Well, if it was me, I would get myself a simple wireless ethernet bridge and a linksys NSLU2 "Slug".
Put Linux on the Slug, get an USB to rs232 adapter cable and have the slug use the wireless bridge to access it from the LAN. I don't do the wireless to the Slug but the wireless bridge looks like a "wire" to the Slug.
I can even pass on the perl script I use to pull data from my Mate.
It pulls raw data that ends up looking like this:
0,01,00,00,126,119,00,02,000,01,260,008,000,040
Each field corresponds to a data value from the FX inverter itself thats passed to the Mate then to the Slug via the RS232/ USB interface.
Very low power.
You cannot use an ethernet hub or other ethernet gear other than a Cat5 cable to connect the mate to its devices. They do not play well together and Outback says it will kill the mate.
Just a few thoughts.
Good Luck with it!
Tom
"Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned."--Mark Twain
My main goal here was to try and not use a "Slug" in between the Mate and transmitter I had read about a guy that was using a class one Bluetooth module, http://www.microenergie.com/Outback/Outback_remote_control:en.html http://www.omron247.com/doc/pdfcatal.nsf/1DD775B04A50808886256FE300764F1C/$FILE/B11CJ1.CS1Manual.pdf
This is for a second system that I have in a workshop a little over 1000 feet from the house, just though I might be able to use the transmitters I had laying around, if I could get the Mate to start spewing out the 1's and 0's[ Parent ]
Google up "terminal server" They interface ethernet to RS232. RossW on IRC uses them for similar applications. I suspect they might be within your geekiness range.
The information about the wireless "bridge" will apply to any Operating System. You would need one bridge connected to the terminal server [or other acquisition device] and the other connected to your network. Once thats in then it is transparent to devices on the network, just as if it was hardwaired.
"Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned."--Mark Twain[ Parent ]
I may be wrong on how those work so don't assume I am right.
Just because I realized after posting I may be misinterpreting what I "heard".
Researching myself now just to get familiar with how they can be used.
I run a 100% off-grid site, but have a bunch of RS232 type stuff that I want to "use" in other, meaningful ways - but don't have the spare power to process it all locally.
A Lantronix 8-port terminal server works great. You can pick them up on ebay for $20 or so if you're patient.
I run my home automation (C-Bus), weather station, lightning tracker, security system, 5KW inverter and various other gear into one, the ethernet side of it connects to my microwave link back to the office, and all the 'grunt' is done there.
You can create "virtual circuits" where the RS232 on the terminal server, via whatever link connects your computer to the TS, become "invisible" to the application and they just "look like" RS232 ports on the local machine as far as the application is concerned (although I work in a unix world and choose to do it differently)
There are also plenty of single port versions (and I have three 64-port jobs as well, but they're more than a little overkill for this application!)
Give me a yell if you want more help.
RossW[ Parent ]
