SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT charger - VE.direct

Q&A and troubleshooting
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1

Hello,

I just ordered the SmartSolar MPPT charger, model 100/30.
I just would like to check - the communication over VE.direct port from the charger uses RS232 (±5 to ±12V) voltage or TTL (0 -3.3V or 5V) voltage levels? It is a little bit confusion for me because somewhere I found the info that it is RS232/TTL communication which is not the same thing for sure.
On the V+ pin on the VE.direct connector is 5V available, am I right? What is current capability of this supply line? Just checking if it can be used to supply the isolator…

Thx.

2

Do you have a Cerbo?

For Raspberry pi I use ADUM 1201 for isolation (and a USB/serial device- 3.3V)

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3

About 10mA maybe. Should be enough to power the isolator, but definitely not for powering an esp8266

4

No, I don’t have a Cerbo. I will use some development board like RPi or something based on ESP32.

In the table you posted can be seen that V+ on the VE.direct connector can be either 3.3 or 5 V. Does this vary across diferent devices?

Is an amplitude of the RX and TX signal the same as the V+ amplitude? Or is an amplitude of RX and TX signal always 3.3 V and independent of the V+ amplitude which could be 3.3 V or 5 V?

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the isolator.

Thx.

5

Yes, but newer devices all use 5V. A small list is available here in question 4

6

Ooo, great for this link @chrigu

Did someone measure an amplitude of TX signal (signal that goes out from the Victron device) on the devices that have 5V available on the VE.direct V+ pin? I assume that it is 5V (and on devices with 3.3V on V+ amplitude on TX should be 3.3V), however it would be great if someone can confirm this.

Many thanks!

7

Just checked on an MPPT smartsolar 100/20, it output 5.6V without load, the TX pin was also at max 5.6V

8

That is great info! I hope that devices with V+ = 3.3 V has an amplitude of TX signal at 3.3 V.

Any idea - SmartShunt 300A uses 3.3 V or 5 V on the V+ pin? This product is not on the list on the VE.Direct protocol FAQ page.

9

The 100/20 lives on my workbench, but i can check a 500A shunt relatively easy tomorrow, ill try to remember

10

That would be great! Many thanks.

11

A 500A SmartShunt, manufactured 2022 week 39, outputs 3.6V on V+ and the TX pin was at 3.3V max
An Orion XS, manufactured 2024 Week 20, outputs 3.3V on V+ and the TX pin was at 3.3V max

1 Like
12

Thanks for all this great information @chrigu !