Marc Biundo 6/1/16 Version 8.3(Final Ubuntu version, when submitted to Github I stopped revision numbering -Marc) This program is designed to facilitate communications with multiple Morningstar SunSaver MPPT Solar Controlers Remotely via TCP/IP. The goal is to provide SOH power system monitoring, and provide historical trending to assess battery performance and sizing. We may be able to anticipate failures of battery systems and help schedule preventitive maintenance for battery banks. The MPPT requires a MorningStar Serial MSC. Since the MPPT+MSC pair would not simply commuicate via TCP/IP or Modbus prototocols, a Arduino MicroController is acting as an translator between controller and radio: [mppt+MSC]----[translator]-----[rs232 serial port]--------[rs232 serial port]TCP/IP Radio This code is prototype in nature once extensive bench and field testing can be completed. This code nor the ancilliary hardware will modify the state of the MPPT. It is READ ONLY! The tranlator Arduino hardware draws 20 milli amps or consumes .24Watts of power.
This program takes the data from the mppt and inserts it into an RRDTool Database. All entries are raw format for post processing with RRDTool graphing utilities. Additionall performance (timing values) from this program are also inserted into the DB.
Multiple mppt's can be called. Be sure to edit the StationList.txt Example: MARC_mppt,192.168.33.11,5001 LCCR_mppt,192.168.33.1,5005 FISH_mppt,192.168.33.100,5001
Placing a # in front of the file will cause it to be skipped.Standard output is written to a file as defined in the code below... It was decided to have a simple CSV format for quick look status. It can be modified if needed. The RRDTool graphing utilities can / will provide extensive calculations and graphing utilities Of all MPPT registers.
Example LogFile.txt output:
MARC_mppt,7/24/2016,17:43:11, LoadState,LOAD_ON, VBatt,13.46,V, Vlvd,11.00,V, Vdiff,2.46,V, ChargeState,FLOAT, Comm_Duration, 0.317, seconds,
LCCR_mppt,7/24/2016,17:43:16, LoadState,LOAD_ON, VBatt,13.51,V, Vlvd,11.00,V, Vdiff,2.51,V, ChargeState,FLOAT, Comm_Duration, 4.306, seconds,
FISH_mppt,7/24/2016,17:43:21, LoadState,START, VBatt,0.00,V, Vlvd,0.00,V, Vdiff,0.00,V, ChargeState,START, Comm_Duration, 4.888, seconds,FISH is a unit in test mode with no MPPT attached. That's why the values are 0.00....It's a mode to help validate / qualify Interpeters....
Round Robin Database Tool is the database of choice for this program. Strict layout of RRD Tool Creation formats must be followed. The convention for this program is to name the RRD Database as: StationName_mppt.rrd i.e. LCCR_mppt.rrd future versions that track other SOH data will use a similar convention. This will help with graphing from multiple RRD databases... A ten year database is approximatly 1Gig bytes in size. And since it is a ring, it will overwrite in 10 years.