firmware version of 2 classics

[ralph day]

Hi
I just installed a new Classic 250 for my solar array, already have a Classic 250 for my Bergey XL1.  I have the two cables to wire for follow me, but wonder if the Classics have, or have to have, the same software version to work together.

How do I find out what firmware version is on each Classic?  Which of the many lovely buttons, in which order...

Thanksk

Ralph

[Sunshine]

From the main status screen, 6 presses of the status button will get you to the screen that will tell you your firmware version. It is the first 4 numbers of the second line down. They do not necessarily have to be the same but should be close. You can always try it and if it is an issue, upgrade the older classic at that time. It will not harm anything to try it as is.

[ralph day]

Thanks Sunshine.
The build dates are 3 years apart, and the first 4 digits 1849, 2126 vary a fair bit.

I'll try to set up the follow me and see how it goes.  I try and avoid updating firmware, never have before, I've always run with what I've purchased.  Maybe a little bit chicken?

I found the Hi Batt Temp C screen, 178 was the number, what is meant by that?  I ran it down to 45 assuming that it's a warning or a cutoff charging point.  Any clarification on that would be appreciated.  Seems way out of line for any battery technology I know about, except something the Enterprise might use when the warp drive is down.

Ralph

[ClassicCrazy]

Thanks Sunshine.
The build dates are 3 years apart, and the first 4 digits 1849, 2126 vary a fair bit.

I'll try to set up the follow me and see how it goes.  I try and avoid updating firmware, never have before, I've always run with what I've purchased.  Maybe a little bit chicken?

I found the Hi Batt Temp C screen, 178 was the number, what is meant by that?  I ran it down to 45 assuming that it's a warning or a cutoff charging point.  Any clarification on that would be appreciated.  Seems way out of line for any battery technology I know about, except something the Enterprise might use when the warp drive is down.

Ralph

It really isn't that tough to do the firmware update - especially with newer window 10 update software.

Look at all the changes that you would be missing out on  between your two firmwares.

Larry

4-21-2014
   Classic build 1849  Fixed My Midnite DNS bug

12-18-2014
   Classic build 1923
   Lifetime kW-Hours and Lifetime Amp-Hours will now accumulate and
   not be limited to just 16 bits worth. (long time bug) 65535
   
   Aux 1 SOC% output will now remember On/Off state through an auto-restart    cycle

   Whizbang Junior accumulations will save periodically throughout the day to    non-volatile memory every 90 minutes

   Classic will go to Resting for 8 seconds when MPPT mode and power output    stays below 50 watts for 15 minutes in Legacy, Hydro or Dynamic tracking    mode if Insomnia is On.  (night charging sanity check)

   Removed VariMax Absorb mode

   MNGP build 1922
   Added menu  LIMITS---MORE--- High battery temperature charger shut off

   Fixed Daily Hi-Power graphs log numerical readout.  Was only
   showing 3 digits

   Increased time required to show "Got Comm ?" message by 2 seconds

4-29-2015  build 2018
   Improved Battery and PV current readings accuracy
    for SOLAR and U-SET modes

   Forcing a Float now sets SOC to 100 % so that multiple
   Classics and Whizbang Junior works better in Follow-Me

   Networking modified for newer My Midnite and better modbus over
   TCP/IP and  Ethernet

   MNGP beta.  "Got Comm ?" messages may not show up temporarily but
   responses to bus hangs between MNGP and Classic are MUCH faster
   and less annoying than before.  The last release is also
   included here if needed.

5-15-2015   Network Build 2024
   Fixed modbus ring buffer size settings

7-21-2015
   Classic  Rev  2036
   Added Classic SL options

7-31-2015
   MNGP  Rev  2041
   Added Classic SL menu  options
   MODBUS response to bus errors significantly improved time response
   
8-1-2015
   SVN Rev 2042.  Networking Rev. 2024 (unchanged networking from 5-15-2015)
    Fixed Reason For Resting #2 issue at higher powers.
    This version is good for My Midnite 2 (MM2) with networking fixes

8-3-2015
   Classic Rev.  2046  Networking Rev. 2045
   This version is good for My Midnite 1 (MM1) which is the present web service
   MNGP...  No changes

8-5-2015  Classic Rev 2050
   More Classic SL mode limit fix

   Added Reason For Resting 38 that will force to resting if external
   charging sources are present, raising Vbatt above set point V. and 0 watts
   GUI.exe changed back to original version.

8-11-2015
   MNGP Rev  2054   SL changes

8-17-2015
   Classic Rev 2056  Factory Burn In OCP modes

8-18-2015
   V4.93  replaces   update_Classic-All.exe   with the 32 bit version

8-25-2015
   V4.94      Removing an unused file in the package that is causing false
         positive anti-virus alarms.  Still Rev 2056 for Classic firmware rev

11-2-2015
         Classic control Version 2074 adds My Midnite 3 capability  (MM3)

         Networking fixes added back in.

         Auto-EQ bug fixed where EQ day count would be reset if Classic went
         back to Float, essentially disabling Auto-EQ

2-15-2016      Version 2096

         Added Register 4406, ADDRESS 4405 that allows  global battery
         current limit via Whizbang Junior.  WbJrGlobalLimitIRef
         Set WbJrGlobalLimitIRef to MAXIMUM wanted battery charge
         current (times 10 because this number includes 10ths of an amp)
         For example, 123.4 amps would be 1234.  Default is 3000 amps         

3-27-2016      Main app version 2096 (no change)
         Networking code version 2097 fixes a 10 day Ethernet disconnect issue
         No MNGP changes yet.
         
8-5-2016      Classic version 2100 Compiled with V5.40 adds some Voice xfer code
         May help Follow-Me charge stage bugs

         MNGP 2053 is actually newer voice version and 2054 is stable production
         version from July 2015.  Use 2054 for now

9-18-2016      SVN rev. 2114
         Voice upload code.
         EqCallTrak at  modbus address 4363 (was reserved/unused)             Clears at 23:59:59

9-19-2016
         MNGP 2112  MAC address fix for higher numbers. Older                     versions would not display MAC addresses for serial numbers           ~30000+ corrrectly

9-19-2016      Rev. 2114  adds Follow-Me debugging capability.


11-9-2016  rev. 2117  (reads as 11-10-2016)
      Classic 2117 reduces fan  noise some

11-10-2016 MNGP Rev/Build 2112
      MAC address reads correctly again for  serial numbers
      greater than around 32,767

11-21-2016  MNGP 2118--2119
      MNGP now reads ForceFlagsBits in main status

12-7-2016   MNGP 2125
      Modified NET menu Modbus timeout to be more responsive

1-2-2017   MNGP_All_2130_1-2-2017
      Fixed MNGP Menu entry. It was going to wrong item)
      No-Voice.

[boB]

Thanks Sunshine.
The build dates are 3 years apart, and the first 4 digits 1849, 2126 vary a fair bit.

I'll try to set up the follow me and see how it goes.  I try and avoid updating firmware, never have before, I've always run with what I've purchased.  Maybe a little bit chicken?

I found the Hi Batt Temp C screen, 178 was the number, what is meant by that?  I ran it down to 45 assuming that it's a warning or a cutoff charging point.  Any clarification on that would be appreciated.  Seems way out of line for any battery technology I know about, except something the Enterprise might use when the warp drive is down.

Ralph

Hi Ralph...

What happened with the hi-batt temperature is that someone or two wanted-needed this feature and it was a good idea
that should have been there from the beginning.  Since this was a new thing at the time and not everybody was screaming
for this feature, I did not want there to be ANY issues with it and create lots of phone calls.  So, setting it at a default
temperature of 178 was  above the highest temperature the Classic can discern.  It is just the same as "disabled"

It probably should have been set to something reasonable like maybe 50 degrees C but who knows what
folks want to do with this controller ?  Also, just in case it would stop charging if the temp-sensor was shorted,
it would revert to 25 degrees C  (I think ? ) and also would stop lowering the temperature-compensated
voltage because of the MAX and MIN temp-compensated charge voltage range that can be found in one
of the menus. I think it is the TEMP charge menu.   This is another way of setting the maximum temperature,
sort of, in that if that low MIN (minimum) voltage is set low enough, then the charge voltage will essentially be
so low that the Classic should stop charging when battery temperature gets REAL hot.

Just some rambling thoughts on that subject.

As long as both Classics have "Follow-Me" in their firmware, and it works OK, then no reason
to fix what isn't broke I suppose.

Give Follow-Me a try.  If you set the LED mode to MODE 1 I think it is, then every time the Classic
reads the other Classic on the phone-cable network, the BLUE LED should flash a short pulse.
This is the BLUE LED inside the Classic through the vent-slots.  The middle LED.  It will also
blink when you save a menu item to the Classics' memory from the MNGP remote.

Once in a while the BLUE LED will flash for a longer time, like 1 second which means that Classic
did not successfully read the charging state from the other Classic but is normal and will
be read properly the next time or two and will be correct.

boB for now

[ClassicCrazy]

Bob,
Any chance a low temperature charging shut off will ever be an option for the Classics ?
It would be for lithium packs in cold temps that are not supposed to be charged below freezing - that way if batteries got too cold it would shut off charging to avoid messing them up .

Thanks,
Larry

[ralph day]

Thanks for all the replies folks, especially from the head barber    I found the pertinent areas in the manuals and set up my 2 classics in follow me.

I have the new solar classic as the master, the wind classic as the slave, and they're working fine in follow me.  The temp sensor for the wind classic was installed already, so I have it as the master for temp sensoring for the two.

I looked over the list of firmware updates Larry, and I didn't really recognize anything that I'd be using to warrant updating.  But thanks for the rundown on what is available.  Maybe someday.

Ralph

[boB]

Bob,
Any chance a low temperature charging shut off will ever be an option for the Classics ?
It would be for lithium packs in cold temps that are not supposed to be charged below freezing - that way if batteries got too cold it would shut off charging to avoid messing them up .

Thanks,
Larry

Larry, not sure about low temps to "stop" charging BUT right now what you can do is to go into

the Temp-Comp menu and set the highest (and lowest) voltages allowed in compensation.

When the temp-comp'd voltage would hit the high or low voltage limit, it will just stop

adjusting any higher or lower in voltage.

Is that OK for now ?

boB

[mike90045]

i don't think ceasing the thermal adjustment, will prevent the destruction of a Li-on battery below freezing,  won't the classic keep charging, but un-compensated ?  Or am I reading how temp comp works, incorrectly ?

[boB]

i don't think ceasing the thermal adjustment, will prevent the destruction of a Li-on battery below freezing,  won't the classic keep charging, but un-compensated ?  Or am I reading how temp comp works, incorrectly ?

Ideally, a temperature compensated battery charger, not taking into account what kind of battery is being used,

should just keep raising the charge voltage without limit as temperature drops and bring the voltage down

as it heats up.   But, some want to stop charging completely if temperature rises higher than some set threshold.

And the same could be said for stopping charging as the temperature drops below some threshold.

I would think that instead of completely stopping the charging when those temperatures are reached,

that just keeping the voltage from changing any more should accomplish similar results mostly ?

At least you should have the choice I suppose.  Whatever the battery manufacturer specifies is what should

probably happen.

What kind of battery will get colder as the voltage is raised without limit though I wonder ?  One of those

new Peltier batteries, I suppose, at least  on one side.   

If the temperature of a battery is rising high, what is wrong with just continuing to drop the charging voltage

if it continues to heat up ?  I guess that just stopping the charging for a while will ensure the charging

voltage drops to zero charge voltage real quick !

i.e.  I don't know what is best for any particular battery without knowing the specs of the battery.

boB

[ClassicCrazy]

Bob,
Any chance a low temperature charging shut off will ever be an option for the Classics ?
It would be for lithium packs in cold temps that are not supposed to be charged below freezing - that way if batteries got too cold it would shut off charging to avoid messing them up .

Thanks,
Larry

Larry, not sure about low temps to "stop" charging BUT right now what you can do is to go into

the Temp-Comp menu and set the highest (and lowest) voltages allowed in compensation.

When the temp-comp'd voltage would hit the high or low voltage limit, it will just stop

adjusting any higher or lower in voltage.

Is that OK for now ?

boB

I kind of get what you mean boB . I already have my lithium batteries shut off for the winter - but I will ponder what temp compensation values would do what you are saying. And if it warms up enough I could do some experimenting .

Larry

[krementz]

Ralph, I had similar mismatched Classic firmwares.

I was also getting some anomalous, random quirks. Some of the documentation mentions the importance of being on the same firmware revision.

I got both firmwares matched and up to current, as well as fiddled some settings.

My anomalies seem to have disappeared. Coincidence, luck, solar flares, who knows?

I would strongly encourage for both to be at the same level. One less variable when trying to troubleshoot.

[CDN-VT]

I agree with @krementz

I like all the same between 6 units here .

VT

[ralph day]

Might be updating the old Classic sooner rather than later .  I've found both in float when they hadn't even been in absorb (that I'd seen).  Does the absorb timer count the day before?  For instance, if I had 2 hours of absorb on Monday, then Tuesday has 1 more hour...on a 3 hour absorb cut off, is that why I'm hitting float so soon on the Tuesday.  Never had that problem before.

Or maybe it's because the voltage didn't get down the the re-bulk?  Windy overnight or dUtility carrying loads preventing drop to re-bulk?  Maybe just answered my own question, but confirmation would be appreciated.


Ralph

[ClassicCrazy]

If you have it hooked up to Mymidnite you can look at the history of what had happened - though not the best resolution  I think but still gives a good indication of when change of states occurred since you can drag mouse along graph and see the values change.

Larry