question

Bill avatar image
Bill asked

Cerbo GX network data consumption determinaton

I found the manual page with "very" generic cerbo gx data consumption. Is there a way to find out what my current configuration is sending/receiving so it can be tuned to reliably work on a LTE-M connection? I have 3 Smartsolar controllers, BMV, SBS, 2 Temp Probes off the GX and a GPS antenna connected to the GX. Potentially a Multiplus compact in the future when my Magnum dies. As Victron makes an LTE-M device (currently with too few capabilities for me to use), I am pretty sure VRM will be able to deal with the very slow data uploads. I am not sure the lte-m connection will be fast enough for remote control but I will test that once I find a good router to use. I would probably disable firmware updates over that connection.

Sure would be cool if the VRM portal had a widget with that data information logged over time for us.

-Bill

cerbo gxVRM
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9 Answers
sac-rv avatar image
sac-rv answered ·

My Cerbo GX is connected to a Verizon MiFi. On average it uses 110MB per day or 3.3GB per month doing 15-minute updates.

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Bill avatar image Bill commented ·

OMG. The manual thinks 2 MB per day would be normal for 15 minute updates. That's about 2 orders of magnitude more than documented in the manual. Wow, we really need a way to see how much we are uploading on the VRM site so we can tune our cellular data usage. 3.3GB of cell data is getting cheaper, but that's an awful lot of data for the statistics we are getting in VRM. Thanks for sending that. Thats almost 5 MB an hour.

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ Bill commented ·
An important details is missing from @Sac RV , what components are connected to the Cerbo?


@bigbillsd in the VRM menu of the Cerbo you can see "free storage" write that down and disconnect the Cerbo from the internet, the Cerbo will then start to save the data internally and after 1 day you can check how much data storage is needed.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ Bill commented ·
Another important details is the 'Realtime updates" for the Dashboard It's on by default. Can be toggled off on VRM in Settings/General and saves a lot bits and bytes.
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hjohnson avatar image
hjohnson answered ·

I activated a SIM for mine a week ago, and thus far (according to the phone company’s accounting system) the LTE router connected to my Cerbo has only used 46MB. That said, I don’t yet have a complete system going (it’s just monitoring my future starter battery sitting on a charger) but I have been playing with it, remoting into it and into Node Red via VRM, so it’s somewhat realistic.

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nickdb avatar image
nickdb answered ·

Data usage will depend on the install size, vrm update frequency and how often you are monitoring in realtime. For a single inverter, it downloads 3MB and uploads 30MB, per day.

Software updates add to this, which on the Venus seems to be around 100MB each.

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Bill avatar image
Bill answered ·

I will try the disconnect approach and watch what's written. I get the coach back from Mexico where its in the shop for the next 5 weeks while it gets a new paint scheme. I will also turn off realtime now. It is on an racking up the expensive data while in Mexico, and after that I will find some details one exactly what that's doing for me. I bet others would love to be able to see that data upload information in VRM so they can tune the money they are spending with the cellular carriers to get this information. If its costing them an extra $50 a month for data when they could be spending $10 most customers would probably like to know. And with the advent of LTE-M (cat-m) it might be nice to be able to tune the updates to only pay $30 a year for their data plan... :) -Bill

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pwfarnell avatar image
pwfarnell answered ·

My boat is closed down for the winter at the moment without any LTE use other than for VRM. For the past 2 months it is 430MB per month so approx. 15MB per day. I download at 1 minute intervals and have Cerbo GX, Multiplus, BMV 712, MPPT, GX Tank 140 with 3 tanks, USB GPS, 4 temperature sensors and 2 bilge level switches. This is about half of the number in the manual.

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Bill avatar image
Bill answered ·

Wow, once an hour would by about 1/60th of that which would be a really low number, Victron really needs to log how much data is being sent so we can make intelligent decisions on what amount of data we should pay. And be able to see the different data amounts uploaded depending on how often you send data. Each user would have their own baseline of data uploaded per transaction based on whats connected, then how often its pushed tells you how much data to buy. .

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scott-2 avatar image
scott-2 answered ·

My sixfab account records on average about 8mb download and 3mb upload per day. I have all Victron multi-plus, mppt, DC-DC, shunt, Lynx, and two Ruuvi temp. Seems a bit chubby for what data I have. Real time updates are off.

I also adjusted to 30min updates from 15min. Thought I'd see the upload data half, but haven't - rebooted and start/stoped the VRM uploads. No joy.

What I also don't get is why the download is 8mb? The 8mb is very consistent daily over the entire month. Doesn't look like software updates.

Victron should shed some light on the sync mechanics - in the IOT world this is a lot of data costing larger fleets decent money.

screenshot-2024-01-26-at-73517-am.png


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Holger Winkelmann avatar image
Holger Winkelmann answered ·

Yeah, that's really a lot of data for some telemetry... And Why so much download? What is the system downloading all the Time for Pure Monitoring purposes. I'm just considering building a 4-5G backed Wi-Fi Router in the RV and use it for VRM Monitoring. But this seems far too expensive for a minimal monitoring Job.

Does anyone know where the data volume is going to? Especially for the downloads, if I see an 8:3 MB Down/Up Ration in the post above....

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Fideri avatar image
Fideri answered ·
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