I have posted this question on Disqus as well. On the VRM App in IOS there is a "Historical data" tab. Mine is not indicating any data yet, after being actively online since 22 October 2018. Must I activate it or is there something wrong with my App?
That specific historical data screen inside the VRM app (and the succinct information it provides) is only available for systems with a BMV.
It can’t be removed yet (because those BMV users need it). It is already recognised as misleading and confusing, and is being changed.
App and web development gets a lot of attention inside Victron, and it’s frustrating for everyone when known problems aren’t fixed immediately, but there is a path to improvement. VRM especially is an area of very active development, with big and small improvements for all customers.
You can see here at the public change log that bugs are fixed and improvements are coming every couple of weeks.
That's a satifying answer, because now I understand why the screen is there and why it doesn't work in our situation. I know how software development works, I have been a software tester for many years. I found that feedback to your customers about "why and how" goes a very long way.
A few remarks on this issue:
- First of all, the (above displayed) misunderstanding about this issue can be quickly resolved by adding a message to the screen, saying: "The value in this screen come from the BMV. If you don't have a BMV, the values will not work." Not too much work to add this message and now any customer understands what is going on.
- Second: even better to remove the screen and button entirely when a BMV is not present in the system. Again, not so hard to program and read the Bolean of the condition "BMV present" and to enable/disable this screen and button based on this condition/input. Much better customer experience with this little hack.
- Thirdly: the ultimate solution. Ok, when a BMV is not present, the path to these values in the BMV tree, so to say, might not be present in the system.
But any system with a CCGX (which is a condition to be on the VRM in the first place) has a MultiPlus/Quattro inverter, right? And the newer inverters have the build in battery monitor feature. So why not use these values???
I have a fully fledged system here with 3 MultiPlus's, 2 MPPT chargers and a CCGX. I would hope they together could provide roughly the same values as the BMV values. So again it is just a matter of simple programming to determine wether the system has a BMV, a CCGX or nothing. And then it is a matter of "wiring" the right values to the right place on the screen. Or disable the screen, when the info is not to be found in the system.
It is possible to have a system on VRM with an MPPT and nothing else, even without a CCGX via the LoRaWAN system.
Nevertheless, I have advocated and will continue to do so for both more advanced, and more straight forward data from VRM. It is already the best platform of its type that I know of.
Remember also that there is a public API, so it does not depend on Victron to create improvements. It’s possible for anyone who is inspired to do so to learn how and make the system as they would like it.
I would expect a user who has advanced themselves to the limits of the current API, would also be in a very good position to either work on expanding, or guide the further developement within Victron.
https://vrmapi.victronenergy.com/v2/docs
Thank you for your interest and suggestions.
You will need to be an administrator to the site and then turn on the widgets (up the top right) that you wish to see:
@Oupa: I have exactly the same problem. I am not sure if @Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff) is talking about the same thing, I think not. In the wdigests there is not anything about the historical data. With administrator, do you mean being a user with "Full control"...?
I will try to attach screenshots, so you see what we mean:
You say: "That historical section is a bit misleading. It rarely behaves as users expect. and will be removed from the VRM app shortly."
Well, I guess most users expect a screen with the name "Historcial data" to display "Historical data", right? I wouldn't know what else to expect. I would also expect it just to work...
You say: "It’s best to launch the mobile responsive VRM site and view your data there."
Where in the mobile responsive VRM site can I view the Histrorical data with the same kind of layout as in this "Historical data" screen. I haven't found that in the mobile responsive VRM site yet...
Not sure what to do with this issue or these answer. To me something obviously doesn't work as expected. And no real satisfying answer as to what is going on. Don't know what to tell my customers. "That screen in the app? Well, just ignore that and pretend it's not there, please, ok...!?"
As a suggestion: Tell your customers if they ask for, that this page is only filled with values, if you use a BMV in your system. Therefore, if no BMV is used, this page is empty and Victron will remove this from VRM App in near future. If someone really wants to have this data visible, give a quote for a BMV?
Sounds like a peaceful solution to me.
Hi!
Have you pressed the globe according to my green arrow in the picture below?
Yes, I press that button regularly. But the screens behind that button (VRM) don't give me the historical data that I would be able to find in the screen behind the "Historcial data" button. So I don't really get your point.
I have the same issue as Bosuil and I can't get the historical data to show on my iPhone. Can you pls help.
