New Inverter XW Pro & New Conext Gateway with easy remote monitoring on Conext Insight 2

jonathancs · September 2019

why Schneider is taking too long for updates ?(LAST VERSION 27 MAY 2019) This product (conext gateway) need to be improved

Dave Angelini · September 2019

Tell Schneider. Everything I need for Offgrid works well for me.
https://solar.schneider-electric.com/conext-gateway-conext-insight-2-product-feedback/

Dave Angelini · December 2019

Insight2 has been updated for the Gateway 2 days back. It has new screens for a Battery Summary like Combox and Gateway which make troubleshooting easy from a remote location. You can look at loads and sources over days, weeks, months and years from the cloud.

I did not add the consumption screen but it is great. Later. Hopefully the modbus maps will be out soon. --Dave

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/mu/2ac2fo0pbxid.png

brycombe · January 2020

All said all context products are great! Easy to use and install. The BIG problem is as the user try and get tech. support! It has been changed to email . Schneider's response time is 10- 14 dayus and comes in at 1:30 in the morning. Pretty crappy if if you have any problem. Oh, all customer support phone lines have been deactivated!

Dave Angelini · January 2020

Not any problem for me. I talked with them this morning. You have to be a registered installer to get direct phone support. There are other ways also!

You should also feedback your concern to Schneider. Get a case number and if they do not respond I will get it into them.
https://solar.schneider-electric.com/netsuite/

fischerwb64 · February 2020

Late to the monitoring game. I have a 10yr old Xantrex XW offgrid system. Wondering if the Conext Gateway or Combox is compatible?

mike95490 · February 2020

My XW works with the combox and SCP

Dave Angelini · February 2020

Is your XW a grey box or white? Combox is out of support life and will work. The Gateway has some issues with the old gray box XW's.

fischerwb64 · February 2020

Thanks for the info! Mine are the old gray boxes.

Dave Angelini · February 2020

When I tested Gateway for circuit evaluation testing, we did some testing with an old grey box XW. Alot of it worked but some features did not. What is it you expect? If it is just basic monitoring and site configuration it should work. No guarantees but for offgrid I think you would be fine. Schneider has said they may support greybox but again.

tampasolar · June 2020

I just bought a new xw pro. I was told by sales and tech people that if I update my firmware this Pro model would work with my old xw4548. Also find that I am out in the cold as I already have a ComBox and the Pro has locked that accessory out too. Think three times before you buy any of the newer products that we are talking about here. It's about getting more of your $$$.

Dave Angelini · June 2020

This has been discussed here since xw pro was launched in early 2019. No combox support! Combox has been on the discontinued product list since the beginning of the year. It does cost more money and if your sales and tech people knew a bit more they could guided you better. It is well documented on the Schneider Solar website. Was it the store here at wind and sun that sold xwp please?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/am/o9dmdo1ihkc0.png

Dave Angelini · June 2020

Thanks Bill ! Helps to know where. So equipment ratings for rated output are made at rated DC input voltages, temperatures and even altitude. If you go outside the test condition ratings, you will see the output current decrease. Pretty basic warranty and equipment design.

Your battery has to be able to supply the current at those lower voltages and many do not when loaded.

The charging/ discharge current in any lithium battery should be controlled/monitored by the BMS and the battery maker should supply the set-points and other data for the XWP. It is a very nice charging set-up inside for just about any battery. It has the ability to know if the BMS (if BMS has the capability) is having issues and can actually stop inverter output. I do not like that, but for safety, it is there, and it can be defeated.

41 volts is below the rating but not by much if I read it correctly. So you will have to settle for some loss but not too much. Maybe not a big deal if it is for back-up, and not banging out full load selling to the grid. Probably will work fine.

tampasolar · August 2020

Are there users here of both the ComBox and now the gateway? ComBox screens come up in the browser for me within 2 seconds, everytime. Can't say that for the gateway. I can click Apply and be waiting for 30, 40 or even 50 seconds for the 'color change to green' to occur on the page. Is this an issue to anyone else here. Page hangs constantly, especially to load the Config page, never on Combox.

tampasolar · August 2020

I got delivery two days ago of a replacement / RMA swap 6848 Pro model. Warranty. This repl. box almost blew my loads to kingdom come. 370 volts on the inverter output when grid fails. 240 with good grid. Config is set on Split Phase Master and is single unit install.

tampasolar · August 2020

Any installations where the sell-to-grid oscillates up and down for a good part of the day. My 4548 would sit all day long and sell at about 90% of the pv output. This 6848 Pro likes to play up and down games. I can have 1 kw from pv and watch the sell from 6848 go from 0 to 3 kw. If sky is cloudless it will stabilize but if there are clouds, watch out, the whole system gives your batteries a roller coaster that can't be good for long term battery life. Battery voltage going from 54 to 51.5 at times.

offgridcabin2015 · June 25

So , i've got my buying shoes on for this unit this fall.
I do have some qustions tho.

1)

Victron energy battery-monitors/bmv-712-smart : willl this be compatible for it ( xw pro) for I love it.

I"m 100% off grid / zero internet / no option for isp , will this be a problem for me using the xw pro?

anD i'll need 48v to 12v step down ( 20-30amp range) / for my 12 volt stuff.. what is compatible and super relieable.

Thankyou. Neil.

Dave Angelini · June 25

No one that I know that is100% offgrid has any problem with not having the internet for XW. If you need firmware, you will have to get it in town, at a library or such. I tested the first firmware version of XWP for offgrid here in a field test and it was fine. However I barely ran a genset to test functionality. ( I do not need one, happy about that ) Since then there were issues with XW Master/multi XW's and also with qualifying AC2. I never saw that and I think it was a problem from all of the grid bloatware that they had to add in 10 new firmware versions since 2019. They are at 1.11 now.

Unless you can write modbus code into conext home or the gateway, your victron can't get into xanbus so, nope you need to buy the Schneider bat mon. However, if you do not care about the data being on the SCP, or the gateway for local monitoring on a display or smart phone, even without internet, the victron will get you by. You need the conext home or gateway to do firmware. You need the SCP also for basics offgrid. By fall I would think that a new unit would have firmware that is done for offgrid. The reason XW pro came out was it had the memory to grow for grid requirements that are changing constantly. Below is shot of a bat mon from Schneider.. Good Luck!

New Inverter XW Pro & New Conext Gateway with easy remote monitoring on Conext Insight 2

Comments

Victron energy battery-monitors/bmv-712-smart : willl this be compatible for it ( xw pro) for I love it.