Understanding VRM dashboard data

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enfrafer asked Dec 3, '22

Understanding VRM dashboard data

Hello everyone!

I am trying to understand the data shown on the VRM dashboard. My new installation has a system configuration with

- Fronius with a string of solar panels and

- Victron with a second string + batteries.

Looking at the VRM dashboard screenshot attached:

- What is AC load showing? 10W is obviously not the energy being consumed at home

- What is Grid? Is this showing the energy exchanged with the net? And if so, does it make sense to be sending energy to the net while batteries are not fully charged?

- How can I see a real balance of energy? (e.g. PV generation - loads - battery charge = Grid)

Note: I have seen that during night, when PV inverter (Fronius) and PV charger are zero, AC loads seem to correspond to actual home energy consumption and Grid to the energy from/to the net. See this second screenshot:

cerbo gx VRM

vrm-data-enfrafer-1.png (447.7 KiB)

vrm-data-enfrafer-night.png (311.9 KiB)

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-12-03T08:25:35Z

kevgermany answered · Dec 03, 2022 at 08:25 AM

Yes, in the first image you're exporting energy to the grid. You are putting a lot into the batteries, despite them being close to charged. Could be there's a charge limit stopping more going in, or that the batteries are limiting the charge.

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Answer 2 · 2022-12-03T08:56:21Z

enfrafer answered · Dec 03, 2022 at 08:56 AM

Thank you! As far as I know we are not limiting the charge of batteries. Where can I check this?

In addition, do you know if I can find clear definitions of all these data? Maybe in Victron documentation? As explained I am not able to understand the balance with the VRM data, and I would love to.

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Answer 3 · 2022-12-03T10:45:30Z

sharpener answered · Dec 03, 2022 at 10:45 AM

In the bottom half of the dashboard there are graphs of consumption and generation which will help understand the general picture.

Using the Advanced tab in VRM you can install a widget which will plot battery current and voltage limit settings over time. As @kevgermany says, it may be this which is limiting the charging current.

These settings can be accessed from VRM via the Remote Console link. However if they are set by the BMS you will not be able to change them.

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enfrafer commented · Dec 04, 2022 at 07:53 AM

Thank you! I went into the widget and this is what I get:

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battery-limits.png (152.6 KiB)

Answer 4 · 2022-12-03T11:32:41Z

vbloke answered · Dec 03, 2022 at 11:32 AM

I had an identical issue with ac coupled inverter with grid showing what I considered an odd value as per yours. If I configure my Cerbo GX (attached to my MP2) with ‘Settings, Energy Meters, ‘My Inverter’, Position’ = 'AC Output’ rather than ‘AC In 1’ it corrected the figure showing in ‘Grid’.

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enfrafer commented · Dec 04, 2022 at 07:56 AM

Thanks so much. I tried to go to Energy meters and seems to be empty. Any sugestion? Should I go and connect to the Cerbo via bluetooth?

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energy-metering.png (117.7 KiB)

configuration-cerbo.png (163.7 KiB)

vbloke enfrafer commented · Dec 04, 2022 at 08:50 AM

I’m not running a fronius so I think the option is in a different place for you. See section 2.2.2 of https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ac_coupling:fronius?do=export_pdf and experiment with ‘position’ setting, shown in the graphic for step 5 of 2.2.2. Moving from acOut1 to ac in corrected the figures on the VRM summary screen for me.

Edit: just noticed my first comment has a typo. Should say ‘when position was acOut1 grid readings were incorrect, when position was AC In, grid reads were correct’. I think you should change the position setting to AC In for the grid readings to show as you would expect.

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Answer 5 · 2022-12-05T14:01:52Z

enfrafer answered · Dec 05, 2022 at 02:01 PM

Thaaaaanks a lot, I changed the Cerbo configuration for the Fronius inverter to AC Output (according to Victron manual) and this seems to work perfectly. Now the power balance is working and the grid value seems reasonable.

vrm-data-right-balance.png (119.3 KiB)

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