Hello all , relatively new to node-red. Wanting to get data but using an unconventional system.

Question

question

chris-frenchsforrest asked Oct 7, '22

Hello all , relatively new to node-red. Wanting to get data but using an unconventional system.

I have a beaglebone black as my venus system. I currently access my data via an arduino mega using modbus but i wish to expand/modify my system. I have a raspberry pi now as my server (node-red, mqtt, influx) and am using mqtt to bring all my arduino projects around the place to display on a node-red dashboard (maybe grafana too later) at the house. I also want to get the victron data here too. Any ideas on how to best implement this... Do i ditch the beaglebone for a pi running it all (inc venus), or can i get the data from the beaglebone using node-red somehow.... Currently the victron node red nodes cant see my system. Many thanks, and hello to all (new to here)

https://vrm.victronenergy.com/installation/17273/dashboard (or vrm world .. simpson , maryborough)

system design

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-10-10T14:02:13Z

bathnm answered · Oct 10, 2022 at 02:02 PM

@chris_frenchsforrest Hi there, take a look at the readme file for node red Venus plugin.

Some way down there is a section on installation and usage. One of the things it does cover is how to get node-red and VenusOS talking. One option is the use of a direct D-Bus connection. This can be done over a local socket or the network. So you can have the node-red plugin running on one machine and VenusOS on the other, by using a D-Bus network connection.

Note getting the change to the D-Bus system.conf file wrong can stop VenusOS from booting and working. You would then need to mount the beagle bone boot disk on a unix machine and revert the system,.conf file to the original.

Note also that the system.conf file is replaced on a firmeware update, so following one of those you would need to put the config back in.

Alternatively you could combine it all down onto one machine, however any firmeware update of Venus would require all your customisation to be redone, so separating into two machines does give flexibility in upgrading of VenusOS.

1

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

chris-frenchsforrest commented · Nov 25, 2022 at 05:25 AM

Thank you for responding, my choices are not so good. I probably should have spent a bit more money on something commercial that had node red inbuilt. I have been playing around with mqtt explorer looking for some sign of anything from beaglebone (mqtt topics). I was able to upgrade the beaglebone firmware to the large image in the hope that node red might be in there too :) I changed the settings in the local app to mqtt on lan (ssl and plaintext) but still not a peep on my network. I believe i might need to wake up the service with a

venus-home/R/YOUR SYSTEM ID/system/0/Serial but again am unsure of the topic name, and is my system id my portal id ? , etc etc

At this point i think i might have to go buy a new "venus" something, or maybe try building up a pi with all i need in that. The beaglebone is about 5 years old and ready for retirement....(like me)

Thanks,

and thanks to Taylortops too. ( your question is i want to move a lot of the "processing " into node red rather than the arduinos. At the moment they provide me with an estimate of my solar energy available, provide load control for 32 circuits and maintain my battery soc at an approximate setpoint by switching loads off in a timely manner( also depending on priority, condition of weather, season, etc :) ..... (it gets muddy)

0 ·

Answer 2 · 2022-10-21T01:35:58Z

taylortops answered · Oct 21, 2022 at 01:35 AM

Could you list out the goals of your project? I'm curious what jobs your Arduino's are doing too...

If you have MQTT, do you not have everything you need?

Might be similar to my setup. I have a Pi in my shed (150km away) which controls the water heater. I monitor/control via home-made dashboard. This is all over MQTT. I'm guessing you want historical graphage though.

dash.png (211.9 KiB)

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

question