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Charge Controllers and Clippers => The "Classic" charge controller => Topic started by: Westbranch on March 18, 2011, 06:29:56 PM

Title: What data does the Classic output?
Post by: Westbranch on March 18, 2011, 06:29:56 PM
this question started in the thread about Keyturbocars 150 installation.

the questions are:  does the Classic output data? how often? and can it be captured by a CPU or other device? What comm protocol is needed for Rx/Tx? File format?

from page 44 of the manual

The Classic advertises its address every 10 seconds using the UDP protocol on port (TBD). Advanced
users and programmers may use this feature to identify Classics on their network.


So does this mean a device can Request a new data dump every 10 seconds?

I know that my XBM batt monitor sends data every second and it can be captured if you want, not sure why though.  
I grab mine every 15 minutes during the day with a Vx Palm Pilot.  :) I use Excel to plot it

thanks
Eric
Title: Re: What data does the Classic output?
Post by: boB on March 19, 2011, 02:18:17 AM
I will let our Ethernet department respond precisely to this question.

However, the USB does continuously output comma separated data that you can bring into Excel.

This format isn't as useful as it could be at the moment but does output once or twice a second,
various info like PV Voltage, Battery Voltage, Battery Current, etc. in ASCII format (with decimal points).
This can be accessed by setting the host to read a virtual com CDC type of device and just log it to a file.

I  have thought of making the output data somewhat adjustable.  For now, I think the usual
voltages and currents are fairly useful, as one can plot the basic operation over the day.
As I remember, there are some totally useless fields as well that were being used for debugging.


I will try to document this  as  soon as I can get to it.

boB


PS...   The drivers that get sent with the Classic firmware update get that CDC mode up and running then so all you have to do  is
to fire up a terminal program like Putty or Hyper-Terminal on COM 8.

Title: Re: What data does the Classic output?
Post by: Westbranch on March 20, 2011, 12:30:14 PM
Quote from: boB on March 19, 2011, 02:18:17 AM

This format isn't as useful as it could be at the moment but does output once or twice a second,
various info like PV Voltage, Battery Voltage, Battery Current, etc. in ASCII format (with decimal points).

boB


Hmmm sounds like most of a battery monitors' functions are (partially) covered off ... look forward to the full answer...

Eric