I would like to access all of a VE.Smart networks data via a single VE.Direct connection.
Ideally the data that a smartshunt shares with a smartsolar mppt would be available via a single interface. Currently a VE.direct connection is required from each device, even if they are already connected in the VE.smart network.
Thanks.
Hi Ash, the data communicated over the VE.Smart network is quite limited, due to all sorts of reasons, including limits on what can be done within the Bluetooth specifications, as well as what it (VE.Smart) was designed for.
Best solution is a GX Device, as recommend by someone else.
And otherwise some RTU with sufficient serial ports.
Lastly, what you can do is wait a while (can be very long - months, maybe a year or longer) until we finish our project to have an open bluetooth protocol available.
Thats the best I can offer! hope that helps.
Thanks @mvader (Victron Energy) appreciate the comments.
Open bluetooth protocol sounds very exciting, will definitely be keeping an eye out for that.
What is the simplest GX device? I would only need 2-3 VE.Direct ports and someway of extracting data.
Hi @ash,
Are you aware this data is already available thru the GX devices and easy to access over TCP without the need to create an hardware interfaces?
Hi @Trip-Tracks,
Thanks for the response. I would love to use one of the GX devices and the modbus TCP interface however my budget for this project really doesn't allow for it.
I also have an RTU running (with limited serial ports) that is monitoring and controlling other systems, some of which depend on battery voltage and SoC. If the VE.Direct dream can't come true, maybe there is room for a VE.Smart to RS232 / ethernet module that would allow us to interrogate network data?
VenusOS allows you to pretend like the Raspberry Pi is a Cerbo or similar. But the Raspberry Pi doesn't magically get the data from your existing Victron equipment. It needs to be connected. But first, you need to go look for available VE.Direct connectors on your existing equipment (if it has an available one at all). In some cases, Victron products have VE.Bus instead. In some cases, you have to use up your VE.Direct connector so that your inverter can talk over Bluetooth to your phone app.
I've just set things up and nothing in VenusOS can see the existing devices by scanning for them. You would think that VenusOS would use Bluetooth to discover the collection of products, but no.
The cost of a Cerbo or Venus GX compared to the development time or the cost of a VE.Direct interface and development time would be less, and the Rasberry pi is another alternative, as you will need a platform to read and process the data anyway, as all these can double up to do this.
