How to wire my Cerbo GX to the rest of my Victron components

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manny-martinez asked Oct 6, '20

How to wire my Cerbo GX to the rest of my Victron components

Hello all,

I'm a bit confused with how to wire my Cerbo GX to the rest of my components in the most optimal way. I'd like to be able to view the status of my system on a mobile device via bluetooth and also view the Cerbo GX web application from that same mobile device.

I have the following components:

- Victron SmartShunt

- Victron 12/3000 MultiPlus

- Victron SmartSolar MPPT Charge Controller

- Victron Orion Tr Smart DC/DC charger

- 1 VE.Direct Cable

The obvious connections to me are:

* MultiPlus -> RJ45 -> Cerbo GX

* SmartShunt -> VE.Direct Cable -> Cerbo GX

* SmartSolar Charge Controller -> VE.Direct Cable -> CerboGX

Here are a few questions:

1. Do I still need a VE.Direct Cable for the SmartShunt and SmartSolar Charge controller since they're bluetooth? Or is the bluetooth only so I can see them within the VictronConnect app via bluetooth?

2. Is it possible to monitor the Orion Tr DC/DC in the Cerbo GX?

3. What are the main differences between what you can view from the Cerbo GX versus what you can view within the Victron Connect app?

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger cerbo gx orion-tr smart VE.Direct Smart Battery Sense

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered · Oct 06, 2020 at 06:29 AM

Hi @Manny Martinez

You are correct with the 'obvious connections' - nice work.

Regarding your questions;

1. Yes, do you DO still need VE.Direct cables to connect them to the Cerbo GX. You will be able to access them directly via Bluetooth in VictronConnect, but for the full integration, they need to be hard wired to the Cerbo GX.

2. No, it is not possible. You may see some degree of interpreted data from the Orion's activity if you enable 'Has DC system' in the GX menus, but there is not a direct data link like the SmartShunt and SmartSolar.

3. The biggest feature is the VRM - and that is a lot to cover - so you might like to watch this video I made :)

3.1 - Jono made a nice short intro video here.

3.1 - I also made this rather informal video about the Cerbo here showing a few features.

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2020-10-06T06:43:08Z

manny-martinez answered · Oct 06, 2020 at 06:43 AM

@Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) Thank you so much for the quick response - SUPER helpful! I've seen you around on YouTube :) Keep up the good work!

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented · Oct 06, 2020 at 11:42 AM

You're welcome, looks like an awesome system you've got going.

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manny-martinez Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented · Oct 07, 2020 at 04:30 AM

Thanks! I'm super excited to build it. I plan on posting the setup/design in a day or so for critique before I start ordering all of the wires/cables/fuses. It would be awesome to get feedback

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Answer 2 · 2020-11-01T09:31:26Z

Ulrich answered · Nov 01, 2020 at 09:31 AM

I wish there is a way to connect all BlueTooth devices to Cerbo GX, so that i could manage them via VictronConnect remotely. I only could see MPPT and SnartShunt. Why not my MultiPlus Compact?

A small BloutTooth Adapter for the Cerbo GX to route all other BlueTooth Devices to VictronConnect was great.

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