Just want to share some wisdom about this topic as I was able to get it to work today:
While a lot of configuration on a VE.Bus system can already be done with Victron Connect or via VRM Remote VE Configure, there is still a few occasions where I want to hook up VEConfig directly with my Multis. One reason is to look at the VE.Bus monitor which shows additional information when e.g. a generator won't sync properly (If anyone knows how to get the same directly from the GX device please let me know):
In order to do this on any PC on the LAN or even remotely via VPN I was looking to tunnel the serial data (VE.Bus is based on RS485) over TCP/IP.
I have been using ser2net on other occasions before, so tried it with the MK3 today. My setup looks like this:
- MK3 USB adapter from Victron connected to some Linux machine via USB (this could even be the GX device itself - haven't tried that yet). VE.Bus side of MK3 adapter hooked up to the free VE.Bus port on my Cerbo GX
- ser2net installed on the Linux machine - should be available in most distros like
apt-get update apt-get install ser2net
The config for ser2net in /etc/ser2net.conf looks something like this:
# Note that the same device can be listed multiple times under different # ports, this allows the same serial port to have both telnet and raw # protocols. # The original config file shipped with the upstream sources can be # found in /usr/share/doc/ser2net/examples 192.168.1.1,3001:raw:600:/dev/ttyUSB2:2400 8DATABITS 1STOPBIT
assuming the MK3 is enumerated as /dev/ttyUSB2 on the Linux machine. You can find the port number assigned to it with dmesg.
- com2tcp and com0com installed on a Windows PC on your local network that can run VEConfig tools
In the com0com setup tool on the Windows PC configure a Virtual Port Pair like this - make sure to tick "use Ports class" on the local com port, otherwise VEConfig won't detect the port. A reboot might be needed after you have configured the port pair:
Then open a command window and start com2tcp like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\com0com\com2tcp.exe" --baud 2400 \\.\cncb2 192.168.1.1 3001
192.168.1.1 is the IP address of the Linux machine which has ser2net running (see above).
Now you can start VEConfig or VE.Bus System Configurator and it should see COM3 and be able to talk to your VE.Bus system components.
