Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

A gamechanger: An easy way to see battery voltage over a network is now possible.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • A gamechanger: An easy way to see battery voltage over a network is now possible.

    I am extremely happy today because after 10 years of waiting I have bought a simple piece of electronics that will measure the battery voltage and publish it on a micro web server.
    I don't know why it has taken so long for someone to develop this. It has been possible with some some charge controllers but never just a simple standalone solution.

    Just about everyone would benefit from having their battery voltage available wherever they are.

    The company that makes it is in the Slovak Republic. I am in the EU so it was easy to ship it to me. Supposedly they would ship to the US.

    Here is a link.
    http://www.digital-measure.com/

    Here is how I am using it:
    I have given the device a fixed IP address.
    It also has a DDNS function so that it can be viewed over the WAN as well as the LAN.
    I have a synology device that has php installed. (you could also install php on an old smartphone)
    I just wrote a very simple program in PHP to open the xml feed and hey presto I have the voltage appearing on a web page.

    I can now dump my excess power to a water heater element.

    By the way:
    This is also very easy:
    Sonoff mini now have a DIY mode which allows you to very easily flash the sonoff device over wifi with tasmota which allows you to send simple on off commands using a simple URL
    The commands can be sent according to the voltage by the same php script using CURL

    I now have full control. Haleluya!!
    This is a game changer!!

    NOW THE QUESTION:

    I have about 1500 watts of solar panels.
    My hot water heating element is 500 watts.
    My battery system is lead acid 24 volts .

    What voltage should I use for dumping the power.
    I thought that maybe on at 28.5 and off at 27.5
    Does anyone have any experience of this?

    Also I have been told that charge controllers do a special charge every 3 weeks or so when they allow the voltage to go up to 30ish to equalise the cells.
    If I have my system running this will never happen.
    Should I have one day a week or a month when I let the charge controller do the special charge.
    How long does the special charge take?

























  • #2
    Fortunately my Orion BMS has that feature and more. I agree it is useful to be able to see critical data remotely when you are away from the site.
    9 kW solar, 42kWh LFP storage. EV owner since 2012

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Ampster View Post
      Fortunately my Orion BMS has that feature and more. I agree it is useful to be able to see critical data remotely when you are away from the site.
      The Orion BMS has CANdapter – CANBUS to USB Adapter.


      It is a gamechanger because it is a device independent standalone system which just needs a connection to a battery.
      The voltage information can be accessed over any network with a simple web server and is not dependent on an app made by a manufacturer.

      The point of this is to be able to develop systems to dump power to other things when the battery is full.




      Comment


      • #4
        People on my facebook off grid group have been answering the question and not saying odd things like "duplicate"
        This is the sort of answer I was hoping for.


        In my Axpert the equalization takes at least 60 minutes, and uses a voltage as high as 29.2, and does this every 30 days or so.

        Comment

        Working...
        X