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© All Rights Reserved

Installation / User Manual

APsystems ECU-C Energy communication unit

with advanced functions

or click the link below:

http://q-r.to/1OrC

Please scan this QR code

to download our APPs

Summary of Contents for ECU-C

Page 1: ... All Rights Reserved Installation User Manual APsystems ECU C Energy communication unit with advanced functions or click the link below http q r to 1OrC Please scan this QR code to download our APPs ...

Page 2: ...r 15 5 1 Connecting to the ECU C via the Local Wireless 15 5 2 Add UID 16 5 3 Historical ID 16 5 4 Delete UID 17 5 5 Grid Profile 17 5 6 Time management 18 5 7 Meter Settings 18 5 8 Modbus Settings 21 5 9 ECU Network Settings 23 5 10 Checking the commissioning of the ECU C 25 5 11 Module 26 5 12 Data 27 5 13 Inverter Connection Progress 28 5 14 Automatic System Check 28 5 15 ECU AP Settings 29 5 1...

Page 3: ...vised by an electrically skilled person to enable him or her to perceive risks and to avoid hazards which electricity can create For the purpose of the safety information of this manual a qualified person is someone who is familiar with requirements for safety refrigeration system and EMC and is authorized to energize ground and tag equipment systems and circuits in accordance with established saf...

Page 4: ...eb connected device The ECU C s integrated http web server offers the simplest and most flexible network integration of any data logger on the market The user friendly browser based interface lets you access your solar array in seconds Features Collects individual module and microinverter statistics Remote communication Requires no additional wiring Applicable commercial system The APsystems Micro...

Page 5: ...tput Grid CT Production CT AC Input figure 3 from left to right are Port DC RS232 RS485 USB1 USB2 RJ45 Internet RJ45 Signal AP figure 4 from left to right are antenna Zigbee antenna Wifi Reset Relay Feedback Input Relay Output Grid CT Production CT AC Input Figure 2 Port DC RS232 RS485 USB1 USB2 RJ45 Internet RJ45 Signal AP Figure 3 Antenna Zigbee Antenna Wifi Figure 4 ...

Page 6: ...re to N otherwise the precision of CT will be affected 2 2 DC Input Port The DC Input port connects power through the 16V DC power line 2 3 RJ45 Ethernet Network Port The ECU C allows the user to communicate with the EMA or log in to the ECU C s local page in the absence of the wired LAN and WLAN to set up the system and view the system data via Ethernet network port Ethernet cable connection is r...

Page 7: ...the button would bounce back and ECU will be powered off 2 7 Reset Press the Reset button for three seconds or longer and the ECU C will automatically return to the default settings The historical power generation won t be cleared 2 8 Antenna The antennas supplied with the ECU C must be connected to the ECU C One antenna is used for the communication between ECU C and microinverters Zigbee signal ...

Page 8: ...ing application A pre programmed ECU C 3 2 Selecting an Installation Location for the ECU C Choose a location that is electrically as close to the array as possible The ECU C is NOT rated for outdoor use so if installing outdoors near a junction box or breaker panel make sure you enclose it in an appropriate weatherproof NEMA electrical box Avoid to install in the place children can not touch 1 Po...

Page 9: ... block the signal If the roof is metal please use this long cable antenna and place it outside or on roof 2 Using a Wall Mount When mounting the ECU C to a wall make sure to select a cool dry indoor location According to the size of an icon The energy communicator is fixed on the wall with two Wall screws or wall anchors Four M4 screws spacers are fixed to the wall and the punch sizes are as follo...

Page 10: ...e supplied LAN cable to the network port on the bottom of the ECU C 3 4 RJ45 Signal connection Plug the RJ45 connector in the package to RJ45 Signal port 3 5 Internet Connection There are three different approaches to connecting the ECU C to the Internet Option 1 Direct LAN cable connection 1 Make sure the LAN cable is connected to the network port on the bottom of the ECU C 2 Connect the LAN cabl...

Page 11: ...e Managing the WLAN Connection pg 23 Option 3 Using a PLC bridge 1 Make sure the LAN cable is connected to the network port on the bottom of the ECU C 2 Connect the LAN cable to the send unit of the PLC bridge 3 Connect a LAN cable from the receive unit of the PLC bridge to a spare port on the broadband router refer to the bridge users manual for specific operating instructions Figure 12 LAN 4G SI...

Page 12: ...92 168 131 1 and 255 255 255 0 respectively 1 A PLC bridge uses the power line to communicate and requires both a send and receive unit 2 The quality and length of the LAN cable will affect the ECU C communication quality You can use a Switch to enhance the communication quality if necessary Recommended communication distance ECU C can communicate with the inverters up to 76 meters 250ft with dire...

Page 13: ...unication in order to get production inferior or equal to consumption Notices of CT Current Transformer Installation 1 The position of the CTs Clamp the CTs on production lines from PV system and import export lines from public grid 2 The direction of CTs The arrows on the CT should point from grid to PV system and from grid to distribution box 3 The wiring of the CTs White wires connect to Produc...

Page 14: ...R1N The first road contactor drives the output N and is connected with the power supply interface N R2L Second road contactor driver output L with the power supply interface L1 R2N Second road contactor driver output N with the power supply interface N A1 A2 First contact feedback signal input non polarity A3 A4 Second way contactor feedback signal input non polarity Figure 14 ECU C automatic dete...

Page 15: ...ory set operation The following diagram shows the connetions on the bottom of APsystems the ECU C Figure 15 To restore the ECU C s factory settings simply press the Reset button for three seconds or longer The unit will automatically return to its default settings 5 6 RESET ...

Page 16: ...ur APPs http q r to 1OrC EMA Manager APP for installers Professional installers all features available DIY Do It Yourself installers only ECU_APP features available EMA APP for end users only 5 1 Connecting to the ECU C via the Local Wireless Open Wi Fi setting in your smartphone default no password Open theEMA Manager Click ECU APP to enter Local Control ...

Page 17: ...nput the microinverters UID serial number 12 digits starting with a 4 a 5 a 7 or a 8 manually or scan the UID with your smartphone or tablet scanner Once the microinverters UID have been entered please press Sync 5 3 Historical ID If the ECU accidentally emptied the inverter list you can use the same mobile phone to quickly restore the inverter id list ...

Page 18: ... also Sync Otherwise the microinverter will not be removed from the ECU C Once the microinverters UID have been successfully entered into the ECU C you need to select grid profile and define the adequate time zone of your ECU 5 5 Grid Profile From the workspace select Grid profile First select country and then the city If you select the wrong grid profile the microinverters may not start or may no...

Page 19: ...ck Date Time and Timezone to modify Automated set up Click Time quick setting the APP will synchronise on the time and time zone as per smartphone or tablet settings 5 7 Meter Settings After the metering functions activated and CTs current transformers in place the meter data will be displayed and different control functions can be selected ...

Page 20: ... OK After turning on the Zero Export Function please set a Power Limit in kW The default value is 0 The ECU C measures the array production and site consumption and will curtail power production to meet or exceed if selected the site consumption Example if the Power Limit is set to 0 and the site is using 10kW and the array is producing 8kW the inverters will operate at 100 Conversely if the Power...

Page 21: ...Slide the Meter Function to the On position Select the Redundant Energy Control under Parameter settings This function is to control the opening of the external AC contactor by closing the ECU C relay when the power of the uploaded power grid reaches a certain power value to supply power to external electrical equipment e g water heater pool pump air conditioner etc Example the power requirements ...

Page 22: ...hrough an external CT and the response speed is faster it can also be collected by the ECU to collect micro inverse data on each phase for detection At this time no external CT is required but the response speed will be slow and the general maximum duration is 5 minutes And at this function you need to register separately according to the micro inverse serial number of each phase in the three phas...

Page 23: ...System_Inc ___single_phase_MicroinverterAPpcs_11 12 on SunSpec website https certifications sunspec org PICS Altenergy_Power_System_Inc ___single_phase_MicroinverterAPpcs_11 12 xlsx Click Modbus Settings in the Workspace switch on the SunSpec Modbus function Select the baud rate and configure Inverters address in the address text box Finally click Save to finish configuration The host s RS485 port...

Page 24: ...to other wifi network or 4G If more operations are needed to finish up the ECU commissioning please make sure to reconnect your smartphone or tablet to the ECU hotspot may have to press the AP button to re activate the hotspot When your smartphone or tablet is connected to the ECU hotspot again you can open the ECU APP home page and check the internet connection status The first bullet with ECU UI...

Page 25: ...nect the LAN cable to a spare port on the broadband router ECU s wired network setting has 2 options automatically obtain an IP address the router will give an IP address to the ECU C automatically preferred method use a fixed IP address In that case you need to enter enter IP address subnet mask default gateway Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server ...

Page 26: ...the ECU hotspot The 2nd bullet shall be green if the internet connection to the router has been successfully established 5 10 Checking the commissioning of the ECU C Once the ECU C has been commissioned installer can check status on the home page of the ECU APP Several infos are displayed Systems info ECU UID serial number number of microinverters communicating with the ECU total number of microin...

Page 27: ...ered by the ECU A dual microinverter will be shown by default with 2 PV modules while a quad microinverters will be shown by default with 4 PV modules if some DC channels are not connected on purpose the ECU_APP will nonetheless continue to display the maximum number of panels which can be connected to a given microinverter Removing un used channel needs to be done from the EMA installer account w...

Page 28: ...ata In this page you can view the detailed data on ECU level Per day Per month If with metering functions activated and CTs current transformers in place you can also visualize PV production house hold consumption and grid import export data on meter level ...

Page 29: ...roinverter and ECU 100 means the connection is over The microinverters with OK are properly connected to the ECU4 ECU C User Interface 5 14 Automatic System Check Once the ECU has been commissioned the menu Automatic System Check can help you to check proper communication and production of each microinveter This menu also gives some basic troubleshooting tips ...

Page 30: ...tings This menu can be used if you would like to change the default password of the ECU C hotspot Please connect to the ECU hostpot first open the menu ECU APP settings and change the password at your convenience If doing a reset of the ECU password will be cleared ...

Page 31: ...ill allow DIY installer to create their EMA account by themselves They can later on access to their account via the EMA APP Once the ECU has been properly commissioned make sure to connect your smartphone or tablet to local internet Enter Do it Yourself Registration Menu and follow instructions to create your own EMA account 4 ...

Page 32: ...ation User Manual 31 5 EMA Manager 5 17 Settings This basic menu allows you to change the Language English French Spanish Portuguese Polish Simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese We re adapting to more languages ...

Page 33: ...ID which named ECU WIFI_XXXX the xxxx refers to the last 4 numbers of the ECU C ID connect to the ECU C s SSID The first connection has no password 3 Using a standard web browser on your computer Enter the ECU s IP 172 30 1 1 into browser The ECU C s splash screen is displayed Figure 17 6 2 Home Screen Select Home at the top of the page The Home Page is displayed Figure 18 ...

Page 34: ... most current day The last time the ECU C checked into the central APsystems EMA database Number of Inverters Last Number of Inverters Online Current Software Version Current Timezone ECU C Eth0 Mac Address ECU C Wlan0 Mac Address Inverter Comm Signal Level Number of inverters that have programmed into the ECU C Number of inverters that are checking in with the ECU C Current version of the firmwar...

Page 35: ... Real Time Data from the ECU C home screen to navigate to the real time data screen b Trend of system power To view the system power of any period click Power at the real time data page c Power generation statistics Press Energy at the real time data page to view the system power generation of your solar array Performance data for the current week month year 6 4 Administration Screen Figure 20 ...

Page 36: ...e new inverter and Delete the old one Remember to follow up with the same process on the APsystems EMA because the ECU C and EMA need to be in sync with each other b Grid Profile User needs to select grid profile when installing the system If you select the wrong grid profile the inverters will not work normally c Changing the Date Time Zone It is critical for accurate power production reporting t...

Page 37: ...cal Wireless Access In WLAN mode the ECU C can connect to a router by Wi Fi In Local Wireless Access mode user s phone or PC can connect to ECU C to access local web Static IP mode and WLAN mode cannot be used at the same time WLAN mode 1 Select Administration at the top of the page 2 Select WLAN and click WLAN tab 3 The ECU C will display the available networks Select the button next to the avail...

Page 38: ...tion power and exported power of any period click Power at the Advanced page b Energy statistics Press Energy at the Advanced page to view the production energy consumption energy and exported energy The energy statistics screen is displayed Performance data for the week month year c Meter Switch Once the meter display is turned on ECU will refresh the meter data every 5 minutes d CT Ring Wiring D...

Page 39: ... the use of solar energy Only for single phase and three phase grid application not for Americas split phase f Redundant energy control The redundant energy function enables excess energy produced by the PV system to be directed towards some dedicated electrical equipment by activating a relay When the excess energy is more than the set threshold ECU C will close the relay Only for single phase gr...

Page 40: ... allows you to do the following Set Time Zones Manage Inverter IDs There are additional ECU C functions available but the instructions are not outlined in this document If you need to access one of the following features please contact APsystems Technical Support Change system parameters Turn the inverters ON and OFF Reset GFDI Reset Power Settings This section of the documentation assumes you hav...

Page 41: ... the ECU C setting tab If the time zone is not properly set the solar production data will not post properly on the EMA site Load Inverter IDs Once the ECU C has been installed you can access the ECU C remotely to add the inverter IDs Until the inverter IDs are loaded the ECU C will not be able to collect data from the inverters Update Inverter ID list If an inverter s is added or swapped for a ne...

Page 42: ...e 2 Select the ECU C SETTING tab The ECU C Configuration page is displayed Time Zone Pull Down Field Figure 25 3 Using the Time Zone pull down field select the appropriate time zone 4 Press Send 7 3 Managing Inverter IDs and Updating the Inverter ID List 1 Select the ECU C SETTING tab The Inverter Links Configuration page is displayed Inverter Links Figure 26 ...

Page 43: ...nverters input the special ones 3 Enter all of the inverter IDs into the Inverter ID Field one per line 4 Press Send Option 2 Mobile phone 1 Log onto ArrayAPP 2 Select user account 3 Select Link ECU 4 Press Send Delete IDs from Inverter List 1 Select Delete inverter based on registration list 1 Select Delete in Operation Selection 2 Select the Inverters select from below list 3 Select the inverter...

Page 44: ...electronic products should be disposed of separately from the municipal waste stream via designated collection facilities appointed by the government or the local authorities 3 The correct disposal of your old appliance will help prevent potential negative consequences for the environment and human health 4 For more detailed information about disposal of your old appliance please contact your city...

Page 45: ... 5º Piso Colonia Jardines del Bosque C P 44520 Guadalajara Jalisco Tel 52 33 3188 4604 Mail info latam APsystems com APsystems America 8701 N Mopac Expy Ste 160 Austin TX 78759 Tel 844 666 7035 Mail info usa APsystems com APsystems Australia Suite 502 8 Help Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia Tel 61 0 2 8034 6587 Mail info apac APsystems com APsystems Europe Karspeldreef 8 1101 CJ Amsterdam The N...

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