Video

regarding the remote - seemed to work when not pointed at it sometimes . I have metal faced insulation on ceiling so maybe infrared is bouncing off of that.

@@LarryKapp1 Strange.. maybe batteries are loose or half dead..?

It has impressed me so far. Yesterday I hooked it up to some smashed up cracked pv and it even ran below it's 90v minimum . czcams.com/video/-BHlKfKcWXs/video.htmlsi=FTbgS1Msit1EPt6-

Except it isn't metal , it is plastic or nylon on this .

yeah one of these days I will take a look at the manual for operation of it !

So confidently wrong Lol

@@Infamous-gu9ht what is wrong ?

make sure you get the right ends - I ordered SMAJJ 5 meters . You don't want to go too long because probably a lot of lose of signal in this kind of coax at 1090 Mhz frequency www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805719288324.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.639138daftk6ff&mp=1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

@@LarryKapp1 Perfect, thank you :)

The ufo's haven't been showing up on the map so far

They work pretty good - just set it up first using the Raspberry Pi imager and you can have it flash your wifi , etc along with the pi software. Then you can SSH into it. I haven't been using the desktop image but I guess you can if you want to - then you need to use vnc viewer to see it from another computer. But if you know the linux stuff you won't have any problem. I am using another pi zero 2 w to run Pi Hole and have the older pi zero w running weewx for my weather station . Both those run stable and never crash . Have fun !

yes it still works fine. I haven't really used it as much as I thought I would . It might be that compared to the old plastic one I had , it does so much more all at once and faster . I didn't have enough peppers last year to dry and skipped making dried apples last year too. But used it for shitake mushrooms , basil, and some other stuff . I like still like it !

yeah that may have helped.

I went to the energy fair for it's first 30 years but haven't gone in the last few years. Yeah I remember when you had your ham radio set up in your booth one year ! It has changed over the years from diy folks buying solar ingedients to more of solar installers . Guess I just had my fill of it and it doesn't bother me to skip the 3 hour drive up there.

So I guess that means that you and I have met before I have not been there in many years myself and the company has not been there. Maybe someday I can go again

Yes it is amazingly easy. You can also remove the rs485 chip in it and skip using the rs485 adapter. I didn't do that yet but the simple mod is documented on the Tasmota github or somewhere. And if you use the AC version that is also supported as pzem-16 . There is another version of pzem that does AC and you can just hook up directly to esp32 if I remember correctly . I have both versions of the ac pzem

It is the pzem-014 for ac that is ttl and you don't need any converter to connect to esp-32. I think you need to use the pzem-16 settings in tasmota though .

@@LarryKapp1 Did you find any issue with the different shunt sizes? I read that by default the PZEM-017 is set for 100 amp shunt. I'm using the 50 amp.

@@MyBluetti I think I used the Peacefair PC software with an RS485 adapter first to set up the shunt size. Just make sure you don't ever do the Calibrate with that software because it will get it all out of whack. I didn't understand what Calibrate was for when I tried it. ( it is to be used only if you have the specified voltage and load ).

@@LarryKapp1 thank you. I will have to get the adapter to make that change... Mine didn't come with one

Glad it helped you out. I think the current version comes with the finer mesh cupped trays . And the guides for them are stamped into the side so you don't have to slide them in like the older model I have. Probably better design on both aspects , especially the finer mesh on trays so herbs or small pieces of whatever don't fall through as they dry up.

@@LarryKapp1 Nice. Thanks for the follow up.

It worked but now I can't get the barrel off😭

@@SuperCookieman1 you should be able to yank that drum off , been awhile since I fixed mine so don't remember all the details.

i still haven't gotten around to trying it outside and compare to the bigger outside antennas I have up. That would be interesting to see how they perform.

@@LarryKapp1, that would definitely be interesting. If an antenna can work indoors, you would assume that it would work even better outdoors. Although, maybe having a solid flat surface, it might be affected by wind... so would need a sturdy support.

@@yesterdaytoday any antenna outside will always work better than when it is inside. Pretty small wind load of these so shouldn't be an issue. Eventurally if it is not sealed and water gets in there and won't drain out it will corrode the pcb circuit board traces

I thing some of the older pace bms you could not change the protocol for inverters. I don't have any experience with that type of inverter going to a battery. Are you sure your cable from battery to inverter is correct ? I remember reading in a Jakiper post that the pace program would change the protocol but that it wouldn't show that it had done it. Look in Jakiper facebook group or for blog posts on Orient Power.

If it is important for you to get them communicating you may just have to replace the bms with something like a JKBMS which might swap in easily if connectors are the same. Look at Off Grid Garage video - he changed a Pace bms in Jakiper with a JKBMS.

@@LarryKapp1 Hi Larry Thank you for your response, I am waiting for an answer from the manufacturer, Fingers crossed. I am going to investigate and make sure I have the correct lead as well before doing any major surgery! Thanks again!

Do you have the software connected to your battery so you can see the status when it stops charging ? One reason it might stop charging is if it went into Ovp over volt protection on a cell. What voltage are you charging at ?

The Neey does make a big difference on balancing cells compared to the built in passive balancer. But before getting a Neey you should figure out what exactly is going on. Also for a bit more $ you can get a JK BMS that has built in active balancing like the Neey though at a lower amps which won't make that much difference .

I would have never thought in my beginning days of solar that I would need a 400 amp clamp meter !

Not sure if I can put in a link here but look up ClassicDIY /PylonToMQTT on Github and look at the wiki that gives full install instructions. I will post the link in another reply.

github.com/ClassicDIY/PylonToMQTT

Yes I have no complaints . They actually improved the design a bit since they now have trays that have tighter mesh with curved sides. Also the tray supports are integrated into the sides instead of the snap in ones like I have. I don't use my dehydrator a lot, but the times I have it works fine. For the price it is some high quality heavy stainless steel.

It was up in 70's a week or two ago , but back to regular Wisconsin weather for March. But days are long and snow melts off fast. The heavy snow from yesterday has already slid off the pv panels.

You mean via the Aux ? If you mean via the aux of my controller -- I guess that would work too. For lead acid it would work better using waste not since that gets the extra power from both absorb and float. But with lithium float should work since there is no extra power at the absorb stage of charging.

@@LarryKapp1 Ya with the aux and with lithium the top 10% of soc is not very productive so it works well as long as you have enough solar to keep the battery charged.

In the short days of winter and on overcast days I need the extra power into the batteries. I don't think the lithium batteries mind if they fill up quickly or not . There is no extra cycle use on the batteries because once they are full for the day they don't charge any longer. I get what you are saying about direct PV to hot water but don't have room for all those barrels of water. the other factor is the proximity of the pv to the load - with the panels wired for 240v there is little voltage drop to where the power is used . The relay isn't a headache at all and only cost $35 used. I also have another system where I do heat water directly from PV but I still need some kind of control to keep water from over heating. I get if I sized everything just right with enough water you could do it without regulating water temp but I don't have the room for that kind of system. Thanks for your comments.

@@LarryKapp1 to controll water temperature there is temperature thermostat relay 240v that shuts off the power when water reaches your desired temperature.

@@FRESNEL_COOKING_SOLAR_OVENS24 I use a digital thermostat in series with the control line of the IGBT that is rated for DC - works fine and if I wanted to I could expand up to something like 1200v dc and 500 amps ! Not that I am going to though. So basically using a transistor instead of a switch to control power.

There are lots of used pv around that would work perfect for that application . They should be inexpensive . Although there are supposed to be rebates this coming year for air sourced heat pumps that might pay for the whole thing ( if you are in usa).

No , these were bought new . But I remember the ones that you are talking about . Wonder if any of those are still making power ? I remember they were all brown looking from getting cooked by reflectors at that power plant I think .

It is over the internet via the Reolink app. The camera is powered by poe so only one cat 5 cable going to it. Maybe in the future it could be viewed via ham radio but I think that takes a lot of bandwidth so maybe in the 2.4 or 5.8 ghz range which we don't have set up and I am not close enough in distance to receive it.

@LarryKapp1 ok cool. I have the reo like go that use a sim card. Trying to figure out a way to get a cell phone reprogrammed to work with the ham bands and same for the reo link go

I have HP power supplies with identical looking jack that has the middle pin in it and those don't work on the Dell as far as being identified. Not sure if HP uses the center pin or has their own comms with their laptops.

it turned out to be beautiful weather for Nov 15 day

Yeah I don't know if this one is that new. It always gets 40 mpg . Maybe next summer when it warms up I will attempt to repair it. I did pretty good this past summer - replaced the bad wiper fluid pump , rebuilt front brakes, and fixed an annoying door lock issue with pretension . Those were all things I had put off for a couple years ! The VW is nice driving but don't think I would ever get one again

If you look at the other video I made, I spent some time trying to track down exactly where the current leak was by taking voltage drop readings across every fuse. I never was able to identify exactly what it was. I think it might be in a module called comfort control. But it really would be helpful to have CAN diagnostic tools , and then if I spent the $$ on the new module and it wasn't the exact source of the problem, then that would suck. Also I think that part may have needed to be reprogrammed to work in my car so need that special CAN VW based software , and just didn't seem like worth the hassle for me since I didn't think I would keep the car too long. But I have ended up keeping it. Copper adapter seems solid enough and it cover it with plastic battery cover so it shouldn't contact the hood or anything. Thanks

If you watch the other video I made , I spent some time when I got the car looking for the current drain.Actually you can't do what you say about pulling fuses because the car has to go to sleep and if you pull fuses you wake up computer modules that have current going to them. What you have to do is latch anything like door latches , wait awhile for computers to go to sleep, and then you take the voltage drop across the top of the blade fuses . There is a chart that shows what the current is for a voltage drop. I was hoping to find something simple like a bad door lock , or weird radio issue that took power, but it seems to be in a module somewhere and I didn't feel like messing with it any more since I didn't know if I would keep the car. A mechanic these days needs the CAN based diagnostic tools and software to be able to dig down into the specific modules and sensors. I watch Southmain auto on youtube - he is really good with finding these kind of electrical issues but he has all the diagnostic software to do it . Thanks

What kind of device do I need to do that ?

Yes I agree . I use lead solder mostly on electronics soldering.

ha ha - I wish it had been that simple ! I do have a timer I can put on the gps and radio to disconnect it after the car is turned off and the battery voltage drops. But I never hooked that up since I knew I disconnected the battery to turn them off.

Maybe you are correct . A friend told me that with the way I did it I could have hooked the contactor control positive wire directly to the positive battery terminal, and then taken the negative control wire to my switch using just one wire and connected the other side of the switch to any ground close by . He said if I did that I wouldn't risk blowing the fuse and if there was a short in the control wire it would just leave the contactor on . So maybe I will redo this sometime to make it better.

If you ran the wire properly it won't short anyway.

Yes that is true . It is a round about fix for my own purpose .

Ya and? He solved the problem, no more dead battery, more than you accomplished watching this.

I didn't look at the Barcelona . From what I understand the Barcelona is basically two Hawkes Bay put together. It has two independent solar inputs. A friend has a Barcelona and he also has a two input Victron. The Victron failed once - forget the reason but he got a new on under warranty. He says there is big difference in build ruggedness between Victron and Midnite - the Midnite is heavy and solid while the Victron is pretty light weight. Midnite is behind in the firmware/software part of it compared to Victron. We are waiting for Midnite to implement some features like voltage sense , communications, and getting the Aux contacts features working properly . Otherwise the Hawkes Bay works fine - I just want some remote monitoring like I have with the Midnite Classic.

For RS232 port If you use usb to serial port adapter with a DB9 on it - you only need three wires on pins 2 , 3 , and 5 of the DB9 . If using 6 pin RJ12 then connect pin 3 of that to pin 2 of DB9, pin 4 to pin 3 pin 5 to pin 5

They show the rs232 jack pins in the Jakiper battery manual.

The little wires are for power ( 5 to 12 v dc ) to LED back light. The other two wires don't carry any current, they are just to sense the voltage and those go to your positive and negative power source. Your load power wires will be larger gauge wires big enough to supply your load ( so at last 10 gauge in your case which will do 30 amps). You got it right - the motor will get positive direct and the negative from motor will go in and out of the PZEM-025 studs on back.

Let me know how it works out on your motor. I only have used mine for resistive loads, your motor will be an inductive load.

Thanks Larry. I was just confused about the wiring diagram. It has a pair of small connectors. One for DC power and the other looks like it hooks up to my motor. But the wires are way too small for that. So I’m still confused about the other pair of small wires. I have my DC power supply for the display. I have my main DC negative going in and out of the meter before it goes to the motor. This leaves me with another pair of small wires that connect to the display with a little white pin connector. What is that for and where do the wires connect? I’m still not getting it. I design optical systems for NASA. This electronics stuff is alien to me. But when I saw your video, I thought “That’s a cool idea. I want one”. Paul

@@paulmanhart4481 Your motor has a negative and positive wire to it. The negative wire goes through the meter via the big terminals on back of meter. Those negative and positive wires are bigger and supply the power to the motor . There are two small white connectors with positive and negative. The wire from one of the connectors is between 5 and 12v to power the meter and it's backlight. The other small white connector goes to positive and negative of your battery. It's purpose is to just give the meter the voltage reading. It gets the voltage directly from the battery so it doesn't how the voltage drop of the main power going to the motor through the bigger wires that supply the motor. I hope this makes sense . Those small wires going directly to the battery do not supply any current to the motor - they only are getting the voltage reading to the meter so that is why they can be very small wires.

But I don’t have a battery, just a motor. Are you saying that I can’t read the voltage that my motor is using? I was hoping for a display that showed both volts dc and amps. See, this is why I have problems with electronics. I don’t understand them. Any suggestions on how I can display both? Maybe I have the wrong meter. I don’t know what to search for. Thanks for your help Larry. Paul