axpert-monitor-mqtt

Based on https://github.com/b48736/axpert-monitor

Send Axpert inverter data from HID/RS232 to MQTT.

Periodically publishes inverter status over MQTT and reacts to a few commands. Commands are checked with startsWith to work as a firewall.

Configuration

All settings are read from environment variables, with sensible defaults so the process also runs without any configuration:

Variable	Default	Description
MQTT_HOST	192.168.1.112	MQTT broker host
MQTT_PORT	1883	MQTT broker port
MQTT_PREFIX	axpert	Topic prefix (use a unique one per inverter)
SERIAL_PORT	/dev/serial/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5:1.0-port0	Serial device of the inverter

Comment out the port option in index.js to use HID instead of UART.

Picking a stable serial port

/dev/ttyUSB* numbers are assigned in plug order and shuffle across reboots, so use a stable path from /dev/serial/:

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/      # by adapter serial number — survives moving to another USB port
ls -l /dev/serial/by-path/    # by physical USB port — survives swapping the adapter in the same port

Use by-path when you might replace the USB-serial adapter but keep it in the same physical port; use by-id to pin to a specific adapter regardless of port.

MQTT topics

With prefix axpert (configurable via MQTT_PREFIX):

Topic	Direction	Payload
axpert/generalStatus	publish	JSON, general status (every 1 s)
axpert/totalEnergyProduced	publish	total produced energy (every 10 s)
axpert/mode	publish	inverter mode (every 10 s)
axpert/cmd	subscribe	command, e.g. POP0…, PCP…, PBCV, PBDV

Running

Single inverter

# uses the defaults
pm2 start index.js --name axpert-monitor-mqtt

# or override config
MQTT_PREFIX=axpert SERIAL_PORT=/dev/serial/by-path/...:1.5:...-port0 \
  pm2 start index.js --name axpert-monitor-mqtt
pm2 save

Multiple inverters (ecosystem)

ecosystem.config.js runs the same index.js as several pm2 apps, each with its own prefix and serial port:

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    { name: 'axpert-monitor-mqtt',  script: 'index.js',
      env: { MQTT_PREFIX: 'axpert',
             SERIAL_PORT: '/dev/serial/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5:1.0-port0' } },
    { name: 'axpert-monitor-mqtt2', script: 'index.js',
      env: { MQTT_PREFIX: 'axpert2',
             SERIAL_PORT: '/dev/serial/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.2:1.0-port0' } },
  ],
}

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js                              # start all apps
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only axpert-monitor-mqtt2  # start one app
pm2 save                                                   # persist across reboots

Note: env is only applied when starting from the ecosystem file. To change the env of an app that was started with pm2 start index.js, pm2 delete <name> first, then start it again from ecosystem.config.js.

Install steps

# Node-RED
bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/deb/update-nodejs-and-nodered) --confirm-install --confirm-pi
cd ~/.node-red
npm install node-red-dashboard node-red-contrib-persist
cd
sudo systemctl enable nodered.service
sudo systemctl start nodered.service

# MQTT broker
sudo apt install -y mosquitto mosquitto-clients
sudo systemctl enable mosquitto.service
sudo systemctl start mosquitto.service

sudo apt install -y git
git clone https://github.com/hubmartin/axpert-monitor-mqtt.git
cd axpert-monitor-mqtt
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev
# if node is too new, try nvm install 18.15.0
npm install

sudo npm install pm2 -g
pm2 install pm2-logrotate
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js
#pm2 startup
sudo env PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin /usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 startup systemd -u pi --hp /home/pi
pm2 save

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

On older RPI I had to run this before npm install: sudo apt install libusb-dev libudev-dev.

Import node-red-flow.json file in Node-RED.