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Waveshare RS485 to ETH (B)

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Jammeh edited this page Aug 28, 2024 · 19 revisions

NOTE: This page is linked to from the setup wizard. Do not remove or rename!

Summary

The Waveshare RS485 TO ETH comes in two variations. It is a cheap but powerful industrial RS485 to ModbusTCP converter, which connects over Ethernet. It has no known limitations.

Here you can find the User Manual.

Connections

Connect the device to your inverter, follow the Modbus Wiring Guide and make sure to follow the RS485 Wiring Guidelines, if you are in doubt about what cable to use.

You can check if the device has successfully connected to your network by visiting one of:

If none of these work, (from Windows) please use VirCom (see below) to search for the device first, to get the corresponding IP.

The pinout of the device is clearly printed on the front label, you can't mess this up.

  • You connect two wires from the inverter 485B and 485A on the serial side.
  • Ethernet from your network (+ 2 power wires if not PoE) on the other side.
Diagram Installed (PoE version)

Setup

You can set up your device from the web interface (by simply browsing to the IP_ADDRESS of the device) or use the dedicated tool (recommended).

I'll explain how to set it up using the tool. To do so, download the file VirCom_en.rar from here (make sure that the device is hooked up to you home network first), extract it and run the executable.

Windows Defender may ask you to allow VirCom on your network, click Allow access (you'll need to be Admin for this).

You'll be then presented with this interface -> Click on the "Device" tab.

A new window will appear, and you'll see your new device listed - Double-click on this line.

And finally, you are presented with the "Device Settings" window.

OPTIONAL: Right out of the bat, you can consider upgrading the firmware to the latest available at the moment (V1.490 - June 2024). If you so desire, check the appendix at the end of this guide (search for the "Firmware Upgrade" appendix).

Now, copy the following settings:

Of course, ignore the IP_ADDRESS I used, you'll have your own. Then click on "More Advanced Settings..." and enable the "Enable RS485 bus conflict detection, set 20ms (or something you're comfortable with).

OPTIONAL: You can also enable the Multi-Host setting, not required for a simple single-inverter installation.

Hit the "OK" button (the Advanced Setting window will now close), and click on the "Modify Settings" button on the "Device Settings" window. Then click on "Restart Dev" and wait for it to restart and become available again, connect to it and verify that all settings have been accepted.

OPTIONAL: Click the "Save As Default" button to make these settings the default ones, this should help you to reconfigure the device in case it loses its settings (by clicking "Load Default").

[NOTE: It's unclear to me where these settings are stored, so more test is needed to understand this feature completely.]

Firmware Upgrade:

From the "Device Settings" window, click on the Firmware/Config button (at the bottom). NOTE: You will find these same instructions on pages 48-52 of the user manual you can find online (or here)

You will first need to upgrade the "Code file" (aka BIN file). Select the "Code file download mode" radio button, this will enable the related subsection, select the bin file using the "..." button on the right (you can download it from here) and press Download button at the bottom.

Then wait about 30 seconds for the device to finish the flashing (the LED stops blinking). Now select the "Webpage directly download mode" radio button and select the folder containing the files (make sure you actually select the folder containing the files, you can get these by finding the "configuration interface web file" section of the waveshare wiki)

Hit Download again. Wait 30 seconds. Restart. Done. (you can verify the new FW has been flashed by going to the "Device Settings" window and checking under the "Device Info" section that the "Firmware version" matches the one you just flashed).

Change device user & password ("Modify Key")

This is useful in case you want to protect your settings from being changed by someone else accessing the device on your network.

From the main page. click on the "Modify Key" button, insert the old key ("123456") and insert the new one (twice), hit OK.

Now click on the "More Advanced Settings..." button and select the checkbox for the "Modify settings will need key" option, under the "Function Selection" section.

Hit OK again, and now press the "Modify Settings" button on the main page to save and exit, you'll be now prompted to insert the new "Key" (aka passkey). From now on you'll need to insert the "Key" whenever you make changes to your settings.

NOTE: The Key is also the password for the web interface login.

Reset the device (Restore Factory Settings)

Method 1 - After powering on, short the NC pin for 5 seconds:

Method 2 - Get the default parameters and modify the settings:

Troubleshooting

If you can connect to the Waveshare but it cannot communicate with the inverter (HA gives "No response received, expected at least 4 bytes (0 received)" and modpoll gives "Reply time-out!"), you may need to factory reset the Waveshare, particularly if you have upgraded the firmware on it. See the instructions above.

[WIP]

  • Clear up confusion on how to Save/Load Default settings.

Guide created by Pietro Pasquero. Thanks to Gianfranco Falco who helped me with this.

Disclaimer: Any information on this wiki is informal advice, and is not supported nor endorsed by FoxESS. There is no warranty expressed or implied: you take sole responsibility for everything you do with your inverters.

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