There are many popular solar charge controllers from EPEver/EPSolar in the market, but the configuration and monitoring options are limited and complicated out-of-the-box. However, by connecting the charge controller to a PC, you get a lot of options.
Regardless of which controller you use, the Control Panel on Windows 7 or 8 provides basic controller settings. Press 'Windows-R' and run 'joy.cpl,' pick your controller and click 'Properties' to test the buttons and identify which button corresponds to which button number. Some games require you to set up your controls using these numbers.
EPEver / EPSolar charge controllers are usually just plug-and-play, and some, like the Tracer-BN series, comes without a display altogether. Although you can buy the MT50, a display with buttons that gives status and configuration options, it is quite cumbersome to work with.
Luckily, you can connect most EPEver / EPSolar charge controllers to your PC (Windows only), and use EPEver's downloadable software to both do the configuration and monitoring. You don't have to keep the PC connected after configuration is done unless you want to monitor your solar charger(s) continuously. All you need to connect the charge controller to your PC is an RS485 to USB cable. This can usually be purchased from the same stores that sell the controller.
The software you need can be downloaded from the EPEVER website.
If the link does not work, try to search for EPEVER charge controller download.
Download and install the program called Charge Controller V1.xx - Windows .zip. The software is compatible with the Tracer-A, Tracer-AN, Tracer-BN, Tracer-BP, Tracer-BPL, Tracer-CN, iTracer, eTracer, LandStar-B, LandStar-BPL, ViewStar-BN, TRIRON, XTRA, and GoMate charge controller series.
PS! Do NOT delete the installation folder yet, you will need to install the cable driver later on.
Double click Solar Station MonitorV1.xx to open it. On startup, a window called Station Information appears. Close this window.
In the left column, delete the station that is already added, by right-clicking on COMxxx record, select Remove Port, and confirm by clicking Yes.
Close the solar station monitor software for now, as you will have to install the USB driver for the cable first.
Connect the RS485 to USB cable to your PC (the USB connector) and the charge controller (RS485), and install the driver for it:
Double-click Solar Station MonitorV1.xx on your desktop to start the charge controller software. Once again, the configuration window appears. There are a few steps you need to go through before the software can communicate with the charge controller:
You're almost ready to begin using the software, however, there is one last step:
Now, click Start Monitoring, and within a few seconds, you should see some live* data from your charge controller.
* updated every 30 seconds, but can be modified.
First, congratulations, you have managed to connect your EPEver / EPSolar charge controller to your PC and is now able to both configure and monitor your solar power system easily.
To get some more space for the monitoring data, you may hide some not so useful sections.
Select View(V) from the top menu, and uncheck both Tool Bar(T), Station Explorer and Message Window.
In the upper section, you have all the 'live' data from the charge controller. Well, it's actually not completely live but is downloaded every few seconds from the charge controller. You can actually change how often the information should be refreshed, by changing the interval(s) value. The default value is every 30 seconds, which is just fine for most people.
The information is divided into four sub-sections:
In addition, you have the Load Control, where you can manually turn the power output from the charge controller on and off.
In the lower section, you have some statistics and charts available. The charts are incremented as long as the monitoring is active, and you might want to clear the charts once in a while. You can do so by right-clicking on the chart, then select Clear.
In the left column, you have some key numbers of how much power your solar setup has generated; daily, monthly, annual, and in total. You also have the same numbers for power consumption through the controller load.
In the Real Time Curve sub-section, you have access to 3 different charts; Voltage, Current, and Power.
The voltage chart shows the voltage development over time for both the solar panel, the battery, and the load. For some unknown reason, the battery curve does not show up in our setup.
The current chart shows the Amperage curves for the solar panel, the battery (the current going from the controller and into the battery), and the load.
The power chart is the most useful, in our opinion. It shows the wattage development for the solar panel and the load. Here, you get an impression of how well your solar panel setup is performing. In our setup, we use a 200W panel, but it's rear to have the wattage above 180W.
It's possible to do some tweaking of the settings on the charge controller with the solar station monitor as well.
To enter the settings panel, select Parameters (P) > Control Parameter > Control Parameter from the top menu.
Before you can change anything, you have to fetch the current settings from your charge controller. Click the Read button in the bottom left corner to download the current settings.
From here, you can change most of the parameters. However, be careful and know what you're doing; altering the settings can potentially damage the battery and equipment connected to the charge controller.
We have found that most of the default settings are just fine. But you might want to alter the battery type and battery capacity according to what you have connected to your solar setup.
If you change any settings, remember to click the Update button in order to write or upload the changes to the charge controller.
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