<div dir="ltr">Dan & Howie,<div> As Dan said, there was quite a long period getting out the kinks out of Optics but now I'm not having any problems. I'm monitoring 19 systems for my customers and most problems recently have been getting a good internet connection. I finally got one on Huges Net working and all problems were the wifi extender. I put in a new one and it's working fine now. I use Exede (Viasat) at my house and it works fine hard wired to the modem/router. Had problems here with wifi extenders. The Optics is really useful now trying to tweak systems with LiFePO batteries. Those delicate voltage settings sometimes require a few small adjustments to balance between minimizing generator run time and keeping the battery from shutting down. The only problem lately with the Outback/Lithium combination is not being able to set the low battery cutout high enough on the MATE 3 to get the inverter to shut down before the battery does. I've had a few system shutdowns where I have had to go to the site and reboot the battery. Many of my customers are second homes and sometimes rented out so monitoring the system is useful. I have had a few situations where I have had to talk the renters through manually starting a generator or rebooting a battery, saving me a 3 hour round trip service call. </div><div><br></div><div>John Blittersdorf</div><div><span style="color:rgb(80,0,80)">NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer\u2122</span></div><div>CV Wind Service (and solar)<br></div><div>200 West Road</div><div>N Chittenden, VT 05763</div><div><br><div> </div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 11:01 PM Dan Fink <<a href="mailto:danbob88@gmail.com">danbob88@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Mac; Interesting to hear that you've had success via satellite internet. Which flavor was it, Hughes, Excede or both? It was 3-4 years ago that I tried and failed with it at 2 different sites (one was my own residence).....there have been a few firmware updates since then, so I might just give it a try again. </div><div>Satellite, powerline ethernet extenders, and LAN cable over 50 feet are on the official Outback "not recommended" list. Their networking document is located here:</div><div><a href="http://www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/appnotes/optics_conn_app_note.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/appnotes/optics_conn_app_note.pdf</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Howie; I've found that a Klein Scout Pro 3 LAN cable tester is a handy and inexpensive tool for diagnosing bad or damaged-while-pulling LAN cables. And a cheap RJ-## LAN cable termination kit so you can make custom length cables for Outback and Midnite systems, instead of finding someplace to hide all the inevitable ugly extra cable length with the factory-supplied LAN cables. </div><div><br></div><div>As for the Midnite remote monitor system, I've tried and failed on satellite, their application notes say it won't work, but I'd love to try it again if anyone else out there has had luck with Midnite over satellite. </div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Dan Fink</span></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting</span></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><span style="font-size:12.8px">NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector</span></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)">IREC Certified Instructor\u2122 for: </div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)">~ PV Installation Professional</div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)">~ Small Wind Installer</div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><span style="font-size:12.8px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit">NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers</span><br></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><a href="mailto:dan.fink@greendustrialtraining.com" target="_blank">d</a><a href="mailto:anbob88@gmail.com" target="_blank">anbob88@gmail.com</a></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12.8px;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)">970-672-4342</div></div><br> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 7:22 PM Mac Lewis <<a href="mailto:maclewis1@gmail.com" target="_blank">maclewis1@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hi Howie and Wrenches,<div><br></div><div>We have quite a few OpticsRE sites functioning fine on satellite internet so I don't think that there is any defined limitation there. I like to use a Hub 10.3 with systems that you intend to have on Optics. Optics not perfect but its better than other off-grid monitoring and gives decent control to the administrator. Hoping to see something made for mobile devices soon.</div><div><br></div><div>I find online monitoring to be super useful as a solar integrator and worth the effort to install properly. Hardwire is preferred way to do this, but I have had good success using a TP Link Wireless Nanorouter in client-mode (serving only the internet device hardwired in). The nice thing about client mode is that the Mate won't get booted off of the network by other devices connecting to the network through the TP Link.</div><div><br></div><div>There may be some anomalies with integrating older equipment but I'm not sure on that.</div><div><br></div><div>Good Luck</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div></div>
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