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off grid here,off and on since the early 90's current iteration uses US made charge controller and inverter, midn9ght and magnum both capable of firmware update

off grid here,off and on since the early 90's current iteration uses US made charge controller and inverter, midn9ght and magnum both capable of firmware updates, but continue to function after 10 years without coms.The midnight controller did pop up a cheeky message of "got coms?" for years, but for some reason , gave up. The thing with both of these pieces of equpiment is that they are designed by bad ass electrical engineers to survive and continue to function under the worst conditions..... and then some, which I have personaly tested. I believe that a firware update could be done with any old laptop, and that while as a new owner I did go all ocd watching all of the data(did learn a lot), now I sometimes forget that the system exists, ......its that reliable

Schiendelman 2y ago
What products would you recommend today?
- Filligree 2y ago
  Not GP, but Victron makes some serious beasts. Their whole system is modular, so easy to expand, and it’s local-only by default.
  - Schiendelman 2y ago
    Thank you for the excellent Saturday investigation topic!
  - Shog9 2y ago
    Second this recommendation. They also publish a bunch of their software on GitHub: https://github.com/victronenergy https://github.com/victronenergy - makes it much, much easier to figure out what the hardware is capable of even if you never venture beyond cabling various boxes together. I helped a neighbor replace his Magnum system with Victron a couple years back; sadly, the former company has abandoned its roots and produces hardware that is neither well-designed nor robust. The documentation still smells like it was written based on some EE's napkin notes though.
    - Filligree 2y ago
      You can also get root access to the Cerbo unit, if you want it. It's not a super-powerful device, but it's an industrial linux box with three relays built-in; more than capable enough to drive some automation, and it has plenty of CANbus and other ports. That's assuming you can't just make do with node-red, which is a weird system, but is also available without touching ssh access, and comes preconfigured with everything you need to read (and write) to all connected Victron devices. And other devices. I've got mine using the Pylontech battery protocol to read off the battery charge and start the generator on demand. Had to do that (instead of using the built-in generator start option) because the generator in question doesn't have an electronic starter.

Schiendelman 2y ago

What products would you recommend today?

Filligree 2y ago
Not GP, but Victron makes some serious beasts. Their whole system is modular, so easy to expand, and it’s local-only by default.
- Schiendelman 2y ago
  Thank you for the excellent Saturday investigation topic!
- Shog9 2y ago
  Second this recommendation. They also publish a bunch of their software on GitHub: https://github.com/victronenergy https://github.com/victronenergy - makes it much, much easier to figure out what the hardware is capable of even if you never venture beyond cabling various boxes together. I helped a neighbor replace his Magnum system with Victron a couple years back; sadly, the former company has abandoned its roots and produces hardware that is neither well-designed nor robust. The documentation still smells like it was written based on some EE's napkin notes though.
  - Filligree 2y ago
    You can also get root access to the Cerbo unit, if you want it. It's not a super-powerful device, but it's an industrial linux box with three relays built-in; more than capable enough to drive some automation, and it has plenty of CANbus and other ports. That's assuming you can't just make do with node-red, which is a weird system, but is also available without touching ssh access, and comes preconfigured with everything you need to read (and write) to all connected Victron devices. And other devices. I've got mine using the Pylontech battery protocol to read off the battery charge and start the generator on demand. Had to do that (instead of using the built-in generator start option) because the generator in question doesn't have an electronic starter.