Solar Dashboard Project

Projects related to Solar Power
TripitakaBC
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:12 pm

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by TripitakaBC »

Yes, I've noticed the same gaps but it has been much better since I shut down the 'internal' dashboards in the browser and just monitor the cloud dashboard. They are still there but far better. I wonder if this could be overcome by switching to the ESP32 devices rather than the ESP8266? I've already switched for most of my IoT projects.
fredivar
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:02 pm
Location: Norway

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by fredivar »

Hi Amente /Jonathan
Is Snektek Firmware version saved into both flash of the module, and into the Cloud? My question because I updated from 3.1 to 4.0-4c...but lost connection to cloud after update. Tried also 4.0-15.. with same problem. Reverted back to 3.1 and have kind of connection to cloud now, but when logging in from remote on mysolardashboard.snektek.com the dashboard says firmware is 4.0-4c, while it locally say version is 3.1. Any way to override this and be able to update remotely to newer version again?
Best regards Fred ivar Tallaksen, Sandefjord, Norway
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by jonathan »

fredivar wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:57 am
Hi Amente /Jonathan
Is Snektek Firmware version saved into both flash of the module, and into the Cloud? My question because I updated from 3.1 to 4.0-4c...but lost connection to cloud after update. Tried also 4.0-15.. with same problem. Reverted back to 3.1 and have kind of connection to cloud now, but when logging in from remote on mysolardashboard.snektek.com the dashboard says firmware is 4.0-4c, while it locally say version is 3.1. Any way to override this and be able to update remotely to newer version again?
Best regards Fred ivar Tallaksen, Sandefjord, Norway
Hi Fred, the version is local only, and you can only update when connected locally. It shouldn't be a problem once you're connected locally to update again.

I think you should format your SD card, and reinstall the firmware using erase all option. Then update to latest locally and log in to cloud. It should work better then. Let me know how it goes. Also you can send me all the log files before you format the card and I will have a look.
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by jonathan »

TripitakaBC wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:07 pm
Yes, I've noticed the same gaps but it has been much better since I shut down the 'internal' dashboards in the browser and just monitor the cloud dashboard. They are still there but far better. I wonder if this could be overcome by switching to the ESP32 devices rather than the ESP8266? I've already switched for most of my IoT projects.
There shouldn't be any gaps but sometimes they do happen. We made some updates in the last few months that reduce the gaps significantly. If you look at the online demo unit, there are no gaps anymore. But gaps can happen for all kinds of reasons. If you can, attach the log files here for a day with gaps and it will help us understand why they are happening and how to fix them. Since our test unit does not generate gaps.

Regarding upgrading to the esp32. We will probably eventually, but there is no fundamental limitation with the esp8266, right now we have to continue optimizing the software. There are many possible new issues we could see if we upgrade to esp32
TripitakaBC
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:12 pm

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by TripitakaBC »

@jonathan / @amente,

Can you clarify what is required to use mqtt from the unit with username and password? Is it as simple as 'mqttusername-xxxxx' in the config file?
amente
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 3:32 pm

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by amente »

fredivar wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 4:44 pm
fredivar wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:33 pm
jonathan wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:20 pm


Alright, are you comfortable soldering the RTC module yourself? Then I will send it to you.
Sounds great, have been working as an electronic engineer for more than 30 years, so soldering is no problem
Hi Jonathan (others which might have suggestions)
I received the RTC, got it mounted and tried at home (with no access to Solar controller), modified the SD card reset according to instructions here and tried updating to latest firmware. Was able to connect to local WiFi, but not to Cloud. Then tried the older
3.1-403949-2020-07-10-07-32 Firmware, but now the processor on the Nodemcu did not seem to run correctly, The LEDs on Snektek module RED+Green was always on. Tried loading Firmware again several times, same problem. Then tried a newer Nodemcu programming tool, and suddenly it seems to work again!
Now with old Firmware which was able to connect with the Cloud. (Have not been able to connect with cloud with new Firmware).
Took the Snektek module with me to the cottage and connected to Epever controller, but got some problems getting data from the Epever controller now (maybe try the suggestion here to connect to USB first, then controller?). After leaving the cottage, I have connection through the cloud, but look like the cloud think I have newer Firmware than I have (4 point something, while 3.1 is installed now). I do not see any curves or numbers, but are able to remotely move cursor (time) to read out some instant values seen on this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogve1z80jw4h ... VeV9a?dl=0
(Also Log file from the Snektek module, named snektek.docx)
Any suggestions to help to get this to work better is appreciated.
Best regards Fred ivar Tallaksen, Sandefjord, Norway

@fredivar

The reason the cloud sees you have newer firmware is because the unit was connected to cloud when you have the new firmware on it. But after you have uploaded the older firmware, it wasn't able to connect again and update the data on the cloud.

Here is what I recommend you try:

1. Follow instructions here to update to the latest firmware: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=59
2. Configure the cloud settings and save
3. Reboot the unit

If you encounter issues, after trying those steps, please send an email with the contents of the log file from the SD card.

Amente
amente
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 3:32 pm

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by amente »

TripitakaBC wrote:
Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:55 pm
@jonathan / @amente,

Can you clarify what is required to use mqtt from the unit with username and password? Is it as simple as 'mqttusername-xxxxx' in the config file?
@TripitakaBC

Connecting with username and password with MQTT is not supported at the moment. We will implement it in future firmware updates. Keep tuned.
amente
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2019 3:32 pm

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by amente »

xion2000 wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 5:50 am
I've been having problems for several weeks now after have none at all for several months, the data collection is being rather hit and miss. I upload my data to Home Assistant which displays a graph similar to that on the SolarDashboard and I use that data to turn on & off a battery charger. I'm getting gaps in the collected data all the time so rather than displaying a graph as a continuous line is is made up of dots and spaces.
I actually think the problem is the Epever Charge controller not the SolarDashboard as if I switch monitoring to my PC using the Epever Monitoring Software I'm now getting communication errors when trying to read data every 10 seconds (which used to work fine) but appears to be OK if I change to a read frequency time off every 20 seconds.
Is there a way to adjust the read interval time on the SolarDashboard
Is anyone else having similar issues
@xion2000, yes it is possible to update the read frequency for the SolarDashboard to be longer using the "Data Sample Interval" settings under "System Troubleshooting", current default is 1000ms, you can change it to a longer interval and try.
data_sample_interval_setting.PNG
data_sample_interval_setting.PNG (10.65 KiB) Viewed 39229 times
jonathan
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:12 am

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by jonathan »

Software update 4.0-d9c2e4-2020-11-30-05-33 was released this morning. Reboot the dashboard and you should see the available update.

Changes:
- Added helpful tooltips when hovering over functions
- Improved logging functionality
- Added self-diagnosis feature which will show popup to users if something isn't right
- Added update channels. By default users will be placed in the "stable" channel with auto-updates enabled.
- Removed buggy "lifetime" data field on Renogy models. It will be reinstated once fixed.
fredivar
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:02 pm
Location: Norway

Re: Solar Dashboard Project

Post by fredivar »

amente wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:00 pm
fredivar wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 4:44 pm
fredivar wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:33 pm


Sounds great, have been working as an electronic engineer for more than 30 years, so soldering is no problem
Hi Jonathan (others which might have suggestions)
I received the RTC, got it mounted and tried at home (with no access to Solar controller), modified the SD card reset according to instructions here and tried updating to latest firmware. Was able to connect to local WiFi, but not to Cloud. Then tried the older
3.1-403949-2020-07-10-07-32 Firmware, but now the processor on the Nodemcu did not seem to run correctly, The LEDs on Snektek module RED+Green was always on. Tried loading Firmware again several times, same problem. Then tried a newer Nodemcu programming tool, and suddenly it seems to work again!
Now with old Firmware which was able to connect with the Cloud. (Have not been able to connect with cloud with new Firmware).
Took the Snektek module with me to the cottage and connected to Epever controller, but got some problems getting data from the Epever controller now (maybe try the suggestion here to connect to USB first, then controller?). After leaving the cottage, I have connection through the cloud, but look like the cloud think I have newer Firmware than I have (4 point something, while 3.1 is installed now). I do not see any curves or numbers, but are able to remotely move cursor (time) to read out some instant values seen on this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogve1z80jw4h ... VeV9a?dl=0
(Also Log file from the Snektek module, named snektek.docx)
Any suggestions to help to get this to work better is appreciated.
Best regards Fred ivar Tallaksen, Sandefjord, Norway

@fredivar

The reason the cloud sees you have newer firmware is because the unit was connected to cloud when you have the new firmware on it. But after you have uploaded the older firmware, it wasn't able to connect again and update the data on the cloud.

Here is what I recommend you try:

1. Follow instructions here to update to the latest firmware: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=59
2. Configure the cloud settings and save
3. Reboot the unit

If you encounter issues, after trying those steps, please send an email with the contents of the log file from the SD card.

Amente
@amente

Please note that I have sent you a PM about my issues

Fred Ivar
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