150 Data Erase

[MikeJ]

Hello all

Is there a way to delete the data on the 150 without changing the updates?

Thanks
Mike

[Halfcrazy]

I assume you mean the Logs? If so they are basically permanently stored as a first in first out setup. The only way to erase them at this point is to re program it at Midnite as a new unit.

[MikeJ]

Bummer
Thanks for the info.
Mike

[dgd]

I assume you mean the Logs? If so they are basically permanently stored as a first in first out setup. The only way to erase them at this point is to re program it at Midnite as a new unit.

Is there a modbus register write that can effect this log erase? I assume the log is stored in flash memory and all flash tends to have an erase function
Dgd

[boB]

Hello all

Is there a way to delete the data on the 150 without changing the updates?

Thanks
Mike

Well, it turns out that there IS a way to erase the Logs  and the Lifetime kW-Hours and amp-Hours...
But you have to use the USB connection and a terminal emulator of some sort.  There are all
sorts of these floating around the internet of course.   I use Secure CRT which is an SSH program
with a nice emulator but different terminal emulators that you connect to a com port with should work fine.
A long time ago I tried Hyperterminal  in XP but it would not work for some reason.  I imagine that
windows 7 should work better.

First, if you are running windows and have the Midnite Update drivers and software to update
your Classics and MNGP code, you have the necessary drivers installed already.  Also, when
the update software was installed you made the Classic talk to COM 8 port.  So the hard
part should already be done.  If you have never updated your Classic code, that should be
OK, just download the latest MidNiteUpdate softare and install it and change that port to
COM 8 like the videos and PDFs say.

In Linux, the drivers should already be there (CDC emulation) so you will have to plug the Classic in
to find the device that the Classic has become.

Now, when the Classic is running, go into the MNGP  MISC menu and then to the COMM
sub menu.  Highlight the center USB Mode choice and change it to mode 3 which is
labelled "interactive"...   Actually, to first test the connection, you might want to
set that mode to like, 0 or 1 so that the Classic spits out information to your
PC and terminal emulator.  With the Midnite Update drivers installed, it should
be live on COM 8 and outputting some CSV data in ASCII.

So, now, if you are receiving the characters from the Classic, set that USB mode
to 3 and the terminal screen should be just sitting there.

To erase all of the Daily and Minutely (recent history) logs, type this and then ENTER (return)...

"reset Logs All"  (without the quotes)  and watch and wait as a bunch of numerals roll
by...  It takes just a minute and when it is done, the terminal will show "OK"

To erase the Lifetime kW-Hours and amp-Hours type this and then ENTER (return)

"reset Logs kW-Hours"    (w/o quotes)


I just checked it on my Classic here in the lab and it worked just fine.
It has been a very long time since I even tried it. We'll put this in the manual.

That should do it.

boB

[dgd]

To erase all of the Daily and Minutely (recent history) logs, type this and then ENTER (return)...

"reset Logs All"  (without the quotes)  and watch and wait as a bunch of numerals roll
by...  It takes just a minute and when it is done, the terminal will show "OK"

To erase the Lifetime kW-Hours and amp-Hours type this and then ENTER (return)

"reset Logs kW-Hours"    (w/o quotes)

boB

boB,

Very interesting info.
So there is a command line interface into the Classic via the serial port 
The obvious question now is - what are all the available commands and their associated command line parameters or options ?
Is there a "help", "?" Or "info" command that lists all the commands and options?

Dgd

[boB]

To erase all of the Daily and Minutely (recent history) logs, type this and then ENTER (return)...

"reset Logs All"  (without the quotes)  and watch and wait as a bunch of numerals roll
by...  It takes just a minute and when it is done, the terminal will show "OK"

To erase the Lifetime kW-Hours and amp-Hours type this and then ENTER (return)

"reset Logs kW-Hours"    (w/o quotes)

boB

boB,

Very interesting info.
So there is a command line interface into the Classic via the serial port 
The obvious question now is - what are all the available commands and their associated command line parameters or options ?
Is there a "help", "?" Or "info" command that lists all the commands and options?

Dgd

No, there aren't any help lines from -? or help  but there should be !
I will add something to that at least for commands like these two.
There really isn't very much there right now but there are a few
modes that spit out information.  If you toggle through the different
USB Mode selections in the MNGP, you will find a few of them.
One for instance, outputs all of the modbus register contents along
with their address...  Another one outputs a continuous CSV version
of input voltage, battery voltage, PV target voltage (MPPV), power,
current and useful info like that.

boB

[dgd]

No, there aren't any help lines from -? or help  but there should be !
I will add something to that at least for commands like these two.
There really isn't very much there right now but there are a few
modes that spit out information.  If you toggle through the different
USB Mode selections in the MNGP, you will find a few of them.
One for instance, outputs all of the modbus register contents along
with their address...  Another one outputs a continuous CSV version
of input voltage, battery voltage, PV target voltage (MPPV), power,
current and useful info like that.

boB

boB,

Even more interesting
Continuous output of all those data items listed is nice.
What would really make this very useful is a complete or partial dump of the system logs preferably with a parameter indicating the number of days of logging to be dumped with a start day relative to today. I would bet something like this exists already since the mngp can display this log (I am assuming here the Classic has flash storing the logs and they are not stored in the mngp)

The possibilities here are looking good as I can already envisage a perl script on a raspberry pi working as a terminal emulator and pulling this data from the classic via serial connection.
A lot more reliable, IMHO, than using modbus over ethernet, at least until the Ethernet/ip issues are eventually resolved.
Dgd

[TomW]

If you toggle through the different
USB Mode selections in the MNGP, you will find a few of them.

boB;

With this new information I can see a lot of possibilities. Now we are getting somewhere. I love raw data! 

Thanks.

Tom

[MikeJ]

Thanks Bob might try it this weekend when I update I was hopeing it could be done so I can sync with the days of the year with the days on the 150


Thanks
Mike

[TomW]

A bit off the Data Erase topic but here it is:

Was fooling around with the USB output on my Classic 150 using Ubuntu 11.10 Linux.

Getting the USB data is almost too simple. After using Minicom to check for the actual data I Googled a lot and finally got it boiled down to one simple command to watch the USB on the Classic:

Code Select Expand


cat /dev/ttyACM0


/dev/ttyACM0 may vary if you have other devices on your USB ports but should be the standard for the Classic USB interface.

Here is a bit of info I discovered looking at the output:

Code Select Expand



Mode:00

[2 per sec data]

99.4,   99.4,   26.3,   19.6,    5.2,   517

Mode 01:

[Modbus Register Dump]

4154,   7200
4155,    292
4156,    264
... etc.

Mode 02:

No data from cat...

Mode 03:

Interactive.. I left this alone until we get more info on how it works.

Mode 04:

[CSV data I think]

123,   99.0,   26.3,   22.7,    6.0,

Seems to be

??, Input Volts, Battery Volts, Amps to Battery, ??

?? because I couldn't tell what data it is.

Mode 05:

0,   0,   32

More CSV data but not sure what it represents?

Mode 06:

00,   0,    00

Again, unsure of what data it represents?

Mode 07:

00,   0,    00

Again, unsure of the data it represents?

Mode 08:

No data out.

Then it recycles to 01.


cat outputs a continuous stream of data so be easy to redirect to a file or rrd to gather data for pretty graphs.

Maybe boB can explain what the unknown data represents?

Anyway, wanted to share that while it was fresh.

I will abandon modpol in favor of the USB method for now because it is quite simple to do.

Just FYI.

Tom


P.S.

The Linux updater tool i tested worked treat so I hope they release that soon. It uses Python so should be 100% cross platform. Yay, a manufacturer that realizes not everyone has been absorbed by the Redmond Borg hive!

[dgd]

Tom,

I would suggest Ryan starts a new forum section just to deal with Classic serial port software command interface.
This just has so much potential and hopefully will lead to all sorts of interesting tools and reporting functions.

Dgd

[TomW]

Tom,

I would suggest Ryan starts a new forum section just to deal with Classic serial port software command interface.
This just has so much potential and hopefully will lead to all sorts of interesting tools and reporting functions.

Dgd

Dgd;

Absolutely.

[MikeJ]

Hello all (Bob)

So did I open a can of worms or what

Anyway I hooked up the laptop (Windows 7) and started "putty" did the command line thing and every thing worked perfect
Thanks for you time.

Mike

[boB]

Hello all (Bob)

So did I open a can of worms or what

Anyway I hooked up the laptop (Windows 7) and started "putty" did the command line thing and every thing worked perfect
Thanks for you time.

Mike

No can of worms !  You opened up a can of putty !

I am glad that people are finally using the USB output feature !

Just try not to lose your ground connection or have a loose ground connection and have
the ground try to get back through your USB connection.

I haven't seen a problem with that in around 2 and 1/2 years but, just be aware.

Really happy that putty is working well for that USB connection !
We will add more features and functions but now I need to just document
a couple of the ones that are in there already and the characters it
spits out.  Most of those were for R&D of the Classic but still useful
for people like you guys.

I am so happy to have some geeks out here who appreciate and can use this stuff !
The world has been seriously lacking geeks like us lately.
boB