Would it be possible to have the charge controller to load down a wind turbine not based on the voltage output of the wind turbine and the programmed curve but by using an external pulse input or a sensed voltage input?
Quote from: Zefr on November 03, 2012, 04:01:10 PM
Would it be possible to have the charge controller to load down a wind turbine not based on the voltage output of the wind turbine and the programmed curve but by using an external pulse input or a sensed voltage input?
Eventually the Classic will have an input (Aux 2 terminals) that will allow some things like this... That was the
original intention anyway.
There are many features on our plates right now and so that won't happen soon unfortunately.
boB
The classic uses the modbus protocol to communicate with external devices. Using this interface and a small PC (like the cheap raspberry pi) you could program and control the classic to do almost anything you want. The raspberry pi for example has GPIO pins, so it would be possible to use those to measure pulses and then program the classic accordingly. Or if you wanted to measure voltage you'd need an ADC converter.
This is far from being a plug and play solution, but at least it's possible :)
There are 3 things that really make the classic stand out as a versatile device if you want to program it from a pc:
- It uses a well known and open protocol to communicate with external devices, any device that can talk modbus, can talk to the classic
- It exposes a LOT of internal functions over the modbus interface, even things that aren't changeable from the MNGP, can be changed via raw modbus.
- Changes that you make over modbus take effect instantly
So in your case, I guess you want to read pulses (RPM of wind turbine I'd imagine?) and then program the classic to use a new input V based on the pulses. Entirely possible with the current classic + raspberry pi, but be prepared to get your hands dirty.