers https://github.com/kasbert/epsolar-tracer/tree/master/xr_usb_serial_common-1a

I made a simple scrip to run at boot time to delete the driver that Linux uses and re install this one " i know there is a better way, but is just simpler"

########################################
#!/bin/bash

##To remove the CDC-ACM driver and install the driver:
sudo rmmod cdc-acm
sudo modprobe -r usbserial
sudo modprobe usbserial
sudo insmod /var/www/html/epsolar/drivers/epsolar-tracer/xr_usb_serial_common-1a/xr_usb_serial_common.ko
#####################################
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Nox3 December 2019 at 10:38
hose where my mayor deviations.

here its my Node red dash with all the info.
Note: you must add a second query and second table

SELECT `Battery voltage`,`Battery charging power`,`Battery charging current`,`PV array voltage`,`PV array current`,`PV array power`,`Battery temperature`,`Battery SOC` FROM stats ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1;

SELECT `Generated energy today`,`Generated energy this moth`,`Generated energy this year` FROM accstats ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 1;
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Donald9 June 2021 at 14:13
Can someone post a link to fusioncharts.zip... may be your copy.
I can't find it on http://www.fusioncharts.com/

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chickey10 June 2021 at 04:15
For anyone following i've created a new board that i launched earlier this year that can post the data straight to a MQTT broker or an influxdb directly https://store.eplop.co.uk/product/epever-rs485-to-wifi-adaptor-new-revision/
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