bluetooth link to laptop from inverter

[Kurt]

I am trying to work out a simple way to transmit data from my homes power Inverter(located outside ) to my laptop inside the house without a hardwired cat5 cable.

My inverter has a RJ45(cat5) port on the side. I plug in a cable that has RJ45 male and the other end is serial plug. I then use a serial to USB adapter cable that plug the USb port on my laptop. I load the inverters logging program on the laptop and select (open port for direct connection) I am now connected to my inverter ready to read live data and download historical data.

What I want to do though is some how link up wireless. I know I could just run a 10 or 15m long cat5 cable from the inverter outside to inside the home but without digging a small 3m long trench and messing around up in a tight roof space then running cables through walls (just a pain in the bum to run the cable) Also with a hardwired cat5 I would need to plug in in one set location inside to view readings.

What I want to do is link up perhaps over Bluetooth. So I guess I need some kind of adapter that will take the data from the serial cable plug at the inverter and transmit the data over Bluetooth. I then need to pick it up on my laptop.

I haven't had any experience with this kind of linkup. So my question is would this Bluetooth kit solve my problem?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-pcs-kit-Bluetooth-RS232-Serial-Adapter-100m-5dBi-Ant-/290722157495?pt=US_USB_Bluetooth_Adapters_Dongles&hash=item43b06413b7


To me it looks simple just plug one into the serial cable at the inverter run (provide 5v USB power). Then plug the 2nd unit into the USb - serial adapter cable connected to my laptop. select one as master and one as slave and it would all work the same as having a cat5 cable but now over Bluetooth. .

Is it that simple ?

Kurt

[whereswally606]

Possible yes
A) that simple but also
B) not as pricey as that ebay item.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Seri ... 53eb8d9c14

I have my hyperion 1420i hooked up to a serial to bluetooth card (cost approx £5) only involved soldering 4 wires. very easy.

hope this helps

[Kurt]

Possible yes
A) that simple but also
B) not as pricey as that ebay item.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Seri ... 53eb8d9c14

I have my hyperion 1420i hooked up to a serial to bluetooth card (cost approx £5) only involved soldering 4 wires. very easy.

hope this helps

So I would just use any old Bluetooth dongle on my laptop and then wire up the card to the serial cable coming out of the inverter?

I don't mind some soldering as long as it works.

Kurt

[whereswally606]

yup there is literally a +Ve -ve a Tx and Rx mine works with the internal bluetooth on my laptop so a dongle should work fine.

[Kurt]

The serial plugs have 9 pins But from memory though the male end of serial plug coming from the inverter wasn't populating all 9 pins. I just need to know what pin is allocated to what function.

Kurt

[amberwolf]

It's probably standard RS232 serial 9-pin version; pinouts are on the web in quite a few places.

[Kurt]

Great,
Thanks for the responses. I just goggled and read up on the RS232 serial 9-pin plugs and configurations. Looks like I am just using a nulmodem configuration so really only using two of the communication pins and the others are just open.

I just purchased one 4 pin unit with the built in areal as recommended on ebay for $7 delivered. Cheaper than the just the 10m cat5 cable The distance from the inverter/battery room to the house - laundry-utility room is only 3m and i plan to just use my wifes small notebook that has built in Bluetooth to fetch data from that room.

It will be great to be able to keep check on the system from the comfort of the house rather than having to go outside in the rain,dark,cold fiddling with cabinet keys and serial cables i will be able to remotely start the generator over Bluetooth from the laptop in my workshop when I have a huge load like 10kw plasma cutter with a 2.5kw air comp running at the same time.

I will post back with how i get on making it work once I have it in hand .
Kurt

[whereswally606]

money saved 88 dollars, I think you did well.