Rover/Tracer Config Server

The rover and tracer programs have the ability to host a small server that can be accessed using a tool such as netcat (nc). These servers are by default bound to localhost, so only those on the device itself can access it. Enabling this feature can allow you to set parameters on your charge controller and read parameters, all while SolarThing is running normally.

Enabling

Let’s assume you had a config like this:

{
  "type": "request",
  "source": "default",
  "fragment": 2,
  "unique": 30,
  "database_config": {
    "databases": [
    ]
  },
  "request": [
    {
      "type": "modbus",
      "io": "config/rover_serial.json",
      "devices": {
        "1": {
          "type": "rover"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

You can simply change it to:

{
  "type": "request",
  "source": "default",
  "fragment": 2,
  "unique": 30,
  "database_config": {
    "databases": [
    ]
  },
  "request": [
    {
      "type": "modbus",
      "io": "config/rover_serial.json",
      "devices": {
        "1": {
          "type": "rover",
          "server": { "port": 5051 }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

The above configuration will create a server that listens on port 5051.

Connecting using netcat

If you have a server configured to run on port 5051, simply run this command:

nc localhost 5051

Once you run that command, you should be able to start typing commands. You can type the battery voltage command, and you should get a response back within 5 seconds like so:

pi@raspberrypi:/opt/solarthing/program/custom_rover $ nc localhost 5051
batteryVoltage
24.5

Rovers and Tracers support different fields to query.

Changing paramters of a rover

If you have a rover, here is an example of some of the fields you can change and some values you might change them to:

underVoltageWarningLevelRaw     112
dischargingLimitVoltageRaw      110
overDischargeRecoveryVoltageRaw 112
overDischargeTimeDelaySeconds   120

boostChargingVoltageRaw         149
boostChargingRecoveryVoltageRaw 120
boostChargingTimeMinutes        110

equalizingChargingVoltageRaw    151
equalizingChargingTimeMinutes   130
equalizingChargingIntervalDays    0

floatingChargingVoltageRaw      136

chargingVoltageLimitRaw         154
overVoltageThresholdRaw         156

You can see all the methods with the @JsonSetter annotation to see other possibilities here: solarthing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/me/retrodaredevil/solarthing/solar/renogy/rover/RoverWriteTable.java.

Changing parameters of a tracer

If you have a tracer, here is an example of some of the fields you can change and some values you might change them to:

equalizationChargingCycleDays 0

batteryTemperatureWarningUpperLimit 35.0
batteryTemperatureWarningLowerLimit 3.0

insideControllerTemperatureWarningUpperLimit 60.0
insideControllerTemperatureWarningUpperLimitRecover 55.0

powerComponentTemperatureWarningUpperLimit 60.0
powerComponentTemperatureWarningUpperLimitRecover 55.0

nightPVVoltageThreshold 18.0
dayPVVoltageThreshold 20.0

isLoadOnByDefaultInManualMode false
equalizeDurationMinutes 120
boostDurationMinutes 90

You can see all the methods with the @JsonSetter annotation to see other possibilities here: solarthing/blob/master/core/src/main/java/me/retrodaredevil/solarthing/solar/tracer/TracerWriteTable.java. Note that many of the fields relating to the battery setpoints are not configurable on many models.