Solark communication with Outback Mate 3?

Solarwizzo · October 2023

Hello fellow solar folks,

I have a question regarding communications between different brand systems. Is there a way to establish communication between an OUTBACK MATE 3 with a SOLARK 12K or 15K?

Background: For my Greenhouse I installed an off grid OUTBACK Flex Power One with VFX3648 and FM80 running well. Hooked up to a 16kwh SPRINTER 48V AGM Battery Bank. System works great but over-sized. Goes into FLOAT before noon each day.

On the other side I have a 4.2KW grid-tied enphase micro-inverter system installed on the roof of my house. License to sell power to the grid.

Problem: If grid power goes out, the house is dark while 16kWh of power would be available from my battery bank (actually sitting in my basement not too far from my main Service entry).

My Idea: Install a SOLARK 12K or 15K and feed that excess energy into my house and/or the grid in a smart way and keep the Enphase system going during power outages. (Which are not uncommon in rural New Mexico)

Back to the question: I would like to find a smart way to feed the excess energy into the grid while batteries are in FLOAT, let the OUTBACK take care of charging the batteries, while a "to be installed" SOLARK with its AC-coupling and Back-UP features could make use of the ENPHASE system and the stored battery energy during blackouts. OUTBACK MATE3 and SOLARK would need to talk to each other about battery status, right? Is that kind of communication possible?

I know, a zoo of different systems here, but it just developed over the years...

Any input highly welcome!

Thanks

Dave Angelini · October 2023

Outback (and many other companies) do not allow or want you to get into their Coms.

The "Zoo" is a big problem for what you want to do. It is a big enough problem that if what you want to do is really important, might be time to pick one make and start over. Super important these days to network a power system to make it easy for you and your family. Example below from smartphone anywhere, anytime.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/ta/hjtmrgjkc8lk.jpg

SteveK · October 2023

Solarwizzo said:

OUTBACK MATE3 and SOLARK would need to talk to each other about battery status, right? Is that kind of communication possible?

Most likely you will need to go through a third device like a thin client computer or RPi running software like Home Assistant. If you do need to report Outback's charge status reading the Float status is routine enough, Solark is Sunspec Alliance modbus compliant and there are lots of good developers doing great work in Home Assistant for the Deye stuff using their WiFi Read/Write dongle. Here's one: https://github.com/tomatensaus/DeyeSolarDesktop.

So, that kind of communication is possible but the caveat is much work and learning on your end or hiring someone to do the integration. I pull my hair out with this Home Assistant stuff sometimes but feel I'm well below an average user. I mean months on end sometimes. For me it's just a hobby. The right developer could most likely do any simple Outback to Deye charge status comms with a lowly generic $5 ESP32 development board.

Dave Angelini · October 2023

Hiring someone... You do not want to know what I pay for that on a really large project. There is also an ongoing expense to keep it working when someone updates their firmware.

I did get my guru from the forum here many years ago. 😊

SteveK · October 2023

Dave Angelini said:

Hiring someone... You do not want to know what I pay for that on a really large project. There is also an ongoing expense to keep it working when someone updates their firmware.

I did get my guru from the forum here many years ago. 😊

I'll bet. Some of these forums have Dev hobbyists and tinkerers that like the challenge. Some know what we need better than we do from the start. Me, I muck through but haven't been skunked yet.

For a business such as yours all of the above is unacceptable of course. Hi-Rel and documented are usually buzz words there.

Solarwizzo · October 2023

@SteveK Thanks for the insight. This is the kind of answer I had somehow expected. Establishing comms via a 3rd party device. I think, I can do that myself, have some experience with Arduino, ioBridge and general computer networking. I fall into the category "hobbyist and tinkerer"

SteveK · October 2023

I'd say you have a project coming up then. Arduino IDE for RPi and ESP32 is real. Python seems to be the toolbox of choice these days for most folks. I'm sure you'll get there whatever path you choose.

If going for Home Assistant I rec something like a used Dell Optiplex 3050 Micro Desktop - i3-7100T. I switched to this from RPi for my latest system and the performance difference is night and day. These can be had for $75 from time to time on Ebay or Amazon. Very energy efficient at 10W with WiFi and Bluetooth enabled.

Today I discovered ioBridge. Thanks for that.

Dave Angelini · October 2023

If solarwizzo said he would use Schneider, Solark, or SMA, I would say he had a better chance as they publish modbus and canbus maps for interface.
Outback has been really bad with this and they are one of the big 3 that still do not have a closed loop charging and discharging system with LFP.
I checked this 3 months back for a client who wanted a similar set=up for a Farm.

SteveK · October 2023

Outback's proprietary can be made more user friendly by using this python sunspec library. https://github.com/rrooggiieerr/mate3/blob/master/mate3/sunspec/models.py

Thank the stars for guys out there that share on Github. It already takes me an eternity to use what they have done. I'd never get anywhere without them.

Sure is nice using a simple modbus Midnite and the like as they are real easy...even for me. Doesn't get much easier than this in Home Assistant:

- name: Midnite Classic 150

type: tcp

host: 192.168.4.77

port: 502

delay: 2

timeout: 15

sensors:

- name: "Midnite MPPT Power"

data_type: uint16

unit_of_measurement: "W"

slave: 1

address: 4118

scan_interval: 5

Although in the op's case the Outback Mate3 will be a little simpler reading charge state because the Classic uses high byte portion of the combochargestate register and now you need to figure out how to do that for twenty five years.....lol

JRHill · October 2023

@SteveK - stay healthy so you can survive to serve your system. May the Lord protect you so that if something happens, others in your household won't have to step into your shoes. Can you imagine the local electrician showing up for a problem?

SteveK · October 2023

JRHill said:

@SteveK - stay healthy so you can survive to serve your system. May the Lord protect you so that if something happens, others in your household won't have to step into your shoes. Can you imagine the local electrician showing up for a problem?

Thanks for your concern but there really isn't anything in my system that could not function properly if I were to rip all of this ancillary stuff out without doing anything else in preparation. My system is very basic though it might appear to be complex. The measuring, reporting and remote switching of outlets is all that is there. I've seen a lot of scary looking systems out there. Exposed wiring. Insufficient safety. No UL. This isn't one of those.

This is to say none of this computer stuff I've added has any bearing on the operation of the individual components or the sum of those.

Niceties are great though. Things like a simple colored indicator for my wife to view that shows if today would be the best day to do a load of dishes in the dishwasher or laundry in the washing machine versus tomorrow based partly on the weather forecast for tomorrow. And, if she just can't wait, no problem, it just might mean it may cost us money on the poco bill.

Solark communication with Outback Mate 3?

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