Hi, i'm new to Victron.
What is the best way to connect Multiplus 24/3000/70-50, MPPT SmartSolar 100/50, Venus GX, BMV-700 and VE.net Blue Power panel ?
asked
The best way to connect Victron components
I'd change the Blue Power Panel for a Venus or Color Control, then read this:
https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ess:start
I will use a Raspberry PI with Venus software instead of Color Control GX, but was just wondering if i can still use the Blue Power Panel somewhere in the system, since solar plant is 30m from the house and the Raspberry Venus will be in the house. I thought i could use the Blue Power Panel in the shed.
As far as I know the bluepower panels outputs are not sent to the CCGX so its stand alone in the shed
The RPi GX will need to stay in the shed. Just the cable lengths to the kit hanging from it makes it impractical to have so far away. Just a single ethernet cable (or EoP, maybe even wifi) to the house router, hence to a laptop or suchlike will give full functionality.
I wouldn't install the Blue Power, The BMV will give you enough local monitoring of the all-important V.
All of it you can monitor/control from the house.
Is this installation totally offgrid?
Yes, its totally off-grid.
How is RPi GX connected to the system ? Via USB Mk3 cable or CAN (Canberrydual V2.1).
How about one RPi GX without display in the shed where the solar is, and one RPi GX with display in the house, connected via local network, for monitoring ?
Yeh ok Tom. Offgrid means no complications with ac location. I can't speak for the Pi version specifically, but the GX is virtually a 'junction box' connecting the various elements of the system. With your kit there's no CAN involved, but the VE.Direct links from the mppt and bmv have a distance issue. The MK3 has a specific job, in your case to upgrade Multi firmware. You shouldn't even need one, upfront anyway.
You won't need a second GX in the house, it's job's been done already. Just a comms link to the house (ethernet style) for your monitoring/control convenience, and if you want the most from the GX, pick up www from the house kit. The VRM portal is a magic place, I consider it essential for an offgridder..
How to view it is up to you. Guy even asked recently himself what people were doing: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/4199/best-tablet-for-an-external-ccgx-displa
if you use a RPi you'll need 1x usb-Mk3 cable for the Multi, and 2x usb-ve.direct cable for the MPPT and the BMV
I'd advice to just use a Venus GX, in the end this might not be much more expensive, and it has a lot of i/o you can use for feature expansion (2x CANbus, relay outputs, analoge and digital inputs etc.
I agree with Boekel about getting a Venus GX. Then you can load the latest software and get the HTML5 app (https://github.com/victronenergy/venus-html5-app )or setup a pi with a browser to the Venus GX VNC connection.
