Controlling PIP-4048MS Remotely

I want to be able to remotely turn the PIP on/off completely, so I'm thinking about connecting the on/off switch cables into some relay controlled my a raspberry.
Does anyone know what kind of voltages/amperages are being used on those on/off switch cables?
What kind of relay (or other electric mechanism) could be safely used there? I'm kind of ignorant on such matters, so any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

I would really love to learn/understand more about this stuff in the mean time - nuc with remote access works for me lol

I'm not familiar with the PIP how ever if it is IP based and you are using a PC on the remote end. Perhaps a VPN?Then you would have full remote control.

hbpowerwall said:

I would really love to learn/understand more about this stuff in the mean time - nuc with remote access works for me lol

Click to expand...

Remote controlling when PIP is on is not the problem, Daniel's project solar-sis includes code for gathering stats, and recentlycode for setting several parameters was merged into the project, mainly:

-output_source_priority
-charger_priority
-bulk_charging
-float_charging
-utility_max_charging
-max_charging
-back_to_grid
-back_to_battery

Usingsolar-sislatest set commands for the PIP, you can have whatever kind of controlling you wish, me for example in domoticz:





What I'm trying to anchieve is to turn the inverter completely OFF and then be able to turn it back ON, like if you would switch it physically.

This is because I'm using 2 inverters for different loads on the house, and PIP is necessary only when bigger loads are needed (Boiler, washing machine, dishwasher), the rest of the time should be OFF so to not waste energy.

Here's what coulomb fromAEVA Forumswrote answering my question:

The AC start switch carries battery voltage, so you need to be careful with fault currents. A ~1?A 60+VDC fuse would be wise, on the pin 1 side. The switching current is quite low, however. Hence, many small relays would be suitable, perhaps even a printed circuit mounting type, but to be safe its contacts should be rated at 60?VDC. Any current rating would be suitable. Many cheap relays' contacts are rated for 240?VAC, which sounds plenty, but their DC rating might be as low as 28?V, making them unsuitable. Merely wire the normally open contacts across the start switch. The start switch needs to be off for the raspberry to control the PIP, obviously.

Click to expand...

So I will try to use this:





http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?cid=4&item=DC60S5

Hope it works.

It works!!

I used this SSR:




connected directlyto ground + GPio 17 on Rpi2 and to PIP switch cables

and I can now control it from for example domoticz:





So anytime I need to use higher loads on the house, like dishwasher, oven, water boiler I need to first turn on the PIP,
so...
using google assistant sdk on rpi I just need to say "ok google, turn on the inverter" and voila

I'm very happy now to beable to control when is the PIP on, thus keeping its wasting (specially during nighttime) to a minimum.

PFrnanduMarti?ski said:

hbpowerwall said:

I would really love to learn/understand more about this stuff in the mean time - nuc with remote access works for me lol

Click to expand...

Remote controlling when PIP is on is not the problem, Daniel's project solar-sis includes code for gathering stats, and recentlycode for setting several parameters was merged into the project, mainly:

-output_source_priority
-charger_priority
-bulk_charging
-float_charging
-utility_max_charging
-max_charging
-back_to_grid
-back_to_battery

Usingsolar-sislatest set commands for the PIP, you can have whatever kind of controlling you wish, me for example in domoticz:





What I'm trying to anchieve is to turn the inverter completely OFF and then be able to turn it back ON, like if you would switch it physically.

This is because I'm using 2 inverters for different loads on the house, and PIP is necessary only when bigger loads are needed (Boiler, washing machine, dishwasher), the rest of the time should be OFF so to not waste energy.

Here's what coulomb fromAEVA Forumswrote answering my question:

The AC start switch carries battery voltage, so you need to be careful with fault currents. A ~1?A 60+VDC fuse would be wise, on the pin 1 side. The switching current is quite low, however. Hence, many small relays would be suitable, perhaps even a printed circuit mounting type, but to be safe its contacts should be rated at 60?VDC. Any current rating would be suitable. Many cheap relays' contacts are rated for 240?VAC, which sounds plenty, but their DC rating might be as low as 28?V, making them unsuitable. Merely wire the normally open contacts across the start switch. The start switch needs to be off for the raspberry to control the PIP, obviously.

Click to expand...

So I will try to use this:





http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?cid=4&item=DC60S5

Hope it works.

Click to expand...

I have grafana up and running and very happy for telemetry data and graph.
Would like to remotelycontrol some PIP parameters but dont know how to set the hardware (actualy hidraw0 http port 3003) into domoticz menu.
What type of hardware have I to choose?
What communication protocol?
What kind of switch?

FrnanduMarti?ski said:

It works!!

I used this SSR:




connected directlyto ground + GPio 17 on Rpi2 and to PIP switch cables

and I can now control it from for example domoticz:





So anytime I need to use higher loads on the house, like dishwasher, oven, water boiler I need to first turn on the PIP,
so...
using google assistant sdk on rpi I just need to say "ok google, turn on the inverter" and voila

I'm very happy now to beable to control when is the PIP on, thus keeping its wasting (specially during nighttime) to a minimum.

Click to expand...

This is quite interesting. I have been thinking about being able to remotely switching the battery feed on and off in case of emergency, but would require at least a 150A DC SSR to be safe, but not sure if it would work, without still arching, or causing other problems?

wow awesome work! NOW I want to learn this stuff - in my case by just turning the power switch off the unit still draws 20watts or something would it be better to disconnect the DC given the PIP's primary source of power is DC that would compleat shut off the inverter

hbpowerwall said:

wow awesome work! NOW I want to learn this stuff - in my case by just turning the power switch off the unit still draws 20watts or something would it be better to disconnect the DC given the PIP's primary source of power is DC that would compleat shut off the inverter

Click to expand...

Peter, from my observations if you have AC IN connected to the PIP it will still draw some power (~20 watts like you wrote) from the battery because the inverter will not completely shut off.
BUT, if you cut AC power to the AC IN connection it WILL shut off completely and do not draw ANY watts from battery DC.

Currently I have not AC IN connected (since it's summer here and long days make me completely off-grid sufficient), so I can confirm that this is the case.
When winter approaches here and I will occasionally need to use AC charge (on cloudy days), so I will use for example a sonoff to programatically/remotely disconnect the AC IN when not needed.

I think that's a better option than trying to use a SSR/relay for the battery connection, since there you would have to handle quite big amperages.

But when controlling the PIP on/off switch you only need a simple SSR/relay which can handle a few amps, just make sure your SSR/relay is made for ~60V since the majority are for 32VDC.

If you need help with code/instructions on controlling GPio on the rpi, just let me know.

---

SiverNodashi said:

This is quite interesting. I have been thinking about being able to remotely switching the battery feed on and off in case of emergency, but would require at least a 150A DC SSR to be safe, but not sure if it would work, without still arching, or causing other problems?

Click to expand...

For emergency off switch I use a BIG DC breaker with shunt trip controlled by Batrium watchmon:

iomagico said:

I have grafana up and running and very happy for telemetry data and graph.
Would like to remotelycontrol some PIP parameters but dont know how to set the hardware (actualy hidraw0 http port 3003) into domoticz menu.
What type of hardware have I to choose?
What communication protocol?
What kind of switch?

Click to expand...

If you have the latest version from github of solar-sis soft running, you should have already the commands which allow to control a few of the PIP settings, as I wrote above.
And then just configure domoticz something like this:





where 192.168.1.22 is my rpi IP connected to the PIP, and 3002 the port I configured in .json files, it should work.
Let me know if you need more detailed help.

can you please describe the Hardware setting in domoticz for PIP inverter?
Are you using an mqqt client gateway with LAN interface?

iomagico said:

can you please describe the Hardware setting in domoticz for PIP inverter?
Are you using an mqqt client gateway with LAN interface?

Click to expand...

No, just dummy hardware (virtual switch).

FrnanduMarti?ski said:

iomagico said:

can you please describe the Hardware setting in domoticz for PIP inverter?
Are you using an mqqt client gateway with LAN interface?

Click to expand...

No, just dummy hardware (virtual switch).

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.
Just updated solar-sis from github, with your modifications, but had to roll back to darometer ISO because solar_pip (And grafana)stopped working.
Still have to investigate why.

Edit.
Now everything works ok, after a fresh install.

Plan to use Daniels grafana software (with some personal modifications) for my 3 phase inverter system (3 x paralleled PIP5048MG).
Any feedback for monitoring paralleled PIP?