Versafel Systems Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I need to measure the voltage of a 12vdc battery bank in an off grid system (starlink for internet). Anybody got any ideas how to facilitate this? I've been digging for hours and the only items from some third party vendors are long discontinued. I got excited with the Axxess Industries 4 channel dimmer as it had a property window in the driver about input voltage, but there was nothing to program with. Something that can report battery voltage, even if its just via variables. That way we can send push alerts on battery status and trigger power saving programming on low voltage. The battery / solar / inverter is an existing system that does not communicate except for a LCD display in the kitchen that shows the status of the MPPT solar charge controller. ***edit*** I failed to mention that we are looking for a device that communicates via RS232 or zigbee as WiFi on Starlink is disabled and Araknis access points are powered down for power saving as this unit goes weeks being unoccupied. Any help is much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Shelly Uni probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Ok, you updated your post with some info. Can you clarify exactly what you will be running on power and what exactly you want this voltage monitor to solve for you? We are assuming you are running some sort of Control4 system since that's the nature of this forum. If you are not running control4 can you be more specific? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versafel Systems Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 Sorry, i thought seeing that this is a Control4 forum that it didn't need to be said. But yes it’s a Control4 system. As stated in my OP we would like to trigger events based on battery bank voltage in this off grid application. We can enact power saving measures by shutting down the inverter, reducing lighting loads and send push notifications of battery bank state and if the generator has started up due to lack of solar input. The client has starlink and we are running a CA1 with z2io’s, a door lock, NYCE door/window sensors and a pair of Axxess Industires DCM4 for DC lighting control (these work soooo good). The CA1 is powered directly from the DC battery bank via a 12/24v to 5dvc step down buck converter. The z2io’s (powered direct from battery bank) are for some relay and contact sensor work (leak sensors, exterior daylight sensor, water storage tank level, and relays to control the inverter on/off and water pump on/off) The 2zio’s are also giving us equipment room temp and exterior air temp. I did order a Shelly Uni Plus (very cool little unit) and it does in fact provide a very accurate Dc voltage read in the properties table of the driver. Currently we can trigger two events from the Shelly Uni for “high” and “low” voltage states so thats awesome. Already have the system sending push notifications on those events and shutting down the inverter when the unit is unoccupied and in low voltage states. Now where we are stuck is the client would LOVE to have it display the voltage on a simple driver. Something like the temperature display driver is what we are looking for so he can see at a glance battery bank voltage and incoming PV solar array voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 On 2/7/2024 at 10:14 PM, Versafel Systems said: ***edit*** I failed to mention that we are looking for a device that communicates via RS232 or zigbee as WiFi on Starlink is disabled and Araknis access points are powered down for power saving as this unit goes weeks being unoccupied. I guess this line from the original post caused a logic problem with using C4 or wifi and just how you were going to make anything work. We assume that someone wants to remotely monitor their stuff in this kind of situation, but you are saying or giving the impression that they system is being powered down. Hard to know what that customer wants to do with a voltage display they maybe can't see. 13 minutes ago, Versafel Systems said: Already have the system sending push notifications on those events and shutting down the inverter when the unit is unoccupied and in low voltage states. If it were me I'd use local low voltage cutoff hardware. I would not rely on automation from C4. I would use C4 for monitoring only. I like Victron gear, but there are a lot of choices out there. Using C4 to shut off an inverter can end badly depending on what sort of battery bank they are using. Can you say what gear they are using for the solar? There are a few drivers out there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 In terms of displaying the voltage, the bIcons driver by bNet solutions has a neat display option for low voltage batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Display voltage For a quick and free, you could do a multistate experience button. Green for over 12, blue at say 11, yellow at 10, red at 9. Or there is a third party driver: https://bnet4solutions.com/portfolio/bicons/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 There is also this type of driver or a webview experience button if you want to put more data together. https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/utility/custom-info-display/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versafel Systems Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 On 2/20/2024 at 1:49 PM, Shoe said: I guess this line from the original post caused a logic problem with using C4 or wifi and just how you were going to make anything work. We assume that someone wants to remotely monitor their stuff in this kind of situation, but you are saying or giving the impression that they system is being powered down. Hard to know what that customer wants to do with a voltage display they maybe can't see. If it were me I'd use local low voltage cutoff hardware. I would not rely on automation from C4. I would use C4 for monitoring only. I like Victron gear, but there are a lot of choices out there. Using C4 to shut off an inverter can end badly depending on what sort of battery bank they are using. Can you say what gear they are using for the solar? There are a few drivers out there... The system doesn't power down. The secondary inverter (3000watt) that drives wall plugs and other household items is powered down via c4 to save power, and originally we wanted to power down unused items like araknis 520 wifi. But we are using shelly devices now so wifi stays active too. The primary inverter (1000w) stays active 24/7 which handles a few infrastructure items in the utility room. Its all Renogy solar, batteries and inverters. So far with the shelly devices we are getting pretty good performance. Only item on the "wish" list would be a generic display driver that should show battery voltage and / or battery capacity in percentage (50%, 80% etc) we are playing with a few drivercentral drivers for this now but not loving them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versafel Systems Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 On 2/20/2024 at 2:36 PM, RAV said: Display voltage For a quick and free, you could do a multistate experience button. Green for over 12, blue at say 11, yellow at 10, red at 9. Or there is a third party driver: https://bnet4solutions.com/portfolio/bicons/ Actually that has been our favourite test so far. the UI Status button changing colours. We mapped and recorded a bunch of system voltages and wrote some number variables to trigger the button colours. Would just be way cooler if is said 12.9v or 80% or something in the middle of the button along with the colours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Renogy has documented api's and protocols. Quite a bit around if you want to fetch details from the equipment. It's not terrible gear, but is more consumer grade. I designed a Lifepo4 battery with one of their OEM suppliers and am generally happy with the quality. I've seen Home Assistant folks integrating with a serial to wifi bridge https://www.tindie.com/products/westlabs/renogy-rover-rs232-compatible-wifi-module/ 5 hours ago, Versafel Systems said: Would just be way cooler if is said 12.9v or 80% or something in the middle of the button along with the colours. I thought that was possible with the driver based on the documentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 7 hours ago, Versafel Systems said: Would just be way cooler if is said 12.9v or 80% or something in the middle of the button along with the colours. This is exactly what the bNet Solutions (bIcons driver mentioned above does. Set up the driver, choose the low voltage battery icon set and link it to the relevant variable. Then you will have exactly what you are looking for. See my generator battery voltage of 27.5 volts below. Shoe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo1738 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Would this work w the low voltage loads? I use it for my remote water sensors, door locks etc works great. https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/utility/battery-agent/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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