New feature request: Current Voltage

[konceptio]

Would it be possible to provide current voltage and maybe amps usage on a bullet or rocket.

thanks for answering.

[Dave-D]

Why? Dave

[MaximumISP]

Probably he would like this for a solar powered installation
that said current voltage might be possible but amp usage is doubtful
if this is for a solar site then there are a number of charge controller
units that should show this type of info

[WHT]

http://www.ubnt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Solar Power page has that info.

[Dave-D]

You put sensing like that in a device that
has a voltage or current swing to monitor.

These units have almost constant power
consumption. You measure the values
when you install. Dave

[konceptio]

Hi all. First thanks for commenting.

We have several sites that could be only powered by wind generator. (Solar does not work in winter) This sites are usually hard to get to, like top of a mountain.

Yes charge controllers tell us all we need right on the spot, but getting such basic info remotely is a challenge. Some units that can do tcp/ip reporting drag lots of power and the cost is high.
Therefore it would be excellent if bullet or rocket could report at least what is the current input voltage. Such info would save us lost of $$$ in cost of frequent trips to these sites.

Another benefit would be for all that run long cables or use 3rd party POE - Power Supply
Bullet some times works wird if the power is not stable.

Thanks for any further comments on this topic.

[JustJoe]

Hi all. First thanks for commenting.

We have several sites that could be only powered by wind generator. (Solar does not work in winter) This sites are usually hard to get to, like top of a mountain.

Yes charge controllers tell us all we need right on the spot, but getting such basic info remotely is a challenge. Some units that can do tcp/ip reporting drag lots of power and the cost is high.
Therefore it would be excellent if bullet or rocket could report at least what is the current input voltage. Such info would save us lost of $$$ in cost of frequent trips to these sites.

Another benefit would be for all that run long cables or use 3rd party POE - Power Supply
Bullet some times works wird if the power is not stable.

Thanks for any further comments on this topic.

We are in a sunnier place so solar does work for our remote sites and we have the same need you do.

I asked for built in voltage monitoring last year, saying it would be a nice "green" feature to push in the sales literature. Oh well.

[konceptio]

Does any one know of any app or command that could retrive a voltage input of the unit using ssh like you could do on a regular linux machine.
Does such info is even possible to retrieve on bullet or rocket?

[JustJoe]

Does any one know of any app or command that could retrive a voltage input of the unit using ssh like you could do on a regular linux machine.
Does such info is even possible to retrieve on bullet or rocket?

A command alone will not do it. The hardware circuitry must include a voltage metering circuit with a data interface to the radio's processor bus. Only then can the firmware be written to support commands that can query the voltage status. At this time I do not know of any UBNT radios that include the hardware circuit. :(

[Full Power]

Does any one know of any app or command that could retrive a voltage input of the unit....
Suppose you had that ability, and you discovered that the volatage on your solar system was getting low. What would you do ?

When designing a solar or wind power system you should always design it with enough capacity for the worst case scenario so that the radio is never starved for power.

[Wifi442]

Suppose you had that ability, and you discovered that the volatage on your solar system was getting low. What would you do ?

When designing a solar or wind power system you should always design it with enough capacity for the worst case scenario so that the radio is never starved for power.

Exactly. My setup was only in place for about 2 months. But it was January aka the worst or 2nd worst month for solar. Every time I visited the site, the battery was always fully charged.

I used these calculations

http://www.solarpowerforum.net/forumVB/showthread.php?t=1793

[JustJoe]

Suppose you had that ability, and you discovered that the volatage on your solar system was getting low. What would you do ?

When designing a solar or wind power system you should always design it with enough capacity for the worst case scenario so that the radio is never starved for power.

And blow lots of money? Why? If the the remote voltmeter has firmware to provide the data via SNMP, you just keep an eye out for trends with a program like MRTG the same way you watch data traffic trends so that you can see how demands are changing on different parts of your network over time.

Did you notice that weather patterns are changing? All the regional average sun time data out there is a good starting point, but it is not that reliable anymore. And we are not on the open prairie here on the central coast of California. There are hills and valleys and wind patterns that create different micro climates with different cloud patterns to go with them.

I can save lots of money by designing a system with extra cabinet space for more batteries and rack space for more panels if and when they are needed. But I don't install them until voltage trends tell me I might have problems, and then it is a 1 hour job tops.

[konceptio]

Well the problem is not with power getting low but daily reports how the charging process goes. What is the average. Is everything works as expected.
If you want to be a professional you cant just add site, calculate all and hope for best.

- One site we had a turbine that basically charge controller stopped working for no reason and we realized it when the whole site went offline.
Having voltage values reported remotely we would know something is wrong, right when it started not about 21 days later.

I can imagine that adding such sensor to the hardware should be planned at the draft board. How much could it cost 1c ?

[JustJoe]

Well the problem is not with power getting low but daily reports how the charging process goes. What is the average. Is everything works as expected.
If you want to be a professional you cant just add site, calculate all and hope for best.

- One site we had a turbine that basically charge controller stopped working for no reason and we realized it when the whole site went offline.
Having voltage values reported remotely we would know something is wrong, right when it started not about 21 days later.

I can imagine that adding such sensor to the hardware should be planned at the draft board. How much could it cost 1c ?

I completely agree! :)

[jlesterbmc]

We have a few solar sites and to be able to monitor the DC voltage would be awesome!

You can size your array and battery bank perfectly but when **** happens, and it will,
it sure would be nice to see the battery voltage dropping.
Both Motorola APs, SMs and PS2s work down to about 6Vdc. Problem is the 24V battery bank does not and the Batts are then toasted....

[konceptio]

Well, What is the procedure to request a new function into the bullet or rocket ?
Is it too late or there is something that could be done?

Maybe UBNT staff can take this question?

[wisptec2]

Just hook up a volt meter and point a network camra at the volt meter?
Would be cheaper then adding it to all the ubnt product line. Also would work for any CO. equ.

Thanks
Eli

[konceptio]

Well such camera uses extra power about 10-15Watts and requires a human to look at it.
The idea is to have numbers deliver over html or ssh so you can write a script. Based on the voltage changes characteristics it can alert you when something is not right or as expected.
-----------------------------------------------
Can any one forn UBNT take a stand on this?

[dextercath96]

Yes it is possible.

Ideal for camping or emergency power outages, the
Sun Power Port is a portable generator that when used
to its full potential will pay for itself in less than two years.
In one day of full sunshine, the solar panel easily charges
the 12 volt (standard automobile) battery. An inverter
changes the DC current to AC. From there the electrical energy
is easily accessible to most standard 110 volt small
appliances used in North America. What are the advantages of a solar generator? If you don't know, check out sunpowerport.com. The featured generator will run most small electrical appliances. It is great for camping or emergency backup. No noise. No fumes. For more details see http://www.sunpowerport.com

[WHT]

sunpowerport.com....Hmmm, it don't pass my sniff test. Sorry
On a full charge, without the sun, the battery has enough
power to run... a twenty watt light for about ten hours.That's two hundred watts.

and....

Solar panel：28W full tempered glass plate
That means is can collect 120 watts per sun day.
Where does the other eighty watts come from ????

[jlesterbmc]

How bout this: http://www.remotemonitoringsystems.ca/rms/rms.php

Or if you can get a Mikrotik RB333 and set it up as follows this may the ticket!

This applies to the RB333 and RB433AH with V3.11 or greater ONLY!
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Low Voltage Report
* 2 Daily Voltage Report
* 3 Requirements
* 4 voltmonitor
* 5 voltreport
* 6 HowTo

Low Voltage Report

This report is sent hourly to the email address in the voltmonitor script when the input voltage is at or below the alarm voltage.

ThisBox voltage is 12.5

Daily Voltage Report

This report is sent daily at 11PM to the email address in the voltreport script.

Daily voltage report for ThisBox on aug/29/2008

23:00 = 12.8
22:00 = 12.8
21:00 = 12.9
20:00 = 13.0
19:00 = 13.0
18:00 = 13.3
17:00 = 14.1
16:00 = 14.0
15:00 = 14.0
14:00 = 13.9
13:00 = 13.9
12:00 = 13.9
11:00 = 13.9
10:00 = 13.5
09:00 = 13.2
08:00 = 12.6
07:00 = 12.5
06:00 = 12.5
05:00 = 12.5
04:00 = 12.6
03:00 = 12.6
02:00 = 12.6
01:00 = 12.7
00:00 = 12.7

Since voltmonitor started on 13:00:00 aug/28/2008
Maximum = 14.2v at 13:00:00 aug/28/2008
Minimum = 12.5v at 05:00:00 aug/29/2008

Requirements

/tool e-mail must be set correctly to send email,

/system ntp client must be set correctly for the correct time after a reboot,

/system identity should be set to identify the router in the Low Voltage Report,

and the following two scripts:
voltmonitor

The first is voltmonitor. It should be scheduled to run once every hour on the hour (or within a minute after) in /system schedule.

#set lowvoltalarm to desired alarm voltage in tenths of a volt. 125 = 12.5v
:global lowvoltalarm 125
:global highvolt
:global lowvolt
:global starttime
:global hivolttime
:global lovolttime
:global vh
:local thisbox [/system identity get name]
:global voltage [/system health get voltage]
:local thistime [/system clock get time]
:local thisdate [/system clock get date]
:local thishour [:pick $thistime 0 2]
:local emessage ($thisbox . " voltage is " . [:pick $voltage 0 2] . "." . [:pick $voltage 2 3])
:if ([:len $lowvolt] < 1) do={:set lowvolt 999; :set highvolt 0}
# set your email address in the next line
:if ($voltage <= $lowvoltalarm) do={/tool e-mail send to="youremail@yourdomain.com" subject="$thisbox low voltage" body=$emessage}
:if ($voltage > $highvolt) do={:set highvolt $voltage; :set hivolttime ($thistime . " " . $thisdate)}
:if ($voltage < $lowvolt) do={:set lowvolt $voltage; :set lovolttime ($thistime . " " . $thisdate)}
:if ([:len $vh] > 0) do={:set vh ([:toarray $voltage] + $vh)} else={:set vh [:toarray $voltage]}
:if ([:len $starttime] < 1) do={:set starttime ($thistime . " " . $thisdate)}
:if ($thishour = "23") do={:execute voltreport}

voltreport

The second is voltreport. It does not need to be scheduled. It is executed by voltmonitor at 11PM every day.

:global highvolt
:global lowvolt
:global hivolttime
:global lovolttime
:global starttime
:global vh
:local tvolt
:local thisbox [/system identity get name]
:local thisdate [/system clock get date]
:local thishour
:local emessage "Daily voltage report for $thisbox on $thisdate\n\n"
:if ([:len $vh] > 0) do={
:for x from=0 to=([:len $vh]-1) step=1 do={
:set tvolt [:tostr [:pick $vh $x]]
:set thishour [:tostr (23 - $x)]
:while ([:len $thishour] < 2) do={:set thishour ("0" . $thishour)}
:set emessage ($emessage . $thishour . ":00 = " . [:pick $tvolt 0 2] . "." . [:pick $tvolt 2 3] . "\n")
}
:set emessage ($emessage . "\nSince voltmonitor started on " . $starttime . "\n")
:set tvolt [:tostr $highvolt]
:set emessage ($emessage . "Maximum = " . [:pick $tvolt 0 2] . "." . [:pick $tvolt 2 3] . "v at " . $hivolttime . "\n")
:set tvolt [:tostr $lowvolt]
:set emessage ($emessage . "Minimum = " . [:pick $tvolt 0 2] . "." . [:pick $tvolt 2 3] . "v at " . $lovolttime . "\n")
# set email address in next line
/tool e-mail send to="youremail@yourdomain.com" subject="$thisbox Voltage Report" body=$emessage
}
# remark out the next line for testing to avoid resetting the voltage array
:set vh

Note: If you are subject to Daylight Saving Time, there will be one day in the spring that will have only 23 hours, and in the autumn, you will actually get to see a "-1:00". Minus one o'clock?


HowTo

Command Line:

Login to your router with ssh with your terminal console. I use Konsole in this example.

Highlight the script text for voltmonitor above and copy to clipboard. (Select and Copy).

Then in your router:

/system script add name=voltmonitor
/system script edit voltmonitor source

In the Konsole toolbar, select "Edit/Paste". The script should be inserted correctly without any typos. The Control-y paste in the terminal window does not paste from the clipboard.

Edit the email address to your email address.

Press Control-o to save and exit the editor.

Do the same for voltreport.

Then add the voltmonitor script to the system schedule:

/system schedule add name=voltmonitor on-event=voltmonitor start-time=00:00:00 interval=1h

[opampca]

This is great...
Since you probably need a router out there anyways, get the RB433AH...
Would it work on a RB450G or RB750G ?
Richard