Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[Steve Jefferson]

There is a company called Digi.com. they make a wireless bridge for the RS-485 
protocol. Needs to be line of sight, but it will travel about 1000'.

They are familiar with installers using their radios to communicate with our 
inverters, set up is pretty straight forward.

I am looking for a part number.
I have a couple of systems from my install days with these being used.

I like Ryan's solution as well.

SMA America, LLC
Steve Jefferson
Supervisor, Service Line
6020 West Oaks Blvd, Suite 300
Rocklin, CA 95765 - 3714
U.S.A.
Tel:  +1 916 625 0870
Fax: +1 916 624-2445
Service Line +1 877 697 6283 (Toll Free)
Email: steve.jeffer...@sma-america.com
www.SMA-America.com

This email and any attachments thereto may contain SMA America, LLC 
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[William Miller]

Steve, Ryan:

I don't quite have line of sight.  There is the brow of a hill...  I will 
look to see if any of the wireless solutions will handle this scenario.


Wm


At 12:57 PM 2/22/2013, Steve Jefferson wrote:

Content-Language: en-US
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="_000_41FE255D65D554478C3B17F3EB5410EF5768618DSVRUSEXMBX01sma_"

There is a company called Digi.com. they make a wireless bridge for the 
RS-485 protocol. Needs to be line of sight, but it will travel about 1000'.


They are familiar with installers using their radios to communicate with 
our inverters, set up is pretty straight forward.


I am looking for a part number.
I have a couple of systems from my install days with these being used.

I like Ryan's solution as well.


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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[Steve Jefferson]

If that is the case, there are some Ethernet bridges that will work. 
Depending on distance, you would need to buy a set with either adjustable power 
or know the exact range.
I have a security camera set up I used a set on, had adjustable power setting. 
Works great. Adjusting the power adds "bend" to the signal.

You might want to give digi a call, they have many solutions for things like 
this.

SMA America, LLC
Steve Jefferson
Supervisor, Service Line
6020 West Oaks Blvd, Suite 300
Rocklin, CA 95765 - 3714
U.S.A.
Tel:  +1 916 625 0870
Fax: +1 916 624-2445
Service Line +1 877 697 6283 (Toll Free)
Email: steve.jeffer...@sma-america.com
www.SMA-America.com
 
This email and any attachments thereto may contain SMA America, LLC 
confidential, privileged and private material for the sole use of the intended 
recipient. Any review, copying, or distribution of this email (or any 
attachments thereto) by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the 
intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently 
delete the original and any copies of this email and any attachments thereto. 
Thank you.


-Original Message-
From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org 
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of William Miller
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 1:35 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

Steve, Ryan:

I don't quite have line of sight.  There is the brow of a hill...  I will look 
to see if any of the wireless solutions will handle this scenario.

Wm

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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[toddcory]

i have set up wireless bridges for ip to remote locations and my experience 
with this has me leaning towards "no dice" william. 

these links run in the 2.3 gHz and up range which is line-of-sight only. trees 
will even attenuate the signal, so total blockage with the earth looks grim.
 
have a great weekend everyone!
 
todd
 
 
 
 
 
 
On Friday, February 22, 2013 1:34pm, "William Miller"  
said:



> Steve, Ryan:
> 
> I don't quite have line of sight.  There is the brow of a hill...  I will
> look to see if any of the wireless solutions will handle this scenario.
> 
> Wm
> 
> 
> At 12:57 PM 2/22/2013, Steve Jefferson wrote:
> >Content-Language: en-US
> >Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> >
> >boundary="_000_41FE255D65D554478C3B17F3EB5410EF5768618DSVRUSEXMBX01sma_"
> >
> >There is a company called Digi.com. they make a wireless bridge for the
> >RS-485 protocol. Needs to be line of sight, but it will travel about 1000'.
> >
> >They are familiar with installers using their radios to communicate with
> >our inverters, set up is pretty straight forward.
> >
> >I am looking for a part number.
> >I have a couple of systems from my install days with these being used.
> >
> >I like Ryan's solution as well.
> 
> ___
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Sent from Finest Planet WebMail.
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[Kevin Pegg]

Hi William, 

I have successfully used this product below on a few installs without line of 
sight, trees, hills, etc in the way approx 1 km span doing exactly what you are 
asking for - wireless RS485. It costs more than WiFi bridges, but it also 
works! 

http://www.bb-elec.com/Products/Wireless-Cellular/Radio-Modems/Industrial-Grade-Radio-Modems.aspx
Specifically, the LR-KIT, at 900MHz is better for marginal sites, coupled with 
external antennas and quality cable. Don't skimp! I used a Yagi antenna on the 
webbox side to transmit, with an omni antenna on the receiving end. Line them 
up as best you can and spend a bit of time adjusting until there's a signal. 

Once we got the units talking it's been 100% uptime for at least 2 years now. 
This company has all sorts of neat network products that I have been using for 
over a decade. Amazingly solid industrial quality gear. I believe they have a 
wireless AC relay solution as well I saw people asking in another thread. I 
never ended up deploying, but they had an easy off-the-shelf solution for a 
wireless gen start signal retrofit where pulling cable wasn't going to happen. 

Kevin

-Original Message-
From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org]On Behalf Of William
Miller
Sent: February 22, 2013 10:20 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring


Friends:

Thanks for the responses to my question.  Here is what I have learned:

The main problem is that the Sunny Boy is remote from the house and there 
is no signal conduit.  There are any number of monitors that can hard wire 
to the Sunny Boy, usually with an RS485 connection.

Without a hardwire path that solution is not so easy.  Apparently I need to 
asses the viability of a wireless RS485 system.

I am wondering:

1. Do I understand the above scenario correctly?
2. Do any of you have any experience with wireless 485 systems?

Thanks again for all of the help.

William Miller


Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: will...@millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985

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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[John Berdner]

I have used both 900 Mhz and 2.4 Ghz Wifi with mixed results through trees.
In the past we used Moxa wireless RS-485 bridges which were 900 Mhz devices.
The lower frequency tends to work better with obstructions but not sure about 
over the top of a hill.
Depends on how far over the hill you are.

Do you have access to the hill top ?
If yes, using a directional antennas and a passive repeater (back to back 
directional antennas) at the hill top to bend the signal.
If you go this way then you probably want to go with 2.4 Ghz since you will 
need multiple high gain antennas.
You will read much pros and con debate about if passive repeaters do or do not 
work.
With short path lengths, short coax trimmed for low VSWR and very high gain 
directional antennas it can.
I have done it successfully in the past and it worked better than the 
calculations would indicate.

There are multiple suppliers of directional 2.4 Ghz antennas.
Here is a link to a 24 dB antenna from a local CA retail electronics house.
http://www.frys.com/product/7411495;jsessionid=5vsRnGBpd1iiZqjr7HmfLg__.node2?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Best Regards,

John Berdner
General Manager, North America



SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
3347 Gateway Boulevard, Fremont CA 94538 USA  (*Please note of our new address.)
T: 510.498.3200, X 747
M: 530.277.4894


-Original Message-
From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org 
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of William Miller
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 1:35 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

Steve, Ryan:

I don't quite have line of sight.  There is the brow of a hill...  I will look 
to see if any of the wireless solutions will handle this scenario.

Wm


At 12:57 PM 2/22/2013, Steve Jefferson wrote:
>Content-Language: en-US
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>
>boundary="_000_41FE255D65D554478C3B17F3EB5410EF5768618DSVRUSEXMBX01sma_"
>
>There is a company called Digi.com. they make a wireless bridge for the
>RS-485 protocol. Needs to be line of sight, but it will travel about 1000'.
>
>They are familiar with installers using their radios to communicate
>with our inverters, set up is pretty straight forward.
>
>I am looking for a part number.
>I have a couple of systems from my install days with these being used.
>
>I like Ryan's solution as well.

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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[Dan Fink]

I'm a beginner on wireless networks and RS485.
But I can say that once you get it on wireless LAN, it's cheap and
easy for even a novice to do amazing things. We have a Ubiquiti
nano-bridge M2 set up just for internet to our remote "dorm" cabin for
students when we do workshops.

The line of sight window is better when wider of course; but there are
also 900 mhz bridges same brand and model that work a little better
around obstructions, and antenna solutions are important
too..maybe a more omni at the backhaul, more directional from the
remote location.

Anyway -- once it's on LAN, Cat5 and wifi you caqn do about anything with it.

-- 
Dan Fink,
Executive Director;
Otherpower
Buckville Energy Consulting
Buckville Publications LLC
NABCEP / IREC accredited Continuing Education Providers
970.672.4342 (voicemail)
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Remote Sunny boy Monitoring

[David Katz]

I used a Solar-Log with their wireless 485 solution to monitor a solar trailer 
about 500 feet away, through  wall.  It worked great.
David Katz

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 22, 2013, at 10:30 AM, "William Miller"  wrote:

> Friends:
> 
> Thanks for the responses to my question.  Here is what I have learned:
> 
> The main problem is that the Sunny Boy is remote from the house and there 
> is no signal conduit.  There are any number of monitors that can hard wire 
> to the Sunny Boy, usually with an RS485 connection.
> 
> Without a hardwire path that solution is not so easy.  Apparently I need to 
> asses the viability of a wireless RS485 system.
> 
> I am wondering:
> 
> 1. Do I understand the above scenario correctly?
> 2. Do any of you have any experience with wireless 485 systems?
> 
> Thanks again for all of the help.
> 
> William Miller
> 
> 
> Miller Solar
> Voice :805-438-5600
> email: will...@millersolar.com
> http://millersolar.com
> License No. C-10-773985
> 
> ___
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> 
> Change email address & settings:
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> 
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