ESPHome example configuration to monitor and control a pipsolar inverter via RS232

Kudos to @andreashergert1984 for the great work!

• PIP4048 compatible PV Inverter

• ESPHome 2021.8.0 or higher.
• One half of an ethernet cable with RJ45 connector
• RS232-to-TTL module (MAX3232CSE f.e.)
• Generic ESP32 or ESP8266 board

               RS232                       TTL
┌─────────┐              ┌──────────┐                ┌─────────┐
│         │              │          │<----- RX ----->│         │
│         │<---- TX ---->│  RS232   │<----- TX ----->│ ESP32/  │
│   PIP   │<---- RX ---->│  to TTL  │<----- GND ---->│ ESP8266 │
│         │<---- GND --->│  module  │<-- 3.3V VCC -->│         │
│         │              └──────────┘                │         │
│         │              ┌──────────┐                │         │
│         │----- 12V --> │ Buck     │--- 3.3V VCC -->│         │
└─────────┘              │ Converter│                │         │
                         └──────────┘                └─────────┘

Please be aware of the different RJ45 pinout colors (T-568A vs. T-568B).

The inverter provides +12V on pin 4 or 7 depending on the model. You can use a cheap DC-DC converter to power the ESP with 3.3V.

The source for the pinout is here.

Use the esp32-example.yaml / esp8266-example.yaml as proof of concept:

# Install esphome
pip3 install esphome

# Clone this external component
git clone https://github.com/syssi/esphome-pipsolar.git
cd esphome-pipsolar

# Create a secret.yaml containing some setup specific secrets
cat > secrets.yaml <<EOF
mqtt_host: MY_MQTT_HOST
mqtt_username: MY_MQTT_USERNAME
mqtt_password: MY_MQTT_PASSWORD

wifi_ssid: MY_WIFI_SSID
wifi_password: MY_WIFI_PASSWORD
EOF

# Validate the configuration, create a binary, upload it, and start logs
# If you use a esp8266 run the esp8266-examle.yaml
esphome run esp32-example.yaml

Take a look at the official documentation of the component for additional details.

1. If you configure a lot of the possible sensors etc. it could be that you run out of memory (on esp32). If you configure nearly all sensors etc. you run in a stack-size issue. In this case you have to increase stack size: esphome/issues#855

• esphome/esphome#1664
• https://github.com/esphome/esphome-docs/pull/1084/files
• https://github.com/andreashergert1984/esphome/tree/feature_pipsolar_anh
• https://github.com/jblance/mpp-solar/tree/master/docs/protocols