TexasBill Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 This means that (since I have free "nights" from 8 pm to 6 am) and solar covers most of the days that I only need to cover electricity from 6 am till the sun takes over and from when the sun quits till 8 pm. Any overages for solar simply charges the battery during the day. So far this works a treat - my electric bill last month was a little less than ten dollars. I am using a HARRIS 31KW battery in case you are interested. Now - I currently use eGAUGE to monitor solar production and my current usage of electricity and in the summer if I am making more than using then I set the thermostats to 73 degrees - but if it is a cloudy day or not making solar then I set the thermostats to 77 degrees. What I would really like is a driver that works like the egauge and can tell me what the battery is currently doing. For some reason my solar guy does not think he can monitor the battery usage using egauge - has anyone done this yet? or do you have an interface to SOL-ARK 15 KW? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 I don’t know Sol-Ark but I had a similar problem (I could measure usage with eGauge but not my battery level). I have a Victron Solar setup. My solution was the Yatun Modbus driver. It took me a while to teach myself the Modbus communication protocol but I now use Modbus to communicate with my battery (and other Solar devices such as the PV inverters), my generator, my backup water supply pumps, eGauge itself and various other devices. I have been amazed by how many devices support the Modbus protocol! SpencerT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted September 20, 2022 Author Share Posted September 20, 2022 Sol-ARK supports the modbus protocol - just not sure I am smart enough to do anything with it. I looked at it and choked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 3 hours ago, TexasBill said: Sol-ARK supports the modbus protocol - just not sure I am smart enough to do anything with it. I looked at it and choked. Lol! Sounds like my initial reaction… It is daunting at first but once you get it, it is pretty easy. Your dealer may (or may not) know how to use the Yatun Modbus driver. If you do go this route, be aware that Yatun has 2 different Modbus drivers. One for IP connected devices and one for RS232 connected devices. The IP version is easier to use but which one you actually use depends on the communication protocol of the device you want to control. / receive data from… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 I am attaching the documentation for the SOL ARK Modbus interface - if there is anyone out there that could make a driver I would be interested. Modbus Sol-Ark V1.2(Public Release, READ-ONLY).pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 8 hours ago, TexasBill said: I am attaching the documentation for the SOL ARK Modbus interface - if there is anyone out there that could make a driver I would be interested. Modbus Sol-Ark V1.2(Public Release, READ-ONLY).pdf 562.48 kB · 2 downloads I had a quick look at the documentation. Any dealer familiar with Modbus and the Yatun Modbus driver would be able to link any of these fields into C4 for you relatively easily. You would need the Yatun Modbus RTU driver and their (free) variable driver. Once the physical connection is made, it would take someone a couple of hours to get Control4 connected using this driver and another hour or two to setup and test whichever variables you want access to / control of. I have worked with my dealer to link up 4 or 5 different devices via Modbus (Yatun driver) and it is not too difficult once you understand Modbus and the driver. I must admit that neither of us knew Modbus or the Yatun driver when we started the first project and we thus took a couple of days to do what should have taken an hour or two. Up until now, we have always used the Yatun Modbus IP driver. We are (in the next month or two - when I can find a morning that both my dealer and I are free) going to link up a DAB pump which requires the RTU driver. I have read the driver documentation and apart from one additional step in the set up (essentially creating a driver file that uses the correct baud rate etc. as this - and other items - is not a parameter but rather an xml edit) the process and setup is the same as the IP driver (admittedly, wiring is slightly more complex also). If you do go this route, make sure you get the RTU driver licence as a licence for the IP driver will not (AFAIK) work on the RTU driver. Bramuchachos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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