So, I'm having issues with one of my brand new PF5 batteries, and Midnite power is proving fairly useless in their tech support with the very limited interactions I can actually coax out of them. So i'm turning to here. I received 4 such units back in late april, and they sat in my workshop until last month, when my new system was really to launch. When they came in, i powered them up to see their charge status via the led scale, and their voltages, and they read roughly 60% uniformly. I would check every week or two in similar fashion just to make sure, and everything seemed fine. Fast forward to system commissioning time, where they are hooked up to a Rosie and a HB120, and the battery designated as the lead gets hooked up to the rosie with the link in and the cable (battery and inverter tagged one) hooked up in reverse. After finally getting through to tech support at midnite power, he tells me the way to hook them up using the upper left comms port for the incoming from rosie and the link in and outs down the line (I did have that part correct). When we did this and then fired everything up, the Rosie comes to life and shortly thereafter powers back down, and the lead battery goes into fault, flashing the red alarm. We pull ask the coms cable and open the breakers from the other three to isolate the lead battery, and the same thing keeps happening. The battery will stay running with the expected voltage, the Rosie powers up, and after about forty seconds it will power back down, the battery will flash red and then shut itself back down and go dark, and then come back online and just repeat this cycle over and over, making it impossible to do the updating to the rosie and the HB. So I call midnite solar and james (guys got the patience of a saint) walks me though the update process after we've just taken the lead battery out of the mix entirely and are running on the other three. Everything is still in open loop, and the other three batteries are performing as expected, but that first battery is now essentially a paper weight. The last email I got from midnite power was a link to purchase a third party flash drive adapter of some sort so I can update the batteries, but this wont ship till later this month, and i'm getting crickets from midnite power.
Anyone have a similar experience with these? Or maybe some insight into it? Honestly, I hate to say it but I've had FAR better experiences with EG4, SoK, and the now defunct Kilovault tech support, and even some chinese brand batteries than I'm getting from the guys over at midnite power. It almost as if they couldn't care less about their product.
Yes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.
At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.
I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.
It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.
Quote from: mahendra on November 04, 2025, 02:06:19 PMYes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.
At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.
I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.
It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.
Man, that sucks. I thought I was buying into a homogenous all midnite solar ecosystem finally. It's like they are all pushing out half baked tech now. I had the same experience why the Kilovaults...hours of tech support (and to their credit, getting them on the phone and prompt email returns was effortless) and we could never get the two HaB 7.5s to actually communicate with each other like they advertised. Then they went under. I was going to buy another four PF5s by xmas, but now that's pretty much off the table unless I see some results in short order and a more responsive tech support over there. I've installed SoK, EG4, and Pytes all without any issue, but i'm starting to see why so many people are opting to just build their own batteries instead of going through these companies and paying two to three times as much for a product that has issues right from the box. I still have six years of warranty on my HaBs, but of course theres no one to make a claim to now, and i'm not holding any hope that MP will be any different unfortunately. I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop. Just out of curiosity, what adaptors have you tried? The guy gave me an amazon link to some $30 Gearmo brand one and said "you can try this one"...that's great, buy one and hope it'll work because there are entirely uncertain?? Fantastic. And to think I was actually contemplating buying the AIO, lol. Thank god I decided on a Rosie and a Hawkes Bay instead.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CPLOVW?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&titleSource=true
this is the one they told me to buy. Hopefully I don't waste thirty bucks and three weeks wait on a guess that doesn't pan out.
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 04, 2025, 04:09:50 PMQuote from: mahendra on November 04, 2025, 02:06:19 PMYes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.
At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.
I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.
It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.
I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop.
Running open loop is fine .
Even if you build your own battery , the good bms like JKBms will let you program it's output in many different outputs to it might work just fine with closed loop. As far as I know the Midnite controllers use Pylon protocol for their battery comms and many bms use or have that as an option. I just use open loop , and after using various lithium batteries, I don't want any bms that I can't get into to see how it is programmed and ability to tweak it's settings.
Regarding your other batteries or any of them, you can always install a new bms on them if needed. The only issue is if you want a display . But my newest batteries which I built have a very good display that shows everything and has touch screen but I don't use it since I do all the programming via app, and monitor everything via Home Assistant or Grafana graphing.
I do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry
I do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry
[/quote]
My problem is with the way all these systems are advertised honestly. To me, most of this is essentially false advertising, which is why I don't buy chinese designed anything. I never expected that to apply to Midnite Solar branded products, but here we are. I might as well save myself a ton on money if the end result is the same. This has solidified my resolve to forsake any more branded purchases (battery wise) and just go the DIY route...tens of thousands spent between two systems four years apart that were advertised as closed loop new awesome tech and better battery management and all that only to be told twice "sorry bout that...just run them open loop then". Fool me twice, I guess.
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 05, 2025, 10:11:13 AMI do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry
My problem is with the way all these systems are advertised honestly. To me, most of this is essentially false advertising, which is why I don't buy chinese designed anything. I never expected that to apply to Midnite Solar branded products, but here we are. I might as well save myself a ton on money if the end result is the same. This has solidified my resolve to forsake any more branded purchases (battery wise) and just go the DIY route...tens of thousands spent between two systems four years apart that were advertised as closed loop new awesome tech and better battery management and all that only to be told twice "sorry bout that...just run them open loop then". Fool me twice, I guess.
yes I totally understand what you are saying. It is a combination of advertising hype in a competitive field, but also seems to be from not having realistic samples and technicians to test the products ahead of time to make sure they work. But with all things mechanical and software, they need regular maintenance. Every time a firmware update is made to fix something, it can break something else. There are so many variations of systems out there it is difficult to test things ahead of time. Add in the DIY nature of systems and you get all kinds of other issues like things wired incorrectly that can throw a wrench into the mix and cause headaches for everyone.
The Midnite Classic is an example of a product that evolved for the better over time from frequent firmware updates , but there were hiccups along the way that eventually got solved. The greatest innovation was the addition of the Whizbang for accurate SOC estimates. But even with that , it took one of the two Aux relays so limited some options that were available before that.
But if you do want to do a more DIY battery option , look at Eel Batteries , I have built three this summer . The newest V6 box is better than the previous V5 that I built. You can get Eve MB31 cells that are 314 ah capacity and incredible performance - the Eel V6 box has the newest v19 JK inverter 200 amp bms . Eel has these imported into USA now - price is around 2000 for case and cells. Much easier to move around when the cells are separate and also can ship regular fedex instead of having to get a 300 pound battery via semi freight truck. There is also Docan and Yixiang that sell cases and cell that are already imported into USA ( or other countries too) .
I wouldn't get too hard on Midnite because the battery and bms market changes so fast these days. If you watch Off Grid Garage on youtube - he has been messing with lithium batteries and bms and testing and critiquing them for many years. Even with manufacturers sending him their newest stuff and his more direct lines of communications to their tech support, he has trouble keeping up with everything and can get frustrated by problems with firmware and communications that don't work as they should.
But I hear you - my first lithium batteries by a chinese company made a lot of claims and promises and me not being a knowledgeable consumer at the time , bought them. There is a learning curve and that can be a bit pricey. But you could also look at cars or trucks - some models are great and some develop lots of issues and can cost $$ in the long run. Life in modern society .
Larry
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on November 05, 2025, 12:09:32 PMQuote from: BlackwaterPark on November 05, 2025, 10:11:13 AMI do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry
My problem is with the way all these systems are advertised honestly. To me, most of this is essentially false advertising, which is why I don't buy chinese designed anything. I never expected that to apply to Midnite Solar branded products, but here we are. I might as well save myself a ton on money if the end result is the same. This has solidified my resolve to forsake any more branded purchases (battery wise) and just go the DIY route...tens of thousands spent between two systems four years apart that were advertised as closed loop new awesome tech and better battery management and all that only to be told twice "sorry bout that...just run them open loop then". Fool me twice, I guess.
yes I totally understand what you are saying. It is a combination of advertising hype in a competitive field, but also seems to be from not having realistic samples and technicians to test the products ahead of time to make sure they work. But with all things mechanical and software, they need regular maintenance. Every time a firmware update is made to fix something, it can break something else. There are so many variations of systems out there it is difficult to test things ahead of time. Add in the DIY nature of systems and you get all kinds of other issues like things wired incorrectly that can throw a wrench into the mix and cause headaches for everyone.
The Midnite Classic is an example of a product that evolved for the better over time from frequent firmware updates , but there were hiccups along the way that eventually got solved. The greatest innovation was the addition of the Whizbang for accurate SOC estimates. But even with that , it took one of the two Aux relays so limited some options that were available before that.
But if you do want to do a more DIY battery option , look at Eel Batteries , I have built three this summer . The newest V6 box is better than the previous V5 that I built. You can get Eve MB31 cells that are 314 ah capacity and incredible performance - the Eel V6 box has the newest v19 JK inverter 200 amp bms . Eel has these imported into USA now - price is around 2000 for case and cells. Much easier to move around when the cells are separate and also can ship regular fedex instead of having to get a 300 pound battery via semi freight truck. There is also Docan and Yixiang that sell cases and cell that are already imported into USA ( or other countries too) .
I wouldn't get too hard on Midnite because the battery and bms market changes so fast these days. If you watch Off Grid Garage on youtube - he has been messing with lithium batteries and bms and testing and critiquing them for many years. Even with manufacturers sending him their newest stuff and his more direct lines of communications to their tech support, he has trouble keeping up with everything and can get frustrated by problems with firmware and communications that don't work as they should.
But I hear you - my first lithium batteries by a chinese company made a lot of claims and promises and me not being a knowledgeable consumer at the time , bought them. There is a learning curve and that can be a bit pricey. But you could also look at cars or trucks - some models are great and some develop lots of issues and can cost $$ in the long run. Life in modern society .
Larry
I hear ya man, and thanks for listening to the pseudo rant with patience and a measured response. In regards to Midnite Solar as a company, they've more than earned my loyalty for the foreseeable future. I'm not of any other company where the actual EEs and designers take so much time on the phone to patiently explain how things work to a small potatoes dullard such as myself, and it's hard to put a price on that. On the plus side, I've at least got three of these batteries going and and the system up and running, so now i've got to go into the mngp and figure out all the features I've never had before with a much more sophisticated inverter and CC than i've been using the past 14 years. If you don't mind, i might just want to pick your brain at some point regarding building batteries that match my current 4(well...3 as it stands). My older system I kept separate because I was unsure of the longitudinal effects of trying to tie in two older batteries of higher capacity and differing BMSs to the same bus...plus, i'm pretty sure they have severely compromised cells in them, because my average draw is only about 300-400 watts (unless i run a couple higher wattage things like a keurig, electric skillet, air compressor, etc l...but those are very short duration bursts), and yes for a 15kw bank, they will draw down to 50v (my lvc setpoint) over the course of a day and a half with no sun...the math is WAY off. Instead, I just installed a transfer switch and now that system is resigned to standby power when needed. I'm guessing those batteries are not long for this world, but i'll use em till they die I guess.
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 06, 2025, 07:47:28 AMQuote from: ClassicCrazy on November 05, 2025, 12:09:32 PMQuote from: BlackwaterPark on November 05, 2025, 10:11:13 AMI do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry
My problem is with the way all these systems are advertised honestly. To me, most of this is essentially false advertising, which is why I don't buy chinese designed anything. I never expected that to apply to Midnite Solar branded products, but here we are. I might as well save myself a ton on money if the end result is the same. This has solidified my resolve to forsake any more branded purchases (battery wise) and just go the DIY route...tens of thousands spent between two systems four years apart that were advertised as closed loop new awesome tech and better battery management and all that only to be told twice "sorry bout that...just run them open loop then". Fool me twice, I guess.
I hear ya man, and thanks for listening to the pseudo rant with patience and a measured response. In regards to Midnite Solar as a company, they've more than earned my loyalty for the foreseeable future. I'm not of any other company where the actual EEs and designers take so much time on the phone to patiently explain how things work to a small potatoes dullard such as myself, and it's hard to put a price on that. On the plus side, I've at least got three of these batteries going and and the system up and running, so now i've got to go into the mngp and figure out all the features I've never had before with a much more sophisticated inverter and CC than i've been using the past 14 years. If you don't mind, i might just want to pick your brain at some point regarding building batteries that match my current 4(well...3 as it stands). My older system I kept separate because I was unsure of the longitudinal effects of trying to tie in two older batteries of higher capacity and differing BMSs to the same bus...plus, i'm pretty sure they have severely compromised cells in them, because my average draw is only about 300-400 watts (unless i run a couple higher wattage things like a keurig, electric skillet, air compressor, etc l...but those are very short duration bursts), and yes for a 15kw bank, they will draw down to 50v (my lvc setpoint) over the course of a day and a half with no sun...the math is WAY off. Instead, I just installed a transfer switch and now that system is resigned to standby power when needed. I'm guessing those batteries are not long for this world, but i'll use em till they die I guess.
I have 4 100ah , two 280 ah, and a 314 ah all together . They are all lifepo4 but the manufacturer, cells, bms , and build quality are different for some of those . They will charge and discharge at different rates as their internal resistances are different. But they all work together okay . They will all charge up together okay . But I do have the ability to change the bms setpoints on all these batteries so that they are similar in that respect . That mainly has to do with how the bms will balance cells, and when the SOC measurment resets to 100% . But I also use an external shunt and SOC to look at all the batteries together for a perspective not linked to what the bms reports since that SOC can get way off sometimes under certain conditions.
Larry
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 04, 2025, 04:09:50 PMQuote from: mahendra on November 04, 2025, 02:06:19 PMYes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.
At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.
I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.
It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.
Man, that sucks. I thought I was buying into a homogenous all midnite solar ecosystem finally. It's like they are all pushing out half baked tech now. I had the same experience why the Kilovaults...hours of tech support (and to their credit, getting them on the phone and prompt email returns was effortless) and we could never get the two HaB 7.5s to actually communicate with each other like they advertised. Then they went under. I was going to buy another four PF5s by xmas, but now that's pretty much off the table unless I see some results in short order and a more responsive tech support over there. I've installed SoK, EG4, and Pytes all without any issue, but i'm starting to see why so many people are opting to just build their own batteries instead of going through these companies and paying two to three times as much for a product that has issues right from the box. I still have six years of warranty on my HaBs, but of course theres no one to make a claim to now, and i'm not holding any hope that MP will be any different unfortunately. I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop. Just out of curiosity, what adaptors have you tried? The guy gave me an amazon link to some $30 Gearmo brand one and said "you can try this one"...that's great, buy one and hope it'll work because there are entirely uncertain?? Fantastic. And to think I was actually contemplating buying the AIO, lol. Thank god I decided on a Rosie and a Hawkes Bay instead.
Yes, I totally understand.
I am a Midnite guy; I have been using their products for years now. I would admit I was also somewhat disappointed with the powerflos .
Don't get me wrong, they seem like great batteries, but I expected Midnite to work out the kinks before releasing, which obviously was not the case.
This system exclusively consists of all Midnite components except for the wiring and PV.
It's not mine, but a close friend of mine.
You can see some pics on this thread: https://midniteftp.com/forum/index.php?topic=6297.45
I would have updated on the progress and glitches we experienced.
As soon as we get this glitch out of the way, I will update on that thread.
FYI, I have some Dyness bx51100. They are a great price and excellent quality, and have been great for the past 5 months since I installed them. Dyness does not have a tech support number, but they do contact you by email and on their Facebook page.
Dyness is considered a different protocol from Pylon and the others, but from experience testing mine on most inverters like Solark, Deye, SNRE, and Schneider(with insight), basically use Pylon when setting up.
I know Midnite would get this ironed out, but it's taking them longer than usual. For sure, if boB were here, he would have definitely chime in on this issue.
I will update you as soon as we receive the Dongle.
The one from Amazon did not work for me, as I mentioned before, I also have two different Waveshare and some other generic ones. None of them worked for me.
I also tried several laptops to complete the update and swapped wires to see if there was a typo error in the manual, but none of them worked.
This issue showed up around June.
Quote from: mahendra on November 06, 2025, 01:30:09 PMQuote from: BlackwaterPark on November 04, 2025, 04:09:50 PMQuote from: mahendra on November 04, 2025, 02:06:19 PMYes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.
At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.
I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.
It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.
Man, that sucks. I thought I was buying into a homogenous all midnite solar ecosystem finally. It's like they are all pushing out half baked tech now. I had the same experience why the Kilovaults...hours of tech support (and to their credit, getting them on the phone and prompt email returns was effortless) and we could never get the two HaB 7.5s to actually communicate with each other like they advertised. Then they went under. I was going to buy another four PF5s by xmas, but now that's pretty much off the table unless I see some results in short order and a more responsive tech support over there. I've installed SoK, EG4, and Pytes all without any issue, but i'm starting to see why so many people are opting to just build their own batteries instead of going through these companies and paying two to three times as much for a product that has issues right from the box. I still have six years of warranty on my HaBs, but of course theres no one to make a claim to now, and i'm not holding any hope that MP will be any different unfortunately. I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop. Just out of curiosity, what adaptors have you tried? The guy gave me an amazon link to some $30 Gearmo brand one and said "you can try this one"...that's great, buy one and hope it'll work because there are entirely uncertain?? Fantastic. And to think I was actually contemplating buying the AIO, lol. Thank god I decided on a Rosie and a Hawkes Bay instead.
Yes, I totally understand.
I am a Midnite guy; I have been using their products for years now. I would admit I was also somewhat disappointed with the powerflos .
Don't get me wrong, they seem like great batteries, but I expected Midnite to work out the kinks before releasing, which obviously was not the case.
This system exclusively consists of all Midnite components except for the wiring and PV.
It's not mine, but a close friend of mine.
You can see some pics on this thread: https://midniteftp.com/forum/index.php?topic=6297.45
I would have updated on the progress and glitches we experienced.
As soon as we get this glitch out of the way, I will update on that thread.
FYI, I have some Dyness bx51100. They are a great price and excellent quality, and have been great for the past 5 months since I installed them. Dyness does not have a tech support number, but they do contact you by email and on their Facebook page.
Dyness is considered a different protocol from Pylon and the others, but from experience testing mine on most inverters like Solark, Deye, SNRE, and Schneider(with insight), basically use Pylon when setting up.
I know Midnite would get this ironed out, but it's taking them longer than usual. For sure, if boB were here, he would have definitely chime in on this issue.
I will update you as soon as we receive the Dongle.
The one from Amazon did not work for me, as I mentioned before, I also have two different Waveshare and some other generic ones. None of them worked for me.
I also tried several laptops to complete the update and swapped wires to see if there was a typo error in the manual, but none of them worked.
This issue showed up around June.
Hey, so I have progress on my PF5s. After some back and forth emails with Ronald over at MP, he sent me an adapter gadget and took an appreciable amount of time over phone to update the batteries, which have appeared to work at least in the capacity of being able to update successfully the firmware. I have not linked them to the rosie because now there is some confusion about the coms cable that I need, which apparently you need to make yourself (which is...silly honestly, but whatever). The original battery in question, he has deduced that the bms was shorted. This may have happened due to negligence on my part. I used the long coms cable that came with the batteries, the one labeled inverter at one end and battery at the other. I had sniped the orange wires as per james's instructions, though initially I had the wire reversed. This cable is strictly for the AIO and nothing else. I think MP could avoid a whole lot of issues for both themselves and their customers by labeling it "Midnite power All-In-One Inverter ONLY", instead of just "Inverter". At any rate, Ronald is going to see wear they can do for me regarding this battery. Assuming it's my fault (it most likely is, though I think there's a confusion factor that can be better avoided with some explicit labeling in the very least), then i'll eat the battery and move on. I'm guessing I can just order another BMS as they are meant to be swappable. As soon as I figure out how to fabricate the proper wire, i'll try a closed loop and update progress. There does seem to exist some non-consensus between the guys at mns and mp about this PF5 supplied cable however: mns told me that you want to snip the orange wire pair to prevent issues with shorting out something in the rosie when you're trying to stack rosies, and made no mention of shorting out the bms in the Pf5s, while MP said you can't use it with anything BUT the AIO because of the pinout they use. They need to have a pow-wow about this, I feel.
Do you have the pinouts of the batteries and of the Rosie ?
Should be easy to make your own cable .
Larry
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 11:15:34 AMDo you have the pinouts of the batteries and of the Rosie ?
Should be easy to make your own cable .
Larry
I don't as of yet. I guess i'll go buy a crimping tool this week and figure out how to do it, and hopefully not do it incorrectly and short some piece of gear out. I've never done that kind of thing before with cat cables. I just can't fathom why MS doesn't offer one.
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 11, 2025, 02:04:46 PMQuote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 11:15:34 AMDo you have the pinouts of the batteries and of the Rosie ?
Should be easy to make your own cable .
Larry
I don't as of yet. I guess i'll go buy a crimping tool this week and figure out how to do it, and hopefully not do it incorrectly and short some piece of gear out. I've never done that kind of thing before with cat cables. I just can't fathom why MS doesn't offer one.
Depending on what you are going to make , you probably don't even need a crimping tool. If the one end is going to an adapter that you just hook up a couple wires, you can cut the end off of a regular piece of cat 5 cable and just connect the wires you need. Seems like most all of these bms , batteries, controllers , seem to use pins 4 and 5 these days. You have to connect up the right two pins for Can High and Can Low. I don't think you even need to hook up a ground but that would be one more wire if you need that.
I forget what you are hooking up , but even if you need and an RJ45 on each end - you can cut into the cable and just cut any wires you don't need or cut and splice any that you need to switch around.
Larry
what are you trying to connect again ?
This document says to use regular cat5 cables . The only exception is if you only use two wires for the battery . It is documented here - but maybe that is what you already talked about ?
file attached
The Midnite battery canbus jack uses pin 4 Can high and pin 5 can low
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 05:43:04 PMwhat are you trying to connect again ?
This document says to use regular cat5 cables . The only exception is if you only use two wires for the battery . It is documented here - but maybe that is what you already talked about ?
file attached
I'm trying to connect Rosie to a bank of powerflo5s. I did get the proper pinout from midnite power for those batteries, at least for the battery end, and they told me to ask someone at midnite solar for the proper pinout on the inverter end, which i'm waiting to hear back on. I'll likely not have to worry about the grounding part of it, as i've decided to keep this system with a floating neutral, as I've been running for 13 years with my other system here. The thing that gets me in the doc you linked is that they explicitly term you to use the cable that comes with the battery, and when you talk to the guys who make the battery, they are telling me to most definitely NOT use that cable. It's like these guys don't talk to each other at all.
Quote from: BlackwaterPark on November 11, 2025, 09:14:07 PMQuote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 05:43:04 PMwhat are you trying to connect again ?
This document says to use regular cat5 cables . The only exception is if you only use two wires for the battery . It is documented here - but maybe that is what you already talked about ?
file attached
I'm trying to connect Rosie to a bank of powerflo5s. I did get the proper pinout from midnite power for those batteries, at least for the battery end, and they told me to ask someone at midnite solar for the proper pinout on the inverter end, which i'm waiting to hear back on. I'll likely not have to worry about the grounding part of it, as i've decided to keep this system with a floating neutral, as I've been running for 13 years with my other system here. The thing that gets me in the doc you linked is that they explicitly term you to use the cable that comes with the battery, and when you talk to the guys who make the battery, they are telling me to most definitely NOT use that cable. It's like these guys don't talk to each other at all.
The Rosie end should be the same - pins 4 and pins 5 . I don't have a Rosie but doesn't that have a MNGP2 or does it have it's own canbus jack ? I was looking in the manuals for pinout for the MNGP2 but didn't find it. But I do have the Midnite canbus document and it has all the pins labeled.
Here is what it says
"Basic CANBUS Information
Physical Pinout
The MNCANBUS interface on MidNite devices is accessible via an RJ45 jack. There are two of these
jacks, but they are tied together so the nets are the same regardless of which one is used. The important
pins are CAN HI (Pin 4), CAN LO (Pin 5), and GND (Pin 8). All other pins are used for other
communications on MidNite devices and should be left floating. Connecting these other nets to
anything could produce system communication errors. "
I think I have seen past post where Ryan said just to try using pins 4 and 5 and skip the ground. I think that is what was also showed for using it with Solar Assistant.
Larry
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on November 12, 2025, 11:20:21 AMQuote from: BlackwaterPark on November 11, 2025, 09:14:07 PMQuote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 05:43:04 PMwhat are you trying to connect again ?
This document says to use regular cat5 cables . The only exception is if you only use two wires for the battery . It is documented here - but maybe that is what you already talked about ?
file attached
I'm trying to connect Rosie to a bank of powerflo5s. I did get the proper pinout from midnite power for those batteries, at least for the battery end, and they told me to ask someone at midnite solar for the proper pinout on the inverter end, which i'm waiting to hear back on. I'll likely not have to worry about the grounding part of it, as i've decided to keep this system with a floating neutral, as I've been running for 13 years with my other system here. The thing that gets me in the doc you linked is that they explicitly term you to use the cable that comes with the battery, and when you talk to the guys who make the battery, they are telling me to most definitely NOT use that cable. It's like these guys don't talk to each other at all.
The Rosie end should be the same - pins 4 and pins 5 . I don't have a Rosie but doesn't that have a MNGP2 or does it have it's own canbus jack ? I was looking in the manuals for pinout for the MNGP2 but didn't find it. But I do have the Midnite canbus document and it has all the pins labeled.
Here is what it says
"Basic CANBUS Information
Physical Pinout
The MNCANBUS interface on MidNite devices is accessible via an RJ45 jack. There are two of these
jacks, but they are tied together so the nets are the same regardless of which one is used. The important
pins are CAN HI (Pin 4), CAN LO (Pin 5), and GND (Pin 8). All other pins are used for other
communications on MidNite devices and should be left floating. Connecting these other nets to
anything could produce system communication errors. "
I think I have seen past post where Ryan said just to try using pins 4 and 5 and skip the ground. I think that is what was also showed for using it with Solar Assistant.
Larry
Yes, I got an email from Ryan saying exactly that, to just open up the supplied cable and cut and isolate the orange, brown, and green pair, so i'm going to try that tonight. It sounds like that's also what will work with the solar assistant then? I've got three more cables i can do that to, and was planning on getting the SAv anyway.
Quote from: ClassicCrazy on November 11, 2025, 05:43:04 PMwhat are you trying to connect again ?
This document says to use regular cat5 cables . The only exception is if you only use two wires for the battery . It is documented here - but maybe that is what you already talked about ?
file attached
Yes, Ryan did warn about this. I made my cable; two wires only, pins 5 and 6 if I recall correctly.
Two wires as per the pinout in the document above, but note that if you are using Solar Assistant, there are some errors in the documentation. Check with Midnite to be sure.