Fronius Interface Card Easy script

My 4KW system has been up and running for about a week now, and I have
created a VBScript to communicate with the Fronius Interface Card Easy
and pull the data. I've also created a set of spreadsheet graphs to
display the data nicely. These are both available for everyone's use
at: http://theconnectedhome.biz/Solar.html
created a VBScript to communicate with the Fronius Interface Card Easy
and pull the data. I've also created a set of spreadsheet graphs to
display the data nicely. These are both available for everyone's use
at: http://theconnectedhome.biz/Solar.html
Comments
Congrats and thanks for sharing. I'm in the middle of creating my monitoring software. I don't have my system installed yet, so I can't verify the following, but
According to the latest Fronius interface documentation you can address the interface easy card as follows:
"Commands are addressed to the interface card easy. The interface card easy can
directly output inverter data via an internal bus system."
Where the device value is either:
0x00 - General data query or query to the interface card (the „number“
byte is ignored)
0x01 - Inverter
You addressed the 'Inverter' directly using device=1 and number=1. I am curious if you've tried using the broadcast mode vs the directly addressed mode? It seems you could set device=0 and number=whatever and this would also work. My concern is it looks like it is possible to change the inverter address (IG nr.) on the panel to something other than 1. If this occurred then direct address mode with a fixed address would be an issue. Or in other words if you set your IG nr. on your panel to 2, then you would have to change your packet from:
MSComm1.Output = chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(0) & chr(1) & chr(1) & chr(&H10) & chr(18 ) to
MSComm1.Output = chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(0) & chr(1) & chr(2) & chr(&H10) & chr(19)
Whereas in broadcast mode, this would always work:
MSComm1.Output = chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(&H80) & chr(0) & chr(0) & chr(1) & chr(&H10) & chr(17)
foosman,
You might try sending a PM or following the link to 01's website--It does not appear that he(?) has been back since the original posts.
-Bill
Thanks, I will do that.
I only have the 1 inverter, so I haven't tried changing the addressing. I'll probably upgrade the system in a few years and will play with it then. I know that's no help. Sorry.
01000111
Well, now that my monitor is complete, the installer said: "I forgot to mention, we are using SMA instead of Fronius." They decided to go with 2 Sunny Boys instead of a single Fronius. I'm actually happier about this as the arrays face different orientations (1 east and 1 south) and I think this will give me better power tracking. On the down side I need to revamp the monitor to talk with the Sunny Boys and also get an RS232 to RS485 converter. There's a chance they are including the webbox, at which point my monitor project will go on the shelf.