Hey guys,
I finally got my whole PV setup yesterday so I've been monitoring my Classic 150 (rev 4, firmware: 1043 and network: 1024) with the latest version of the Local App in OSX. Some problems I've been encountering:
1. While in the status panel for my classic, clicking on "Config" always brings up a "Data Written to Classic" dialog (what data?! I didn't change anything) after 2-3 seconds which then, apparently, resets the IP address on the Classic as I then get a "Connection was closed" dialog and the Classic will show up again under a new IP after a few seconds.
2. Status Panel scale (1-5kw) saves correctly in one session, but after reconnecting or restarting the app, the dial always loads up at 5kw. The setting in the drop menu will be correct, but you have to change it to something else, then change it back before the dial displays correctly.
3. Amp Hours under the Data panel shows erroneous data. Sometimes it's in the 100k+ daily AH (impossible) and currently it's showing a negative AH.
4. Live data panel calendar picker doesn't show the month name at the top of the calendar, so you kind of have to guess what month it is.
Any thoughts, or do I need to update my Classic firmware as well? I haven't tried it yet (as I'm on a Mac) but luckily I have Parallels so hopefully that'll work.
You probably should update the firmware on the Classic. These issues are known and are fixed in the new firmware.
The not keeping the power scale setting is that you need to click the blue "save" arrow in the lower part of the "config" pane. You may need to enter the Classics Serial Number in the box for it at the bottom, too.
Good luck with it.
Tom
The data sent message when you click on the config tab is the local app sending the password (serial number) to the Classic...
You will also find that there are some problems when reading the off-line data from the Classic because not all
of the daily values are in the correct order, depending on if the days went over the edge of the 380 day boundary
inside the Classic or not. This is being worked on now but may not be available for another week or so.
boB
Gotcha. I'll try updating the firmware tonight and let you know how it goes.
Quote from: boB on December 24, 2012, 10:42:34 PM
The data sent message when you click on the config tab is the local app sending the password (serial number) to the Classic...
At the risk of seeming pedantic, I don't think showing an alert box after that operation is a good idea from a UX (user experience) standpoint; it creates confusion (eg: Data written?! I didn't do anything!), and should be hidden.
I fully expect an alert box after an operation that would require saving data (eg: changing anything in the Config tab), but I don't expect one while switching between panels. From the users' point of view, I'm just reading the config, not actually changing anything.
Just my two cents. Thanks for your help guys.
Quote from: crunnells on December 26, 2012, 06:57:21 PM
Gotcha. I'll try updating the firmware tonight and let you know how it goes.
Quote from: boB on December 24, 2012, 10:42:34 PM
The data sent message when you click on the config tab is the local app sending the password (serial number) to the Classic...
At the risk of seeming pedantic, I don't think showing an alert box after that operation is a good idea from a UX (user experience) standpoint; it creates confusion (eg: Data written?! I didn't do anything!), and should be hidden.
I fully expect an alert box after an operation that would require saving data (eg: changing anything in the Config tab), but I don't expect one while switching between panels. From the users' point of view, I'm just reading the config, not actually changing anything.
Just my two cents. Thanks for your help guys.
That is a great idea ! I will let him know and maybe we can get rid of that notification.
Or, maybe it could be shown the first time only ?
boB
Quote from: boB on December 26, 2012, 07:50:31 PM
That is a great idea ! I will let him know and maybe we can get rid of that notification.
Or, maybe it could be shown the first time only ?
boB
I would say if you're going to show it, be a little more descriptive about it. What data is being written? Why is it necessary (to the user)?
It seems to me that it's a behind-the-scenes kind of operation... Meaning, it's not something the user has control over, why it would be necessary to show it to the user? It looks like something that would be useful for a developer, to know that the Classic is receiving and writing data, but from a user perspective it's superfluous.
I'd still like to write an iOS app that reads data from the Classic (so I don't have to run to my computer when I want to check the PV status) but I'm super busy for the first couple months of next year and won't have time for it.
So I updated my Classic to the latest firmware on Saturday, and I can report that all of the problems I mentioned in my first post... Still exist. Except that now it's reporting the correct amount of amp hours.
Otherwise, the Local App still doesn't apply the saved scale value, and opening that panel resets the IP on the Classic, and the data calendar doesn't show the month name.
None of this stuff is really a big deal, but I figure it'd be worth mentioning to you folks.
Quote from: crunnells on January 09, 2013, 04:08:37 PM
opening that panel resets the IP on the Classic
Is your Classic in DHCP or STATIC IP mode ?? You might try setting it to STATIC
and see if the IP address stays put.
I saw this here at my house once and have heard of it happening a few times. Not sure
why that happens though, yet.
boB
It may stick if I change it to a static IP, but it didn't have this problem prior to the last update. For now I just stay away from the config tab and content myself to having the power gauge set at 0-5k.
I am not sure if it is the latest App or the latest Classic code but one of them seems to have caused DHCP to be problematic on certain systems. I can cause an incrementing IP address on mine here.
Ryan
I'm fairly certain it's the latest version of the Local App that's causing the DHCP issue. I didn't have this issue prior to upgrading the Local App with the old firmware in my Classic (from June 2012 I believe) and upgrading to the latest firmware results in the exact same behavior, which suggests the problem lies in the app itself.
Still, it's not stopping me from using it every day to check on production without looking at the unit itself.
The Lifetime Values Amp Hours is still not correct. The daily Amp hours are divided by 10 when saved each midnight to the lifetime values.
Thurmond
I have also started to see some odd behaviour in the Local App. Disconnects and resets values several times a day. Exported data has obvious errors like 145 volt battery volts on a 24 volt bank. Days I know I made 3 or 4 KWH showing as zero.
Data gets reset on the display, too, not just in the Local App.
I ran it for a long while with no issues but the last week to 10 days it started acting up.
I suspect it is writing and corrupting data on the MNGP when the thing sends data? Usually after it does that "Writing Data to Classic" bit I get the errors and disconnects soon after. Days I do not fire up the App I see no problems with it holding data in the MNGP.
I guess until a fix is sorted out I will just quit using the App.
Just wanted to toss that on the pile with others' issues.
Tom
I've also noticed issues on the Classic (with the 12/2012 firmware) where if you go into the hourly logs, it doesn't cycle thru the hourly data correctly. Similar to what Tom just reported, it occasionally displays the wrong information for the field you're looking at (and it's obviously showing data from another field: e.g. showing max PV voltage as max battery voltage, etc.
Quote from: crunnells on January 14, 2013, 06:49:14 PM
I've also noticed issues on the Classic (with the 12/2012 firmware) where if you go into the hourly logs, it doesn't cycle thru the hourly data correctly. Similar to what Tom just reported, it occasionally displays the wrong information for the field you're looking at (and it's obviously showing data from another field: e.g. showing max PV voltage as max battery voltage, etc.
I report this also back in early December in another post.
"
On the MNGP 1041 and Classic 1181 firmware I see times when the Daily History by day does not always update the display to show the correct data for the Index. This seems to be pretty repeatable if you fast scroll and then stop on an index. That index data may not show the correct data for that index."
Don't think it has anything to do with the Local App, it seems like the display just doesn't get refreshed with the correct index (date) data, but you never know.
MNGP: 1042, Classic: 1181, one Classic, three Classic Lites.
I originally had my system configured with DHCP but as others have mentioned everytime I tried to enter the password for one of my controllers the controller would reset, dropping its network connection, and being issued another IP one greater than the last. I have since changed to static addressing. My initial static IP scheme was to use 192.168.1.151 to .154. Our units are numbered 10, 11, 12 and 13. Once I got this all working I decided to change the numbering to 192.168.1.210 .. .213, 200 plus the unit number, for consistency.
Well these 4 controllers show up in the Local App quite readily with green balloons showing solid connection. These charge controllers were named West, Mid, Awning, and East (10, 11, 12, and 13 respectively). So this is all well and good.
My problem is that there are other ghosts showing up on the primary display that eventually show "Device Not Available". Well there are no other controllers on my network.
It gets stranger. Right now I am showing 3 ghosts. And they show IPs similar to my original .151-.154 numbers. And even stranger the one showing an IP of 192.168.1.252 shows a DI of DAE1 C93C which is in fact the DI of my unit named, Mid, at 192.168.1.211. This is in fact the unit that briefly was assigned an IP of 192.168.1.252 when I did my initial changeover from DHCP to Static addressing.
So somewhere this old information is being stored and retrieved. I don't know if this old data is coming from the controllers themselves or if it is being stored and retrieved by the Local App itself. Either way it is annoying. I have checked each Classic with the one MNGP on the system and they correctly show their present IP addresses.
I have attached a .jpg showing these ghostly entries. (This being my first real post I am unsure if attaching a .jpg is the proper way to include a picture. The Insert Image button did not behave the way I expected so I chose to use the attach file mechanism instead.)
While I am here this is my wish list for Local App enhancements:
1) A graphics dashboard showing the combined output of my four Classics.
2) A way to sort the order of the Classics, by name, on the opening screen.
Otherwise it is so cool being able to survey our solar power system from the comfort of my office!
Thanks,
BobL
The Ghosts are cached instances of connections to the classics. The local app remembers them for a while to expedite connection. There are a couple things you can do. One would be to turn of Auto detect and enter the data manually. Or the simpler solution is to disconnect the PC from the network temporarily and open the app wait for all instances to fail. Close the app and then re open it and wait for anything to fail and close it again. Now if you reconnect to the network and reopen it it should have cleared its memory.
Of course they should just go away on there own after a few failed attempts as well.
Ryan
Thanks Ryan that did the trick.