Python app to read data from Renogy solar Charge Controllers using the BT-1 bluetooth adapter. Personally tested with my Rover 40A Charge Controller. May also work with Renogy Wanderer series charge controllers. My setup uses a Raspberry Pi 3B+. It might also work with other "SRNE like" devices like Rich Solar, PowMr, WEIZE etc.
This setup uses prometheus for logging data and leverages grafana to create a real-time dashboard for monitoring the performance of your system. The cheat sheet below contains some of my notes for setting up the system and getting the logging working.
This is my cheat sheet for setting up a workable version of this application.
Set up an SD card to run raspberry pi with the instructions here.
The easiest way to do this is to download the Raspberry Pi Imager app. You'll choose the default Raspberry Pi install, select your SD card, and when it's done, you'll have a fully bootable SD card.
Run raspi-config
sudo raspi-configRun the following commands to update the system software:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgradeInstall Prometheus
Check the prometheus web site for the latest version of their application. The URL below may link to older versions.
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.31.1/prometheus-2.31.1.linux-armv7.tar.gz
tar xfz prometheus-2.31.1.linux-armv7.tar.gz
rm xfz prometheus-2.31.1.linux-armv7.tar.gz
mv prometheus-2.31.1.linux-armv7.tar.gz prometheusCopy the file in this project (prometheus\prometheus.yml) into the promethus install folder (~/prometheus/prometheus.yml), overwriting the existing file:
cp ~/solar-bt-monitor/prometheus/prometheus.yml ~/prometheus/prometheus.ymlCreate the prometheus.service file in /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus Server
Documentation=https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/
After=network-online.target
[Service]
User=pi
Restart=on-failure
#Change this line if Prometheus is somewhere different
ExecStart=/home/pi/prometheus/prometheus \
--config.file=/home/pi/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
--storage.tsdb.path=/home/pi/prometheus/data
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetSetup the Prometheus Service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start prometheus
sudo systemctl status prometheus
sudo systemctl enable prometheusInstall Grafana
Check the Grafana web site for the latest version of their application. The URL below may link to older versions.
wget https://dl.grafana.com/enterprise/release/grafana-enterprise-8.2.3.linux-armv7.tar.gz
tar -zxvf grafana-enterprise-8.2.3.linux-armv7.tar.gz
rm grafana-6.5.3.linux-armv7.tar.gz
mv grafana-6.5.3/ grafana/ Create the grafana.service file in /etc/systemd/system/grafana.service
[Unit]
Description=Grafana Server
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
ExecStart=/home/pi/grafana/bin/grafana-server
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/grafana/
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetSet Up the Grafana Service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start grafana
sudo systemctl status grafana
sudo systemctl enable grafanaInstall this project on your Raspberry Pi - https://github.com/snichol67/solar-bt-monitor.git
cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/snichol67/solar-bt-monitor.git
cd solar-bt-monitor
cp solar-monitor.ini.dist solar-monitor.inipip install gattgit clone https://github.com/hex-in/libscrc
cd libscrc/
python3 setup.py build
sudo python3 setup.py installNow you'll need to edit the solar-monitor.ini with the specifics of your setup. You need to get the MAC address of your particular BT-1 device. You can use a BLE scanner app like:
Look for devices with alias BT-TH-XXXX... If the device doesn't show up in the scanner, make sure you force quit any of the Renogy apps that might be connected to your BT-1.
After you've created the solar-monitor.ini file, it's time to test it out:
cd ~/solar-bt-monitor
./solar-monitor.pyThe script will attempt to connect to your BT-1. Often times, the bluetooth libraries will immediately disconnect. This script is set up by default to reconnect if that happens. Usually after 3-4 reconnect attempts, the application will connect and you'll see the values output on the console.
The script by default logs the data read from the controller to prometheus. If prometheus is running on your pi, you should be able to go to the URL http://192.168.1.XXX:5000 and see some output that looks something like the following (you'll likely see a bunch of additional parameters).
# HELP solarshed_battery_percentage Battery %
# TYPE solarshed_battery_percentage gauge
solarshed_battery_percentage 100.0
# HELP solarshed_battery_volts Battery Voltage
# TYPE solarshed_battery_volts gauge
solarshed_battery_volts 13.600000000000001
# HELP solarshed_battery_current Battery Current
# TYPE solarshed_battery_current gauge
solarshed_battery_current 5.5
# HELP solarshed_controller_temperature_celsius Controller Temperature
# TYPE solarshed_controller_temperature_celsius gauge
solarshed_controller_temperature_celsius 32.0
# HELP solarshed_battery_temperature_celsius Battery Temperature
# TYPE solarshed_battery_temperature_celsius gauge
solarshed_battery_temperature_celsius 25.0
# HELP solarshed_load_volts Load Voltage
# TYPE solarshed_load_volts gauge
solarshed_load_volts 13.600000000000001
# HELP solarshed_load_amperes Load Current
# TYPE solarshed_load_amperes gauge
solarshed_load_amperes 0.15
# HELP solarshed_load_power_watts Load Power
# TYPE solarshed_load_power_watts gauge
solarshed_load_power_watts 2.0
...Configure Grafana
Now that you're logging data to prometheus, we need to set up grafana to use the this data source to display an awesome dashboard!
This project borrows some of the best elements from the following projects. It certainly wouldn't be possible without the work done on these projects.