Outback Mate 3 & 3s Python library & command line interface

This library provides complete support for all Outback devices (at least in theory, I don't own all the devices so cannot test it). Writing data is also supported.

This data is accessed though the Outback Mate3s' Modbus interface. You must therefore have a Mate3s which is connected to your local network using its ethernet port.

Tested on Python 3.7. May work on 3.6.

Warnings

First, the big one:

WARNING! Please make sure you read the license before using any of the write functionality. You could easily damage your equipment by setting incorrect values (directly or indirectly).

In addition, there are other edges cases that may cause problems, mostly related to if a device is re-assigned a new port. For example, you have two inverters, read some values, then switch their ports over in the Hub before writing some values - which may now go to the 'wrong' one. For now, it's safest not to do that, unless you restart the Mate3Client each time. On that note, the recommended approach if you need to poll over time is:

while True:
    with Mate3Client(...) as client:
        client...
    sleep(1)

As opposed to

with Mate3Client(...) as client:
    while True:
        client...
    sleep(1)

Why? It means you're getting point-in-time values, and don't have to worry about changes (such as ports being switched). There are exceptions, but you should know why you're doing it.

Installation

The recommended installation is as follows:

pip install mate3

After this you should be able to run the mate3 command.

Using the library

More documentation is needed, but you can get a pretty code idea from ./examples/getting_started.py, copied (somewhat) below.

with Mate3Client("192.168.1.12") as client:
        # Read all devices:
        client.read()
        
        # What's the system name?
        mate = client.devices.mate3
        print(mate.system_name)
        # >>> FieldValue[system_name] | Implemented | Read @ 2020-07-19 21:27:57.747231 | Value: --- | Clean
        
        # Get the battery voltage. Note that it's auto-scaled appropriately.
        fndc = client.devices.fndc
        print(fndc.battery_voltage)
        # >>> FieldValue[battery_voltage] | Implemented | Read @ 2020-07-19 21:27:57.795158 | Scale factor: -1 | Unscaled value: 544 | Value: 54.4 | Clean

        # Get the (raw) values for the same device type on different ports
        inverters = client.devices.fx_inverters
        for port in inverters:
            print(f"FET temp on port {port} = {inverters[port].fet_temperature.value}")
        # >>> FET temp on port 1 = 36
        # >>> FET temp on port 2 = 35

        # Read only battery voltage again and check only it's read time was updated (and not system name, as we didn't
        # read it)
        time.sleep(1)
        client.read(only=[fndc.battery_voltage])
        print(mate.system_name)
        # >>> FieldValue[system_name] ... 2020-07-19 21:27:57 ...
        print(fndc.battery_voltage)
        # >>> FieldValue[battery_voltage] ... 2020-07-19 21:27:58 ...
        
        # Nice. What about modbus fields that aren't implemented?
        print(mate.sched_1_ac_mode.implemented)
        # >>> False

        # Cool. Can we set a new value? Note that we don't need to worry about scaling etc.
        cc = client.devices.charge_controller.config
        volts = cc.absorb_volts
        print(volts)
        # >>> ... | Scale factor: -1 | Unscaled value: 535 | Value: 53.5 | Clean
        cc.absorb_volts.value = volts.value + 0.1
        print(volts)
        # >>> ... | Scale factor: -1 | Unscaled value: 535 | Value: 53.5 | Dirty (value to write: 536)
        
        # OK, but what about fun fields like Enums? It's doable ...
        new_value = cc.grid_tie_mode.field.options["Grid Tie Mode disabled"]
        cc.grid_tie_mode.value = new_value

        # Finally, write any values that have changed to the device itself - BE CAREFUL!
        client.write()

Using the command line interface (CLI)

A simple CLI is available, with four main sub-commands:

• read - reads all of the values from the Mate3 and prints to stdout in a variety of formats.
• write - writes values to the Mate3. (If you're doing anything serious you should use the python API.)
• devices - shows the connected devices.
• dump - dumps all of the raw modbus values to a (JSON) file in a format compatible with CachingModbusClient which you can then share with others to help in debugging any problems you may have.

For each you can access the help (i.e. mate3 <cmd> -h) for more information.

Troubleshooting

Some ideas (which can be helpful for issues)

Set log-level to DEBUG

See mate3 -h for the CLI, otherwise the following (or similar) for python code:

from loguru import logger
logger.remove()
logger.add(sys.stderr, level="DEBUG")

List the devices

$ mate3 devices --host ...
name                                               address    port
----                                               -------    ----
Mate3                                              40069      None
ChargeController                                   40986      4
ChargeControllerConfiguration                      41014      4
...

Are they all there?

Create a dump of the raw modbus values

See mate3 dump -h. You can send the resulting JSON file to someone to help debug. (Just note that it includes all the data about the Mate, e.g. any passwords etc.)

Writing data to Postgres

NB: this used to be in mate3_pg command, but has been moved to ./examples/postgres_monitor.py.

The postgress_monitor.py command reads data from your Mate3 and writes it to a Postgres database.

In addition to a Mate3s connected to your network, you will need:

• A running Postgres database
• A definitions YAML file. (example)

Example use:

$ python postgres_monitor.py \
    -H 192.168.0.123 \ 
    --definitions /path/to/my/definitions.yaml \
    --database-url postgres://username:password@host:5432/database_name \
    --debug

You will need to replace 192.168.0.123 with your Mate3s' IP. Replace /path/to/my/pg_config.yaml with a path to your definitions file (see example). Replace the username, password, host, and database_name values with those for your Postgres database.

Full details of the postgres_monitor.py command:

$ python postgres_monitor.py --help
usage: mate3_pg [-h] --host HOST [--port PORT] [--interval INTERVAL] [--database-url DATABASE_URL] --definitions DEFINITIONS [--hypertables] [--quiet] [--debug]

Read all available data from the Mate3 controller

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --host HOST, -H HOST  The host name or IP address of the Mate3
  --port PORT, -p PORT  The port number address of the Mate3
  --interval INTERVAL, -i INTERVAL
                        Polling interval in seconds
  --database-url DATABASE_URL
                        Postgres database URL
  --definitions DEFINITIONS
                        YAML definition file
  --hypertables         Should we create tables as hypertables? Use only if you are using TimescaleDB
  --quiet, -q           Hide status output. Only errors will be shown
  --debug               Show debug logging

Contributing

If you wish to edit the mate3 source (contributions are gladly received!), then you can get the project directly from GitHub:

# Install poetry if you don't have it already (if you're unsure, you don't have it)
pip install poetry

# Get the source
git clone https://github.com/adamcharnock/mate3.git
cd mate3

# Install mate3 and its dependencies. This also makes the mate3 command available.
poetry install

# Run the tests - there aren't many, so feel free to add more!
pytest .

After this you should be able to run the mate3 command and edit the project's source code.

Release process

# Check everything has been comitted
git diff

# Up the version
poetry version {major|minor|bug}

# Update setup.py et al
dephell deps convert

# Review the resulting changes
git diff

# Build
poetry publish --build

# Docker: build & push
docker build -t adamcharnock/mate3:{VERSION_HERE} .
docker push adamcharnock/mate3:{VERSION_HERE}

# Commit
git ci  -m "Version bump"
git push
git push --tags

Credits

This was originally a heavily refactored version of basrijn's Outback_Mate3 library, though has largely been completely rewritten since. Thanks anyway basrijn!