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vicky avatar image
vicky asked

MultiGrid and three ET112 at ACout1- how?

Changing my setup I'd like to connect three PV inverters to the ACout. So far had two ET112 to the ACout, which worked well. I.e. I don't see the individual PV values but the sum of both, which is OK as I work with the Modbus data mainly.

Today I tried to add a third ET112, so I changed the Bus ID with Gavazzi Software. The meter is recognized by the Venus, however - I cannot assign it to the ACout1 like the other meters.
It offers the tickboxes ACout1, ACout2 and ACin but If I tick ACout1, it defaults back to ACin.
Is there a limit of two meters at the ACout?

txs


PS: don't worry about the factor 1 rule, my three inverters never get peak power at the same time.

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Warwick Bruce Chapman avatar image Warwick Bruce Chapman commented ·

Maybe @WKirby or @Izak (Victron Energy Staff) can help with this.

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wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ Warwick Bruce Chapman commented ·

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one.
I can't test this because I only have two meters all together.

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vicky avatar image vicky wkirby ♦♦ commented ·

Meanwhile I defined the third PV Inverter as a generator, where the VRM ID is 36 then.

I can read the power data via Modbus, however data is missing in the totals of VRM portal then. I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me f there is hope/an option existing to make it work as third PV Inverter at ACout. Maybe @Izak (Victron Energy Staff) ;o)

As a workaround I thought to cascade two meters. See picture. This would allow to capture all PV generated in VRM and I still would capture individual meters' data. Electrically it shouldn't problem, but I have no clue how the Venus/VRM uses and interprets the VRM IDs. Would my setup below work or screw up things?

Thanks guys

1615820902165.png

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2 Answers
matthias-roetzer avatar image
matthias-roetzer answered ·

Hi @Vicky

Seems we are currently working on similar issues.

* How are your meters connected to your Venus? via native RS485 or via USB converter?

* Which Modbus IDs are you using 1,2,3,4 ?

I'm asking that because yesterday I tried to connect two et112 and one et340 to my venus (OctoGX) via ONE USB/RS485 converter.

* two devices are working with Modbus ID 1,2.

* all devices with ID from 3 and higher are not working together with Venus (but working well with UCS software)

In the community forum I found posts that only two meters in parallel are working and that further meters have to be added through further USB/RS485 converters

So I'm very curious how you successfully connected physically four of these meters to your Venus device.

I'm having a 3ph system consisting of three MP2. What I ran into further is that I don't know how to assign the ET112 PV Inverter measurement to the phase where each PV inverter is connected to. For digital feed in I have found the assignment, but not if PV inverter input is measured via ET112.

Your answer is highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Matthias


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vicky avatar image
vicky answered ·

Hi @Matthias Roetzer,

I can confirm three meters using one USB/RS485 don't work with the Venus :o(. At least I was unable to make them work. They do work perfectly well with the CG software, even four meters work with CG at the same bus ..... So I ended up with using two RS485/USB Adapters where Meter IDs are 1 & 2 each bus. This is my current setup. (forget the Ethernet/Powerlan components, they are transparent for the RS485).
Screenshots for each meter's config from RConsole Energy Meters _Config.pdf

Hope this helps somehow.


1617629852002.png

1617630568812.pngAlthough the Console does only show one PV inverter at AC out (968W) it is the summary of all three ET112 meters.

1617629242043.png


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1617630568812.png (256.1 KiB)
energy-meters-config.pdf (1.0 MiB)
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matthias-roetzer avatar image matthias-roetzer commented ·

@Vicky Many Thanks! That helps a lot! Especially that Eth/RS485 is working well in you design.

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