Subscriber Discussion

IP Based Charge Controllers For Solar?

We have done a large perimeter surveillance system using solar power, the only headache is that everything is IP except the charge controllers and invertors. We have to manually go to towers to check batteries, solar panels, charge levels and power consumption. Anybody aware of an IP based system we can monitor the solar power components remotely?


Odd question to ask on a CCTV website, but it never hurts to try I recon.

How do you read out the system locally ? Using RS232/485 ? Cause then you could use a serial device server which you can then connect your computer to and make a virtual com port.

Examples:

http://www.digi.com/products/serialservers/digiconnectsp
http://www.moxa.com/product/Serial_Device_Servers.htm

It may seem like sort of an odd question, but I think that monitoring your infrastructure is an important part of security. I've had this discussion with numerous integrators doing city surveillance, as well. Many of them don't put tamper switches on enclosures, or monitor power failure, both items that cost very little to implement, but can give you some key operational info!

Ethernet charge controllers will no doubt be more expensive than a $30 tamper switch, but I like the thought behind it.

http://tyconpower.com/products/files/TPDIN-Monitor-WEB_spec_sheet.pdf

another option

Morningstar makes several ethernet connected charge controllers: TS-MPPT-60