Howie; I'm pretty satisfied with the current condition of the OpticsRE world. Most of the past problems have been ironed out, and I've had good email tech support from Outback (!).
You'll need a Mate 3S, an Outback Hub, and a Flexnet DC with shunts for each channel you want to measure. If all your equipment is Outback, you only need the Net shunt on the FLexnet DC, otherwise, more shunts. As Jerry mentioned, the Mate 3S will automatically get it's IP address from the router and connect online, you just type its MAC address into the OpticsRE portal and it starts communicating. The critical thing is the internet connection -- it must be rock solid or you'll have no end of woes. Satellite internet (Hughes, Exced) will NOT work with it (nor with Midnite's monitoring system BTW). Wired LAN (Cat 5) has worked the best for me, but do NOT exceed (or even approach, in my experience) the 50 foot limit. If you use a wifi adaptor on the Mate 3S instead of wired, make sure you have an *excellent* wifi signal in the room with the Mate 3S. I've never tried a cell adaptor, as where I work cell service is weak and spotty if it even exists, but I assume a very strong cell connection would be needed. In one situation with no cell service, long wire run for ethernet and bad interior wifi (concrete/stucco/adobe style walls) but good local coax modem internet, I just ran fiber optic cable with a fiber to ethernet adaptor on each end (Mate 3S and cable modem) outdoors in conduit, about $150 in equipment, and that cable could be half mile long but seem like 3 feet to the Mate 3S. As for the Midnite controller, just put one shunt for the Flexnet DC on the output of the Midnite CC, and you'll at least be able to read amperage and work the watt/hour meter. The Flexnet DC gives you a shunt channel for net on the main DC negative, plus 3 more shunt channels to measure whatever you want -- wind turbine, other brand CCs, etc. The configurable email alerts and automated daily data dumps are super handy for systems that are hours drive away. I also learned to set the Mate 3S to automatically reboot every 24 hours....this (oddly) cleared up many problems I had in the past with the Mate 3S dropping offline randomly. Dan Fink Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector IREC Certified Instructor™ for: ~ PV Installation Professional ~ Small Wind Installer NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers d <dan.f...@greendustrialtraining.com>anbo...@gmail.com 970-672-4342 On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 5:05 PM Howie Michaelson <howie.michael...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey FOlks, > While Outback had been my goto offgrid system, over the last many years I > have gravitated to the Conext and Sol-Ark systems. However, I have many > legacy Outback VFX systems out there and some could really use remote > communication. Unfortunately, I have stayed far away from Optics RE, as I > haven't been thrilled with the reports of issues the system had. However, > it seems it is the best option for remote oversight, so I am trying to > figure out what is required and what it is capable of. > I've read through the initial documentation and as best I can gather, I > need a Mate 3s and an internet connection - is that all? I assume having a > FlexnetDC in the system is critical as well. I'm also wondering if there > is a way to monitor basic production data from a Midnite Classic through > the Optics system. And is the Optics RE system fairly solid since I'm not > thrilled about putting in systems that need too much fussing or attention > to keep operating once they are set up properly. Finally, are there any > other comparable monitoring equipment that would work for monitoring such > systems? > Thanks, > Howie > > *Howie Michaelson**Sun Catcher* >
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
