Epever RS485 to wifi adaptor v1.6

NOTE THIS DOES NOT COME WITH THE WEMOS D1 MINI or CASE BY DEFAULT

I have taken the previous design utilising an RJ45 socket and expanded it so that it is now surface mount only and utilises the popular wemos D1 mini which allows easier flashing and connectivity as it has a usb port built in. I will not be including a network cable as that is better sourced locally. I have also included screw holes for easier mounting if required.

The next major change is that another device is no longer required if all you wish to do is check how your solar is doing, check your historical statistics or even switch the load on and off. This fits nicely if you have a solar setup where you would not want to be running a raspberry pi or similar just to connect to the charge controller. If you do have a more advanced setup however you can configure the device via the web interface to post the data direct to an MQTT or influxdb database. With this change however you can no longer use socat or similar to connect to the device and it has to either be viewed via the web interface or data pushed directly to MQTT or influxDB. If there is demand i can create another product which would support passthrough.

Many EPEver solar charge controllers have an RS485 communication port on them so you can connect a PC or Android device and read it’s statistics or update the settings.

CAN NOT ACT AS A PASSTHROUGH

Available as assembled only currently due to SMD design

What’s included?

• 1x EPEVER RS485 to ESP8266 PCB
• 1x Wemos D1 mini (Optional and limited supply)
• 1x 3D printed enclosure (Optional)

If you wish to print the case yourself the files are available at Link

The binary for using your own wemos is available at Link

The boards have been tested on the landstar and tracer controllers, I have not been able to test it with the new common negative tracer model.

Why did you make it?

With the previous product it was a passthrough and as such required a raspberry pi or PC running permenantly to connect via socat or similar to pull the data. This new system allows the data to be viewed via the web interface without the need for a pi or PC but it can also push the data to MQTT or influxDB. This means if your PC or Pi reboots or is offline for any time the device will push the data as soon as it’s back up without the need to restart services/reconfigure.

The boards have been tested on the landstar and tracer controllers, it does however not currently work with the new common negative tracer model.

It’s convenient to be able to connect to your charge controller remotely without the need for a physical cable to be connected. This opens up the possibility of remotely monitoring the charge controller as I have shown in many of my YouTube video’s.