A Forum run by Enthusiasts of MidNite Solar

I have been using a xantrex, now scheneider electric, xw system since 2011. Although I am happy with the system, none of the xw charge controllers that schneider makes can be used with wind turbines. I am interested in buying a classic 150 but I desire the ability to monitor all equipment in one interface. I would love to see midnite solar develope  such an adapter to increase its market share with those of us who already have xw systems that would like to add wind and hydro to the mix. Would it help if I said please!

I know it is cheesy to reply to my own thread but here it goes. If midnite solar does want to develops a xanbus adapter I would be happy to be an alpha tester. There's no shame in my game. I live in sunny Florida and have generated almost 30 megawatts of power since Dec 22, 2011. Let me know if y'all  want another alpha or beta tester.

you might want to send boB a PM on that, or Ryan/Halfcrazy, as boB is super busy working furiously  on the new inverter, according to Robin...

And while you are at it, interfacing to the Morningstar protocol would be handy too.  I've got Morningstar, Xantrex and Midnight  gear, and have to splice all the manual log readings into one spreadsheet.

IMO all this talk about adapters between MN, Schneider, OB and MS are extremely unlikely to ever be developed. Unless its  a private effort from outside these companies. Why would any of them bother or even be slightly interested in dealing with competitor products when they all offer similar MPPT controllers.
Where is the profit in making available a comms adapter to talk to a competitors product when you are marketing a competing product?
Have Schneider or OB shown any interest in comms to an MN controller?
Any communications protocols between them will be even less likely if MN releases its own range of inverters.

dgd

For Schneider products, this all depends on what you mean by "Xanbus".....    If it is the proprietary
CAN bus type connection, that will most likely never be interfaced with other than Schneider gear.

However, if one could interface to their products using their web box portal thingie, then the
chances are MUCH better, if that is an open protocol.  Schneider seems to make it hard
to reverse engineer their proprietary communications and even if it was done, they may
tell you that your warranty is no good if you try and control their equipment over that
closed system.

I like the idea of the "black box" system.... Or, the T.I. Beagle Bone that could connect ANYTHING
to ANYTHING and also be a web server / controller for all the gear and interface them all together.

All the companies mentioned.  All the companies that have an interface that can control their gear.
Outback also has their Xbox system or whatever they call it that allows you to control their gear
over Ethernet.

Hey, call this black box system the "Anything Goes" or something like that.

Could be a completely open source project.  No rocket science involved at all !
Really, pretty simple stuff.  Just takes time. No, actually it costs money to buy
all the companie's equipment I guess.  Ross W. started this already I believe.
If it were really wanted, it would be done or somewhat working soon.

boB

I think there is a market for such an adapter. This industry is fairly young and a lot of people have systems that are a mix of various companies hardware for what ever reason. I dont think too many manufactuers were thinking about any type of industry standard but here we are and there is a desire of those who own multiple manufactuer system to be able to communicate. When I put my system together I wanted to controll and monitor my system remotely if possible without jumping from app to app. I like being able to see data compiled in one app because it gives me a clear view of my systems performance. Trust me if Scheider would produce a controller that would controlled wind or hydro as well as the midnite solar brand I would definitely buy it just for the communications aspect.. So there is a market for this technology. I know this because midnite solar developed one for the SMA brand. If the numbers don't support it I understand.I have been on many website and forums that show that there is a need for and adapter or a "black box" so to speak. I haven't bought anything yet and I was impressed with what I read about midnite solars controllers. I appreciate the input from all the other users in my quest for a solution.

Here is some reading for you if interested on the Black Box  project

http://midniteforum.com/index.php?board=47.0