Hacking Xantrex/Trace SWCA( SW series inverters Communications Adapter)

[j]

Xantrex makes an SWCA (Sine Wave Communication Adapter) for hooking up a
computer to the SWxxxx model Inverters.

Does anyone here have one? Have you looked inside? Is it just a line
driver? (ala Max232)

Has anyone built there own? These things sell for ~$150, which is a
little out of line, consider what we've already paid for the inverter.
I'd like to build my own SWCA, but wanted to find out what the rest of
you have learned already.

- jim

 

[j]

Good point on the addressable nature of it. I did indeed notice that in
the manual. Agreed, some tiny little 8bit controller, would do it.

I'd sure love to build my own. I'm into Ham Radio APRS, if you know what
that is, so by hacking the SWCA, one would be able to put all the stats
up on the internet.

Good point on reverse engineering the remote. One might even be able to
reverse engineer quite a bit with just the SWCA software.

- jim

 

[Vaughn]

Hmmm that sounds like RS485 to me, a little more complex but still very easy
to interface up against. I once saw a IC that was made specifically for
interfacing between RS232 and RS485 that had provission for system address
via a couple of jumpers..

It may of course be much more complex, but if I was to make a serial
interface between some inverters and a controller I would use a industry
standard and go for RS485...

Bingo! The Black Box company makes those kind of converters, but someone
else probably has them cheaper. Google is your friend, try a search with the
term "RS485 converters".

Vaughn

 

[Gymy Bob]

B&B Electronics sells many different types of RS-485 converters. There are
usually some on eBay also. I have purchased a few at $20 each. Self powered.

 

[jim washer]

I doubt this is rs485..

B&B Electronics sells many different types of RS-485 converters. There are
usually some on eBay also. I have purchased a few at $20 each. Self powered.

 

[Gymy Bob]

Tell Morten. He was the one that said it.

Perhaps try Outlook Express or another browser that knows how to thread
posts.

 

[boB]

Xantrex makes an SWCA (Sine Wave Communication Adapter) for hooking up a
computer to the SWxxxx model Inverters.

Does anyone here have one? Have you looked inside? Is it just a line
driver? (ala Max232)

Has anyone built there own? These things sell for ~$150, which is a
little out of line, consider what we've already paid for the inverter.
I'd like to build my own SWCA, but wanted to find out what the rest of
you have learned already.

- jim

The SWCA converts the SW's parallel button pushes and parallel LCD
control lines and converts them to and from a serial format for the PC
to work with.
There was quite a bit of work involved for the person that designed
that SWCA adapter. $150 is not really all that much for how many
they sell probably. Unless you have lot of extra time or just
wanted to do one of those as an excersize or for the fun of it, it
wouldn't be worth it. But then again, one might like the challenge
of reverse engineering the proprietary SW interface and/or the serial
side of the SWCA.

boB

 

[boB]

Ahh, so there is no serial capability in the inverter itselfe, it's created
by the SWCA interface. In that case it might be easier just to use a
microprocessor with a serial interface and create your own command
interface, but that would indeed take a bit of work and probably wouldn't be
worth if unless ou felt like a challenge and had lots of spare time to
tinker



Do you know if anybody else than Xantrex / Trace has done this excersize?

Not sure, but you might ask Randy at
http://www.righthandeng.com/p_swca.htm


boB

 

[Me]

Not sure, but you might ask Randy at
http://www.righthandeng.com/p_swca.htm


boB

You could talk to the guys out OutBack, as they were the designers of
the SW series Inverters, when they all worked for Trace, years ago....

Me