Morningstar Communications Document
15Morningstar Product Connectivity Manual
14
Networking Hardware
Figure 10. Ethernet Crossover Cable
NOTE: Both standard and crossover Ethernet cables will
vary in color and length. They may look identical on the
outside, but internally they are different.
2.2.6 RJ-11 Cable
RJ-11 cable is the standard cable used in telephone wiring. The wire must be either 4 or 6 (com-
monly referred to as RJ-12) conductor and terminate in RJ-11 connectors. Morningstar products
that require an RJ-11 cable will ship with one in-box. The provided cable should always be used.
Figure 11. RJ-11 (telephone) Cable
2.2.7 Serial / EIA-485 Converter (3rd Party)
As an alternative to the Morningstar RSC-1, other companies offer Serial / EIA-485 converters.
These converters, like the RSC-1 provide the ability to network serial devices over an EIA-485
bus using the MODBUS
TM
protocol. Converters can either be port powered or externally pow-
ered, opto-isolated or non-isolated. For the converter to work properly with Morningstar products,
it must be externally powered and non-isolated. This allows the converter to supply the neces-
sary power to opto-isolated serial ports. Note: The Morningstar RSC-1 adapter is highly recom-
mended for this application. It has been specically designed to work with Morningstar products.
Some 3
rd
party adapters have been known to either cause problems on the network, or need
minor pin modications to work properly.
CAUTION: Example: If a converter needs 12V external
power in a 24V system, a DC-DC converter should be used.
Tapping off individual batteries can cause an imbalanced
battery bank.
Figure 12. Serial RS-232 / EIA-485 Converter
Recommended: Morningstar’s RS-232 / EIA-485 Adapter (RSC-1) (See Subsection 2.1.2)
2.2.8 USB / Serial Adapter Cable
A USB / Serial adapter cable will convert a USB connection on your PC to a DB-9 serial connec-
tion, compatible with Morningstar devices. Note: Most of these adapter cables come with drivers
which must be installed to created a Virtual COM port (VCOM). This allows the computer to view
a USB port as a serial port. More can be found on VCOMs in Subsection 5.3.1. It has been re-
ported that some USB to Serial adapters will not work with either the MSC or our control-
lers. This is usually due to the adapter output voltage being below the RS-232 electrical
specication. Section 11 Troubleshooting explains this further.
Note: For controllers which do not include an RS-232 port the UMC-1 USB to MeterBus™
Adapter is highly recommended and a more practical solution than using the MSC PC Meter-
Bus™ Adapter with a 3rd party USB / Serial Adapter.
Figure 13. Tripp Lite USB / Serial DB-9 Adapter
Recommended: Tripp Lite U209-000-R (shown above)
2.2.9 USB Hub
A USB hub allows multiple USB devices to use the same built-in USB port on your PC. There are
two types of hubs, bus-powered and self-powered. Bus-powered hubs draw all their power from
the PC’s USB port and require devices connected to them to share this power. This often limits
the number and types of USB devices which can be connected to the hub. Self-powered, how-
ever, uses an external power source to supply full power to every port on the hub.