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socaladventure avatar image
socaladventure asked

What can I do with the digital inputs on the Venus GX or Cerbo GX?

I really like the Victron products but I started looking around and really like the aspects of the Simarine Pico system monitor and was wondering if some of the thing I see on that can be implemented on the Cerbo GX. I am looking for a system for Sprinter Van and the pitch and roll display that the Pico can do is something I would like. Also looking at the current draw of individual appliances is cool to. I would like to know what the current draw for the inverter/converter, refrigerator, lights, water pump... etc. are. Can I get any of this functionality in the victron system and if so how?

cerbo gxVRMVenus GX - VGX
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nebulight avatar image
nebulight answered ·

If you have Victron gear, the obvious choice is Cerbo. It's much more than just a monitoring system if you have smart batteries or want to enabled DVCC.

The individual current draw requires individual shunts for each item you are monitoring. Honestly, it's pretty cool but after 5 minutes, that kind of data is really not that useful. Same goes for Pitch and roll in a van; sure you'll know your not level, but you can tell that without a sensor. However I guess if you want to level your van it may aid with that, but an iphone gyroscope can help with that as well. That's just my opinion. Currently I don't think Victron has any options this, but you might want to ask about an inclinometer as that could be something I could see Victron adding to their software down the road (as long as there is something that could connect to the network that Victron can read.


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pyemarine avatar image pyemarine commented ·

you could use a marine based 9 axis gyro/headin sensor and get nmea2000 data from that, but it may be overkill for your application. Also don't think there currently is a way to monitor that nmea data on the Cerbo GX; As per the manual, it can read nmea 2000 tank levels from what I understand. so the theoretical path is there for PGN traffic to be read.

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safiery answered ·

@SoCalAdventure We specialise in Sprinters. We have fitted both types of displays. If you have an inverter on board, the Victron GX Touch is ahead. We can now port the HDMI from the Cerbo into the MBUX of the Sprinter 4x4. Just waiting for first install to see if there is a scaling impact on the display. We are also finalising the integration of our Smart Switches with Cerbo GX using Modbus.

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dsfas9 avatar image dsfas9 commented ·
@safiery any updates on showing cerbo data on the Sprinter?
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Eric M. avatar image Eric M. commented ·
@safiery Using the head unit as a screen seems great. Do you know if theres a path to adding that on a standard Sony type stereo head unit? It's a usb Carplay type thing for now, but could upgrade if it provides that functionality.
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Rene Mullie avatar image
Rene Mullie answered ·

@SoCalAdventure if you want to integrate these types of sensors together with Victron data, think other way around: Make a IoT /HomeAutomation controller (HomeAssistant of OpenHab) the center UI. Over MQTT all data from Cerbo is easy to pull into OpenHab and build all the dashboards you want very easy and accesible over LAN/WAN. Install Android head unit in cockpit, ad more panels with cheap 7" android tablets.

Some dashboards running my RV Campervan:

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