Status Display Fun

So, what do you do if you come across an old LED electronic sign board?

Make it display the status of your solar system, of course!

Attachment not found.

The inverter was faulted for testing purposes, and it was raining at the time the photo was taken.

Status information is being captured from the SMA inverters via ModBus, then sent to the display. Some simple logic calculates total load, system status, error messages, etc.

The sign draws 40 watts, so the next step is to add a relay so that it only turns on when there is either a) excess power, or b) when there is someone in the room and there is an important fault that needs to be displayed.
House: 2x SMA SI 6048 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 2x SMA SB 3000TL-US w 24x Sharp ND-H235Q2
Cabin: 1x Magnum MS4024 w 24x 2V DEKA Unigy II; 1x Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 w 6x Sharp ND-H235Q2; 1x 200 Watt Harris microhydro
Intertie: 1x SMA WB 3800; 1x Lambda GEN-600 DC Supply; 2x PSL pQube

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Status Display Fun

    Yea--Message boards are great. Years ago in a startup, we had setup a "one off" board that listed the status of a medium sized network router as a marketing display--People were very interested in the sign and wanted to buy that as an option.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Alaska Man
    Alaska Man Solar Expert Posts: 252 ✭✭
    Re: Status Display Fun

    Sweet!!! I'd put that to use for sure.