A Forum run by Enthusiasts of MidNite Solar

General Category => New Product Ideas and Discussion => Topic started by: Narrowboat boy on May 31, 2020, 05:22:09 AM

Title: Pwm on aux1
Post by: Narrowboat boy on May 31, 2020, 05:22:09 AM
I know this has been talked about before here in 2014 but since i am close to purchase and would REALLY like to have this so I can run whizzbang and pwm dump load I wanted to check this wasn’t an Imminent release , as would kick myself if I bought current version and it came just after?
Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: ClassicCrazy on May 31, 2020, 12:51:59 PM
You won't get pwm on aux1 on this model Classic.
Any updates are done via firmware now and I believe pwm limitation of aux1 is a hardware issue or else it would have been updated to that capability a long time ago.
As has been mentioned you can get additional pwm capabilities by using other microcontrollers to do that but it takes a bit of education to figure out how to do it . Will Ert documented on the forum here how he integrated an Arduino with the Classic to do PWM  but it isn't plug and play solution without the understanding of how put it all together and  to make it work .

Larry
Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: boB on May 31, 2020, 03:15:29 PM

True.  With an external Arduino or rPi or whatever, you can make whatever you want regarding Aux outputs.

Aux 1  cannot be made into an INPUT which is required for Whizbang Junior interfaces but "could" be a PWM output with a change in software.

That change is not an up and coming thing for Aux 1 but at least you wouldn't have to buy new hardware to get that feature if it ever comes up.

Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: Narrowboat boy on May 31, 2020, 03:49:24 PM
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on May 31, 2020, 12:51:59 PM
You won't get pwm on aux1 on this model Classic.
Any updates are done via firmware now and I believe pwm limitation of aux1 is a hardware issue or else it would have been updated to that capability a long time ago.
As has been mentioned you can get additional pwm capabilities by using other microcontrollers to do that but it takes a bit of education to figure out how to do it . Will Ert documented on the forum here how he integrated an Arduino with the Classic to do PWM  but it isn't plug and play solution without the understanding of how put it all together and  to make it work .

Larry
I looked about using a Morningstar TriStar pwm for this but to be honest it as a scarey solution in my opinion as it locks the mppt into bulk mode and if you don’t have a huge dump load it could easily  fry your batteries and everything else seems direct at wind not solar it seems , I don’t know what an arduono is , is it even available in Europe? Please remember even the most basic midnite kit is very unavailable in uk it’s a real hard search to get a fee bits let alone any support .

Bob how about getting a decent uk distribution network ?

Raspberry pi I know of but never used could look At that I guess

Simon
Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: boB on May 31, 2020, 09:11:23 PM
Will ask about the UK connection.  I thought we had one ?  I know we had connections in Spain etc...

Arduino's are just another small computer board but not as useful as the Raspberri Pi I would say.

There are many others as well but would require programming experience.  I thought that Graham might be in the UK but maybe not...

He does a lot of DIY stuff that interfaces to the Classic.  Just for grins, you might look at his page that shows his open source projects...

https://github.com/ClassicDIY



Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: bee88man on May 31, 2020, 10:50:51 PM
Simon, You are missing the boat in the UK...Open Energy Monitor has been doing surplus diversion for quite some time...
Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: Narrowboat boy on June 01, 2020, 03:26:50 PM
Quote from: bee88man on May 31, 2020, 10:50:51 PM
Simon, You are missing the boat in the UK...Open Energy Monitor has been doing surplus diversion for quite some time...

Thanks for that , seems to be all about mains loads though in houses not dc loads on boats so not sure how to convert their systems plus it’s quite complicated for someone who who may understand the hardware but has zero programming experience , I am of an era where we didn’t even have a zx81 at school and bbc micros were too new for my time .

Title: Re: Pwm on aux1
Post by: bee88man on June 03, 2020, 10:19:47 AM
Ahh I see, different since DC.

FYI: As for AC Diversion programming is provided by experts and only needs loaded into miccrochip...simple enough.