Remotely Monitoring BASIC 12v Solar System, Why is there not an easy solution for this???

[Goboatingnow]

Okay, super short version, I have a property about 2000+ miles from my house, and on that property I have a converted school bus, and a shed for snow removal equipment. I am installing 400w of solar panels, and 400Ah of lithium batteries, and TBD charge controller. The batteries will operate an NVR and several cameras, and a 4g router, this will allow me to keep an eye on my property from anywhere in the world.

That said.... how the hell do you monitor the solar system itself? On the bus, I have a renogy rover charge controller w blue tooth dongle, and it works great, but they don't offer a wifi version, only a CELL dongle that costs $100+ a year. I am already paying for WIFI at this location, and I'm streaming VIDEO. A couple 1s and 0s to show how much energy I am getting, the state of charge of the batteries, and energy use is apparently too much to ask in 2022???

What gives? Is there a charge controller that has WIFI connectivity that I am not aware of?

There’s no industry standards. If the system has wifi access ( and many do ) and you have fixed broadband or cellular modems. It is possible ( albeit with a bit of mucking around ) to make the phone vpn onto the internal wifi from outside

The alternative is a system that broadcasts the data over Ethernet , wifi or Bluetooth to a gateway device that uploads this to a monitoring portal which you then query with your phone. To do this requires you to buy into a manufacturers “walled garden “
As there is no common communications standards. ( the closest thing is probably NMEA 2000 can bus common on boats , where remote monitoring is getting easier every day )

So Victron has the building blocks for example ( Cerbo GX , globallink 520 etc ) others do not have sufficient infrastructure or have no monitoring capability in the first place.

 

[ADDvanced]

That's so dumb. It's 2022. I can see my security system from anywhere in the world, but transmitting a couple 1s and 0s to show some numbers? Impossible. Wtf.

 

[Goboatingnow]

That's so dumb. It's 2022. I can see my security system from anywhere in the world, but transmitting a couple 1s and 0s to show some numbers? Impossible. Wtf.

The issue is the lack of standard communication protocols to enable third parties to build compatible tools. Today the only people doing it are larger systems orientated companies like Victron

This is the way in other areas. My washing machine has wifi , but making it talk out of my home network to the outside world is problematic in a similar way as solar gear

Victron does have some nice solutions if you live in an area with cellular LTE-M Then the globallink 520 can easily connect some Victron units and push the reporting data up to the free Victron VRM portal. This can then be viewed by any device having internet access.

 

[Mannfamilywoodworks]

The issue is the lack of standard communication protocols to enable third parties to build compatible tools. Today the only people doing it are larger systems orientated companies like Victron

This is the way in other areas. My washing machine has wifi , but making it talk out of my home network to the outside world is problematic in a similar way as solar gear

Victron does have some nice solutions if you live in an area with cellular LTE-M Then the globallink 520 can easily connect some Victron units and push the reporting data up to the free Victron VRM portal. This can then be viewed by any device having internet access.

That’s pretty awesome actually.

 

[LeoThomson]

Try the SBMS0 it comes with an optional WIFI module. (But his products are out of stock until around November 2022)

 

[Vigo]

This is the way in other areas. My washing machine has wifi , but making it talk out of my home network to the outside world is problematic in a similar way as solar gear

Lots of such devices probably are talking 'to the outside world', just not in a way that benefits the owner. They're likely data-mining us via peer-to-peer mesh networking that doesn't rely on your actual wifi if there are other 'compatible' radios within its own range (i.e. neighborhoods).

Tesla 'needs' vehicles' data to make their autopilot stop killing people. Maybe eventually the washing machine will just do the laundry for you?

 

[ADDvanced]

My current plan is to get a Renogy 60A Rover, which has an RS485 (Rj45) communcations port, and a Renogy One M1 control panel... that has wifi. So then I can monitor it from anywhere, but I would need to pay $30/year to do so, and it's a "walled garden", but this is a lot cheaper than going to Victron. Maybe as I scale up I'll switch over.

 

[timselectric]

My current plan is to get a Renogy 60A Rover, which has an RS485 (Rj45) communcations port, and a Renogy One M1 control panel... that has wifi. So then I can monitor it from anywhere, but I would need to pay $30/year to do so, and it's a "walled garden", but this is a lot cheaper than going to Victron. Maybe as I scale up I'll switch over.

You should see if it's compatible with Solar Assistant.
One time purchase, no subscription.

 

[ADDvanced]

I don't think it is, unless I get into raspberry pi stuff. Maybe I will eventually.

 

[timselectric]

That's a shame, because it's a great product.
I'd be lost without it.

 

[SoakedUp]

My current plan is to get a Renogy 60A Rover, which has an RS485 (Rj45) communcations port, and a Renogy One M1 control panel... that has wifi. So then I can monitor it from anywhere, but I would need to pay $30/year to do so, and it's a "walled garden", but this is a lot cheaper than going to Victron. Maybe as I scale up I'll switch over.

A victron 100/50 charge controller and cerbo gx is within $100 difference compared to the renogy stuff and you get way better quality and no $30 annual fee. Seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[Mannfamilywoodworks]

That's a shame, because it's a great product.
I'd be lost without it.

I definitely wanna try it out soon.

 

[ADDvanced]

The $30 fee is worth it if i I can remotely turn on lights and stuff.... it's new, if I hate it I'll change to victron.

 

[ADDvanced]

Update: The m1 is a collosal piece of shit that barely functions, and then quits working, support is useless, wound up returning it. Still waiting for an easy straightforward way to monitor my solar system remotely.

 

[ADDvanced]

Anyone? I am headed back out west and want to have a way to monitor my solar system's power and battery levels.

 

[v_green57]

Anyone? I am headed back out west and want to have a way to monitor my solar system's power and battery levels.

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Been using these since before charge controllers had any embedded capability of their own. Three still in use.

They aren't quite the value they used to be at $100 in 2009, but they are a nice drop-in device that gets the job done. The current monitoring capability is low, but you can just not use it and depend on the graph of your battery voltage to see when your system goes into float.

Assign it a static IP and a couple port forwards on your remote router and you are up and running. No "going through the cloud" shit where somebody else is always watching.

 

[Texas-Mark]

The silly answer is point another camera at it.

That is what I do. No need to do video. Just get one that also does pics.

 

[Shimmy]

Anyone? I am headed back out west and want to have a way to monitor my solar system's power and battery levels.

Exactly what do you want to monitor; do you just want instant data, single day aggregation, or multi-day history? Just battery voltage, or do you want to see charge and discharge energy as well? Do you just want enough to know there is a problem *now*, or do you want to predict when you migh thave an issue in the future?

Hooking up a battery shunt to an ESP8266 might be viable, but it would be a lot of DIY. There are some cheaper data acquisition systems that might work as well, or you could go with a micro PLC.

 

[Shimmy]

At $180 this is the cheapest packaged product I could find that seems to meet your needs. It has wifi and RS485, so lots of options for accessing the data.

 

[LeoThomson]

Anyone? I am headed back out west and want to have a way to monitor my solar system's power and battery levels.

You can take a snapshot periodically and mail it to yourself, mail will also retry a few times in case you lose connection so you will get the data eventually.

The problem is that depending on the circumstances, there are many ways to do it, which makes it difficult for us to give you advise.