question

geomz avatar image
geomz asked

Time to go from BMV on VRM, considers infinite as 0

I have an alarm rule on my BMV, in VRM, set to trigger when the Time To Go value is less than 5 hours. The rule works well enough and allows me to trap high-load scenarios before they deplete the batteries too much.

However, when the system is charging, the time to go value is set to "infinite", but on VRM, it sees that value as 0, which is less than 5, and it erroneously triggers the alert. Even worse, it sort of reverses the logic when I'm discharging, thus clearing the alarm.

Is there a way to get around that behavior?

Also, some of the trigger points for several alarms on VRM don't even make sense. There are several examples where alarm trigger value make no sense at all. Like why necessitate a "high" value for time to go -it's a "required" value so I fudge the value at 1000.

If I've got 1000 hours to go on my batteries, I don't want an alarm on that, except perhaps one hooked up to streamers and ticker-tape :)


VRMBMV Battery Monitorbug report
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1 Answer
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi @Geomz, thanks for reporting this.

Knowing how the alarm system works; I’m not so sure if there is an simple to implement fix for this; might take a while.

What GX device do you have? As a workaround you could consider using node-red, see here:

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/549/feature-request-scheduled-virtual-switch-for-venus.html


Do note that its (a) in beta and (b) quite a more technical solution than configuring an alarm on VRM.

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geomz avatar image geomz commented ·

Thanks @mvader, I appreciate the response. I had wondered if it could be fixed -due to the way it considers "infinite".

But I was thinking that perhaps whatever parser is reading infinite as 0 could be redefined as 9999 (or whatever integer max value the field allowed instead)? Not sure if that's possible, but a thought :)


I am considering a node-red install, and I'm not averse to "getting my hands dirty", so to speak; but admittedly my CCGX, tied in to VRM rules is a super-easy quick-win solution that most average consumers will be most likely willing to delve into.

Thanks again!

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ geomz commented ·

Your very welcome. Sorry it took a while. Guy alerted me already a few days ago to help.


Node-red won’t work on the ccgx I’m afraid.


And yes; that 0 might need redefining to keep the alarm handling simple. Lets see what we can come up with!


Good weekend

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ben avatar image ben ♦ geomz commented ·

I believe the integer value maxes out at 864,000 (240 hours, or 10 days).

In my (downstream) dashboard and alerting system, I remap both 0 and 864,000 to a large value... and to an infinity symbol in the UI. :-)

It would be nice if this could be fixed, however, at the source(s).

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