has anyone used morningstars computer hook up port?

[birdhouse]

hey all-
i just got my usb to RS-232 cable to try out the "ms view" software that morningstar supplies for free.  i'm heading up to my cabin this up coming weekend to try and see what kind of information i get out of my tristar-60 that is running in non diversion/dump mode.  it is hooked to solar only at the moment, running in PWM mode. 

anyone been there, done that, that may have any advice or if it is even worth playing around with? 

i'm very curious!

thanks for any replies!

adam

[ChrisOlson]

I use MSView to program my Morningstar RD-1 Relay Driver.  I've never hooked it up to a TriStar TS-60, but it works good with the RD-1 so I see no reason why it won't work OK with the TriStar controller too.  The MSView software is the only way to program a RD-1 and there is no real time view of data when hooked to the RD-1.  But for the TS-60 I think you should be able to see real time operating parameters and/or update your memory setpoints with the software.

--
Chris

[birdhouse]

thanks chris.
the website makes it sound like you can access more info than the display shows.  i'll let ya know what i find out. 

adam

[ChrisOlson]

thanks chris.
the website makes it sound like you can access more info than the display shows.  i'll let ya know what i find out. 

Let me know what you see on the computer screen when you hook it up.  I got a TS-60 that I used to use on my wind turbine, then I used it on my solar array for awhile, but at present I'm not using it.
--
Chris

[windy]

birdhouse,

 I have my TS-60 hooked up to a laptop and in diversion mode, it shows in real time, battery voltage, battery sense voltage, heat sink temp,amp hours, running hours, kwh, minimum battery voltage, maximum battery voltage, load voltage, load current, and some others. 22 parameters total.  You can graph the information, and also view it with Microsoft Excel. One thing I would like to see is system wattage, but that isn't shown. But you can watch the load voltage and load current, multiply the two and get the wattage.
 I have the laptop set up so I can use Remote Desktop using Windows XP, and using the wireless connection, I can take another laptop outside and stand by the windmill and see what it is doing. I can also watch it from any computer in the house. I'm trying to set it up so I could watch it from anywhere in the world using the internet, but still haven't figured that one out yet. You can also reset some of the parameters back to zero.
 Neat little program.

windy

[birdhouse]

chris and windy-
my ts-60 is just doing solar at this time (no diversion), so i wonder if it will show different information. 

when a ts-60 is used for diversion, it doesn't see much of anything going through it, other than dumping excess battery voltage.  in non-diversion, the solar runs through it, so it may have more info.  just speculation at this point, but i'll post early next week on what i find. 

adam

[SparWeb]

I look forward to learning about it too!
Thanks Adam

[Nil]

I have a TS-60 and have used the morningstar viewer. I have not been able to get it to do the datalogging properly but I have been able to view the live data, and it does have quite a list of viewable items. Thanks Birdhouse this post has gotten me thinking about trying to log it again.

Windy, I intend to setup a dedicated laptop to do the same thing you have done. While I was traveling I had used 'Logmein Hamachi' to setup a VPN so I could login(rdp) to a camera recording computer I have at home. It was free for personal use so it may be worth looking into.

[Southbuck]

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/Southbuck7/?action=view&current=IMG_0326.jpg

I have the TS45.
I connected it to a old computer I had.
I ran it when I had it set up for 12v but I have not tried it yet at 24v.

Just something else I need to do.
Make sure you have the latest updates installed for your tristar. I remember I had to flash it to get updated.

If I remember right the computer has to stay on to log, its been a couple years......

Have fun
Southbuck

[scoraigwind]

MS view allows you to find out the total amphours and kilowatt hours that have passed through the tristar.  You can also look at a value 'since last reset'.

If it's a solar controller then this is the total solar production into the battery.  If it's diversion then it tells you how much you have dumped into the dump load.  Quite interesting after a couple of years to know this.  But you have to remember when you installed it, to figure out the average.

You can also learn maximum and mimimum voltage and stuff like that historically.  Real time parameters are only available if the computer is hooked up full time and then you can access PWM % and temperatures etc.

[birdhouse]

i never got a chance to hook my ts-60 to my computer.  ended up being a very long weekend of tower construction that can be viewed here: http://fieldlines.com/board/index.php/topic,145343.0.html

thanks for all the replies.  sounds like the program doesn't tell you too much more than the optional display that available as an add on to the bare controller. 

adam