time sync / clock sync

Started by mike90045, November 20, 2016, 12:11:55 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

australsolarier

ohhh,
well, when i first installed one of the midnite classics, i forgot to take out the plastic insulation thingy underneath the battery. it worked alright.
the midnite classic works without a mngp so the memory is inside the midnite proper.
i wonder if the battery is only used for the clock?
that "sync off/on" seems to have a bit  a life of its own. switching.
every time daylight saving switches, some of the midnites are on sync on.
but worked happily the 6 months before. (without setting the time in the mngp.
i suppose i have to try it out when i have time to experiment.

boB

Quote from: australsolarier on April 06, 2019, 11:19:57 PM

the midnite classic works without a mngp so the memory is inside the midnite proper.
i wonder if the battery is only used for the clock?
that "sync off/on" seems to have a bit  a life of its own. switching.
every time daylight saving switches, some of the midnites are on sync on.


Yes, all of the memory is inside the Classic itself so once programmed, the Classic will remember without any display or computer. 

Everything except the time and date if the Classic's power should be cycled off/on or if the Classic should reset.

When you turn the sync on or off in the MNGP, you have to press ENTER so that the MNGP itself remembers to NOT send the time and date to the Classic if it should get reset or re-powered.  Otherwise, the MNGP will start sending time to the Classic next time it resets.

But that little battery inside the MNGP is kind of a pain because it doesn't last for a long time. 

BUT while the MNGP is externally powered, the coin cell battery should not be drawing power at that time. 

I've never been real happy with how well that little battery works.  These microcontrollers aren't as good as watches for using very low power evidently.



K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

australsolarier

bob,
i have 5 classics. half of them do not let me save "sync off". i press enter, nothing happens. pressing "main menu" lets me save, but another screen comes up and does not save sync off after rebooting.

boB

Quote from: australsolarier on April 19, 2019, 06:58:23 PM
bob,
i have 5 classics. half of them do not let me save "sync off". i press enter, nothing happens. pressing "main menu" lets me save, but another screen comes up and does not save sync off after rebooting.

Sorry you are having trouble with that part...

The MNGP does not send sync off to the Classic.  It gets saved in the MNGP itself.

Pressing enter will not turn time sync on or off.  You first have to press UP or DOWN while highlighting the sync on/off and watch it change to off.  THEN press ENTER to save it to the MNGP. 

The MNGP will not tell you that it is saved though.  If you want to test to make sure it is saved or not you will have to reboot the classic or unplug and plug back in the MNGP to make sure it remembers.

Try that with the MNGP that did not remember the sync off.  If that doesn't work, then there is something wrong with the MNGP remote.



K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

FNG

As stated already, Tyme Sync is sort of a pain in the butt, Unfortunately. Both the Classic and the MNGP have separate clocks and the issue is it is one way only, IE the MNGP can update the classic but not the other way around. What we should have done is made it so IF the time was synced from the local app the MNGP had a flag set that told it NOT to write time to the Classic but to read it from the classic. That would have fixed this issue.

I know we are spending any time on the Local App or really the Classic now as we are pushing to get the new products done but I will add this note and if we get back in the Classic code maybe we can look at this

australsolarier

bob,
well yes, i pressed the up or down button to change the words to "off" . then pressing enter, it does not say "saveing to memory" on some of the midnites. some do it. and yes, the ones that don't save it, well yes, when you boot up the midnite the setting "off"  is lost again.it's not a big thing, just  a minor irritant.

one of the midnites, when you rapidly press "status button" like when after you want to see how many amps the whiz bang jr shows, the warning sound comes.
all in all you do not get bored around 5 midnite classics. the 5 midnite classics also have not harmed the batteries, yet. i suppose that is the most important thing.

australsolarier

fng,
thanks for the good intention.
daylight saving time has not just been introduced 2 or so years ago. if i remember correctly it was in the united states in 1977.

boB

Quote from: australsolarier on May 17, 2019, 11:17:11 PM
bob,
well yes, i pressed the up or down button to change the words to "off" . then pressing enter, it does not say "saveing to memory" on some of the midnites. some do it. and yes, the ones that don't save it, well yes, when you boot up the midnite the setting "off"  is lost again.it's not a big thing, just  a minor irritant.

one of the midnites, when you rapidly press "status button" like when after you want to see how many amps the whiz bang jr shows, the warning sound comes.
all in all you do not get bored around 5 midnite classics. the 5 midnite classics also have not harmed the batteries, yet. i suppose that is the most important thing.

Yeah, for items inside the MNGP itself, the message that says "updating the Classic" or whatever will not show up.

But, if you press UP or Down arrow to change from ON to OFF and then press ENTER, it will save that info to the MNGP.
At least it normally does.  Press ENTER a couple of times just in case then.  You can then re-boot the Classic or the MNGP
right then to see how it comes back up instead of waiting.

If that setting doesn't get saved to the MNGP, then there may be something wrong with that MNGP.

boB
K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

australsolarier

bob, will try it after the sun settles.

australsolarier

so ok,  i was pressing those buttons on the display panels.( multiple pressings, like 10x)that "save to memory" message did not come up, unless i went back one step. i found some of the up and down buttons somewhat reluctant to follow the pressing. but not a problem.
sadly to say, whilst rebooting one midnit classic, the display panel now is now difficult to see with rows of dots across everything. this is the second display panel having that feature. i can still see everything, but with difficulties and you have to look from an oblique angle to see the numbers.

yes, and before anybody giving advice, i plugged the first display panel with the dotted screen into another midnite classic and used a different cable with the same result.

ClassicCrazy

#25
Is there a contrast setting on the MNGP that maybe you changed by mistake ?
I just looked at mine and under Misc menu there is MNGP that you can adjust the contrast and some other things too.

Larry
system 1
Classic 150 , 5s3p  Kyocera 135watt , 12s Soneil 2v 540amp lead crystal for 24v pack , Outback 3524 inverter
system 2
 5s 135w Kyocero , 3s3p 270w Kyocera  to Classic 150 ,   8s Kyocera 225w to Hawkes Bay Jakiper 48v 15kwh LiFePO4 , Outback VFX 3648 inverter
system 3
KID / Brat portable

australsolarier

ClassicCrazy

thanks for that tip. YES, i went to the power room. the contrast was set to something like 240 when 20  is needed. i really thought the mngp  was broken.

remains the  problem why the settings are changing after rebooting. good knows what else is getting inadvertently changed. i keep this in mind when rebooting next time.

again thanks very much for your advice. i appreciate it
urs

australsolarier

i just hard rebooted another midnite classic 150 and that contrast setting changed itself again so that it the panel is almost unreadable.
there are definitively  geenies in my power room

boB


Uh OH !

Did it get cold down there all of a sudden maybe ?
K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

australsolarier

well, it did get "cold" if you consider cold 12.5C. but the power room is fully insulated and air conditioned. so the temperature is always so between 19 and 25C.
for some reason the hard reboot changed the contrast setting. it was down to 20 and setting it to 600 put it right again. so i don't think this has anything to do with temperature.