Advice - Meters vs. blinking LED indicators Morningstar controller

[Jose263]

Gulf Coast Mississippi wanted solar PV for non-generator emergency power for hurricane season and reduce grid usage - this is last year to take advantage of tax credits. I am not entirely satisfied with installer advice and u-tubed out.
Recently installed by local company as grid tie with battery backup for my home - Aims 6 kw Model # picoglf60w24v240vs, TS-MPPT-60 charge controller, 6 agm batterys, 8 solar panels.
I am getting aclimated to the system however, I don't feel comfortable with only the idiot lights (LEDs) on the controller for monitoring-
With batteries fully charged the system supports the critical sub panel circuits about 15 hrs before the yellow/red LEDs display on controller.

I would prefer to have digital/analog displays connected to monitor actual state of the batteries, power draw, whatever else would be useful to monitor
Request advice - what meters or options could/should be added to the system to best monitor performance, SOC, power use, etc.
Recommended brands/models?
Thanks

[Mike90250]

Morningstar makes a Digital Meter that replaces the plain front panel of their Controller
http://www.morningstarcorp.com/produ...gital-meter-2/ Also, they have a remote meter, with 30 meters of cable, if you like that better.
Also, the TS-MPPT-60 has a internal web server inside, connect to an ethernet host and it gives a web page full of info, (I use a wireless hub and my laptop or phone's Browser works just fine)

[littleharbor]

There are the Bogart Tri-Metric and Victron Energy meters. They give you a lot of information with a fairly straightforward installation.

[Jose263]

Morningstar makes a Digital Meter that replaces the plain front panel of their Controller
http://www.morningstarcorp.com/produ...gital-meter-2/ Also, they have a remote meter, with 30 meters of cable, if you like that better.
Also, the TS-MPPT-60 has a internal web server inside, connect to an ethernet host and it gives a web page full of info, (I use a wireless hub and my laptop or phone's Browser works just fine)

Wow ! - Great information - I have wireless network in my home via a wireless router - I had no idea anything like that was possible - installer just suggested I use a multimeter when I asked about meters vs LEDs.
RE: your set up 'I use a wireless hub and my laptop or phone's Browser works just fine.' I am going to ask my techie son for help but, could you give more info about how to connect and what hardware is needed... sorry to be a bother but I'm a nerd.. thanks

[Mike90250]

I've got each piece of solar gear, plugged into a port of a 4 port wireless router, (linksys wrt54)
Then I tune to the wifi of the router, and enter the device address
morningstar is ser number http://tsmppt9999876/datalog.html
Combox is it's assigned IP address http://192.168.2.101/login.cgi
Midnight http://192.168.2.102
Your numbers will be different

[Jose263]

Thanks for the description - I'm out of town for the weekend but will start next week on this project - What other 'gear' do you monitor/plug into the router - other than the Morningstar MPPT controller?

[Mike90250]

I just plug the gear into the router with an ethernet cable

I've got each piece of solar gear, plugged into a port of a 4 port wireless router, (linksys wrt54)
Then I tune to the wifi of the router, and enter the device address
morningstar is ser number http://tsmppt9999876/datalog.html
Combox is it's assigned IP address http://192.168.2.101/login.cgi
Midnight Classic http://192.168.2.102

and I have an empty jack left over.

[Jose263]

Mike -Thanks again for your advice - I didn't want to run a long cat5 cable through the attic - instead I added a lynksys ac-1200 wifi extender and connected a port to the Tristar controller - I can now see the Tristar Test page and live view You also mentioned monitoring a combo box and Midnight classic? what info do you get from them..and .do you know if the aims inverter provides similar monitoring?
Now able to see battery SOC and volts produced by the array - how can I monitor the AC power usage?

[superdad]

WHAT DOES Red X mean on solaredge monitoring